The Strawberry Project

A tweet from Jim Phelps put me on to the Gmap Pedometer, which I’ve been having a quick play with this evening.

The service provides a means of being able to pre-record a route that can be exported to a gpx route in the same way I’ve shown previously. Rather than use Google’s directions service to be able to describe a route, you can simply ‘draw’ it on the Gmap Pedometer service and then export that out for use on your Garmin as before.  Now that’s more like it - as provided the high-res imagery is available in satellite view, you should be able to record off-road routes without too much trouble.

A word of caution though.  The registration/positional accuracy of the Google data coupled with the accuracy of your GPS unit at any given time may well lead to some pretty large error in positioning.  Pretty large meaning, don’t plot any knife-edge routes and expect to be able to follow them blindfolded wihtout mishap.  You have been warned!

Tags: Cycling, edge, garmin, gmap, gps, route, trace

523.18 miles in to the Kona PhD now and all is well. That’s 40+ hours in the saddle and 36652 calories burnt Average speed is up by probably more than 4 mph now over the old MTB wheels - but that’s not surprising given the rather skinny rims I’m running on. Pleased to say that I haven’t had a flat since switching to the Specialized Armadillo tyre at the rear.

Tags: Cycling, garmin, gps, kona

As you may recall, I’ve been using a Garmin EDGE 205 since Christmas to keep track of the miles I’ve been covering on the bikes. The unit itself is pretty impressive for the cost (well, at least the cost from EBay), but for Mac users the software supplied by Garmin is pretty crap to say the least.

Kike has asked how he can get Google Earth route data out to the unit so he can design some new rides. Now what I’m going to explain here is similar, but is using what’s available for Google MAPS rather than Earth, as it’s generally simpler.

Now remember, this post is aimed at Mac users primarily - but I imagine that it’s the same deal for Windows and Linux users too - it’s just that I don’t have time to check them all out for you. If you’re a curious Windows or Linux user, just go and play - you shouldn’t be able to do any harm

Free Software Required:

GMAPtoGPX - you need to follow the instructions on the site to drag a bookmarklet to your browser bookmark bar. This is used from Google Maps to convert your route data to GPX format

GPSBabel

You will need to install GPSBabel to your Mac as we will be using this to upload Route data directly to your Garmin EDGE unit.

Once these are installed, we’re ready to go make some interesting routes.

Plug in your Garmin to an available USB port and turn it on, then follow the action on the video.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

One caveat with this approach is that every stage of the directions from Google is treated as a separate route. I’ll come back to editing the GPX into a single route in another post. I guess one other thing is that this is no good if you want to actually digitise a route from the map base - particularly if it’s for MTB use.

Tags: Cycling, edge, garmin, google-maps, gpx, OS X, routes

I could ramble on about the Ordnance Survey, but others have been there before me. Instead, I’ll just point you at:

“OpenStreetMap is a project aimed squarely at creating and providing free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them. The project was started because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in creative, productive or unexpected ways.”

If you’ve been following the recent posts on the new bike and the Garmin Edge, then you’ll be able to see what’s coming. I’m planning on donating all my routes to the wiki as a socially-responsible thing to do It’s also a good excuse to get out on the bike more…

Tags: creative commons, Cycling, free, garmin, gps, mapping, openstreetmap

OK, so here’s a quick review of the Kona PhD experience so far.

The bike basics:

Frame tubing - Kona 7005 Aluminum Butted
Fork - Kona Carbon
Headset - FSA Orbit #8BE Integrated
Crankarms - FSA Gossamer MegaExo
Chainrings - 30/39/53
B/B - FSA MegaExo
Pedals - Shimano A520
Chain - Shimano 105
Freewheel - Shimano 105 (12-25, 10spd)
F/D - Shimano 105 Flatbar
R/D - Shimano Ultegra
Shifters - Shimano 105
Handlebar - FSA XC-180 OS flatbar
Stem - FSA OS-150 LX
Grips - Kona Race Light
Brakes - Avid SD 5
Brake - Levers Avid FR 5
Front hub - Mavic Aksium Wheelset
Rear hub - Mavic Aksium Wheelset
Spokes - Mavic Aksium Wheelset
Tires - Continental Ultrasport 700 x 23C
Rims - Mavic Aksium Wheelset
Saddle - Selle Italia X2 Man SE
Seatpost - FSA SL280
Seat clamp - Kona Clamp
Color - White

I went for the 58cm frame given that I’m about 6′1″ - or at least used to be the last time I checked. I still need to make some slight adjustments to the setup as it’s being run in given that I can tell there’s a slight difference in my riding position to the Orange, and it feels a little too upright to be comfortable on longer rides. To be honest, this is probably more due to the fact that I need to stick some bar ends on there which would give me a similar stretch position to that of the setup on my Evo2.

I’d read elsewhere that the saddle was something to replace, but for the life of me I can’t quite see why. If you’re used to being in the saddle, then it performs well and its fairly comfortable. It’s no Gel saddle, so don’t expect Saturday-night-in sofa quality, but it’s far more comfortable than any race saddle I’ve been on.

How fast is it?

Acceleration is better than my expectations. The 7005 frame remains a solid platform to put some power through in a straight line, and it can hold its own against road frames at the lights from experience. Over distance, in comparison to the Evo2, the lighter frame and bigger gears mean that I’m able to sustain a higher average speed over the same distance. Here’s the same route on the two different bikes. As you can see, the PhD was quicker on average, and I wasn’t really pushing it that day.

Kona PhD Speed Profile (mean: 15.1 mph)

Orange EVO2 Speed Profile (mean: 13.6 mph)

What about Vibration?

On the whole the road vibration isn’t all that noticeable on the front end. You can feel the road through the saddle more than you would on fat tyres, but it’s not too distracting. What’s more distracting coming from MTB territory is that all those big hills and patches of debris/crapola you’d normally ride across without thought suddenly become life threatening hotspots on skinny rims.

Anything else on the handling?

Steering is responsive and pretty light - a product of the fact that the bike is ridiculously light in its own right. In fact I’d go as far as to say that it’s pretty frisky if you’re coming from an MTB background. I was out in high winds on the way home from work on the PhD and it felt pretty skittish on the road as I avoided the inevitable Cardiff potholes (actually, it’s probably more accurate to describe them as sink holes)

Gears work OK for around here. I haven’t done Big Hill territory yet (that’s Big Hill in South Wales folks, not Alp d’Huez type Big Hill), but I suspect that the range would be pushing it on the inner front ring. It’s just about comparable to the middle ring of an MTB, so if you use granny gears a lot for climbing long drags, then you’ll probably struggle for a while until your legs get used to the different pace/power output required to drive yourself along.

That bigger outer ring is great on the flat and on the descents too, although for my riding it suits the flat better.

Can you stop as well?

Brakes are pretty good for cantis. They definitely stop the bike, but as the Kona owner’s manual says, they may not stop *you* - you’ll need to hang on and be ready to shift your weight if you need to decelerate quickly.

So in general, it’s all good.  It suits my commute to work really well, and offers me just enough challenge to make it a different ride home up the hills over my trusty old Orange.  I have, however, one slight problem that I need to deal with at the moment. On the supplied tyres I’ve managed 2 flats already, and have now cut a sizeable chunk out of the rear tyre thanks to Cardiff Council cutting back the Hawthorne hedges around the lanes, and then not bothering to use a road sweeper afterwards [probably a different, outsourced department :-/ ]

I reckon that a pair of Specialized Armadillos should do the trick. More on that when I can take delivery of some new tyres.

Tags: 2008, Cycling, evo2, kona, orange, phd, review, speed