On Thursday, August 15, 2019 at 2:25:29 AM UTC-4, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 15 Aug 2019 04:40:54 -0000 (UTC), news18
wrote:
On Wed, 14 Aug 2019 21:25:03 -0700, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Wednesday, August 14, 2019 at 11:58:23 PM UTC-4, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Wed, 14 Aug 2019 05:34:51 +0700, John B.
wrote:
A power meter is a vital accessory for the elderly bicycle enthusiast
as how else can he brag about his accomplishments - "I averaged 12
mph for two hours last Sunday".
Write down starting time in notebook. Write down finishing time in
notebook. Go to Google Maps, ask for directions along your chosen
route. Write down distance.
Apply third-grade math.
--
Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
Asking for BICYCLING directions on Google Maps can often have you riding
WAY out of your way if you follow them.
Gogle mpas are so car orientated. There is always a (or more)better
bicycle route.
When I use Google Maps to
calculate the distance on a planned ride I right click on the map at
where I'm starting from and then add markers at various points alone the
route I plan to ride.
Otherwise I find that Google Maps will often
deviate from the shortest route to take a route that uses a rail-trail
or other off-road facility and those deviations can add many miles to a
route.
Over here, it frequently will have you travelling 1,000 miles on sealed
roads as opposed to 10miles on a gravel road.
Whatever did people do before Google Maps? I can remember driving
across the United States twice without any maps at all.
I was halfway through a five day bike tour, carrying my first brand new smart
phone, before I realized it had a GPS function and Google Maps.
Not that it would have helped. I was trying to follow roads as near as possible
to the route of the old Ohio and Erie Canal. The southern half of that canal
is largely ignored, so the preparation required hours of library research and
poring over very detailed maps looking for clues like "Canal Street" in little
towns.
The moment I discovered the phone's GPS function was on a road with harsh,
barely rideable gravel. My wife and our friend had decided to walk their bikes
and I was waiting for them to catch up. The GPS did indicate that we had no
better choice for a road, but it didn't make the riding any smoother.
These days, even if I do use GPS during a long ride, paper maps are normally
my main reference.
- Frank Krygowski