Archive for the ‘Cycling’ Category

Day 1. Eindhoven – Waterloo. 167km

Posted: May 17, 2012 in Belgium, Cycling, Netherlands
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Eindhoven – Waterloo

I left mounting the front wheel pannier carriers until the last evening. This was a bad idea. I couldn’t get them mounted. I needed to be able to make a screw shorter by sawing it off. I gave up, and left with only the rear wheel bags. My test of packing the bike with all the equipment for Norway will have to wait until next time.

I was excited to leave and was awake super early. I was on the road by 5:30. It was cold and overcast. I cycled with long cycle pants and 2 layers on my torso. I made a note that for Norway I will buy warm and sturdy (and waterproof) shoes for cycling. And, I noted to bring warm gloves next time.

There was low hanging mist suspended over all the lakes. In the early morning it was a beautiful light with the sun hanging low. The birds were tweeting and the world was still sleeping. It was just me to see this glorious morning.

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The world slowly started rising. I passed (or actually was passed) by lots of packs of cyclists as I cycled along the canal, lined with rich green trees. I turned south and followed the long distance cycle route southwards. I passed along canals, then cute farmer villages and finally along a straight stretch of bike path that used to be a train track. I passed Tienen and then some beautiful forests.

I expected the hills to increase as I got further south. This was true in general. The hills came in patches. And some were tough. One just out of Tessenderlo and one just out of Tienen. In between it was flat and easy going, made a bit more difficult with a slight head wind.

I was getting hungry, and my iPhone was running out of juice. At 16:30 I pulled up in Overijse and had a tasty lunch/dinner. The only camping ground within reach was in Overijse itself. It turned out to be closed. I decided to stay in a hotel. I am now in the rather ugly Waterloo, just south of Brussels.

GPS Tracking apps for bike tours. Which is best to integrate into WordPress?

Posted: May 9, 2012 in Cycling
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There are lots of apps for tracking a route for running, cycling, hiking etc. Each have different features and with different target users in mind. For tracking my bike trip from Bodø to Nordkapp I am looking for an app that

  • is easily integrated into my wordpress blog and looks good there
  • can be uploaded and inserted into the blog easily from an iphone
  • uses as little battery power as possible (as I will be going long stretches without power)
  • allows photos to be uploaded and tagged en route

I have tested the following tracking apps with my morning run: EveryTrail, Cyclemeter and GPSies, and tried to integrate them into this post. I have written my impressions of each app, and how I incorporated them into the WordPress post.

EveryTrail

Incorporation in WordPress

Link to EveryTrail map

As WordPress does not allow embedding, it is a bit of effort to get this to appear properly on the post. This post tells you how.

In short: on the EveryTrail site, go to the track you want to post on WordPress and copy the text for “Share this trip – Flash map with photos for websites and blogs”. Paste this into the HTML editor of WordPress, and then replace the word embed with gigya and change some brackets in the HTML code.

Impression

I have been using EveryTrail for about 2 years now and have tracked many trips with it. The user interface during running is easy to use. It is possible to take photos while running and have them automatically placed on the resulting map. It is also possible to embed the map into WordPress, even from the iPhone. All the runs/cycles I record can be made searchable and available for the general public.

For training runs where the goal is to improve your time, compare a run with earlier runs in real time, run a particular interval training, or follow lots of data while running, EveryTrail is not the app. There is little real time information in EveryTrail, and it is hidden in a different tab to the map tab. For my Norway cycle trip, these features are not needed. I have decided to use EveryTrail to track my trips in Norway.

Cyclemeter

Incorporation in WordPress

Cyclemeter uses googlemaps and it is possible to incorporate a googlemap into WordPress. It is not done by pasting the googlemap URL address into the code but rather, as explained here. This can be easily done using the web-browser interface of WordPress, but is not easy using the iPhone. (One way of incorporating a googlemap using the iPhone can be done via email postings. Such postings are difficult to edit before publishing.)

Impression

Cyclemeter is very customizable and can display all sorts of interesting data real time. This is ideal when training for a marathon for example. I also like how it puts kilometre markers on the map.

It is, however, not trivial to write a post and incorporate a Cyclemeter map in the post using an iPhone. Also, the maps are not searchable and usable by the general public, which I think is a shame. It is not possible to incorporate photos.

GPSies

Incorporation in WordPress


GPSies uses OpenStreetMaps. There is a plugin that can be used to incorporate the GPSies map onto the WordPress post. Plugins are not allowed on blogs hosted by WordPress (all the free blogs), and so you need to arrange a different blog host in order to use this option.

Alternatively, it is possible to convert the map to KML format on the GPSies site, and import into google maps as described here. The resulting googlemap can then be incorporated into the post as described above for Cyclemeter. My 10km run seemed to be truncated in the resulting googlemap. I am not sure of the cause of this.

Impression

Like Cyclemeter, GPSies can display more real time data than EveryTrail. It is even less trivial than Cyclemeter to incorporate the resulting map into a WordPress blog using the iPhone. The resulting maps are searchable and usable by the general public. It is not possible to incorporate photos.

I found it very irritating with GPSies that it is impossible to scroll away from your current position on the real-time map while you are running. I think it is important to be able to do this to be able to see where you plan to go (cycle/run) next.

The Journey page has been added

Posted: May 7, 2012 in Cycling
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I am happy to announce that the page ‘The Journey’ has now been added to my blog page. This tells about the cycle trip I am planning this year from Bodø to Nordkapp.

My first post.

Posted: May 5, 2012 in Cycling
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Hi there. Well, this is my first post here. I intend to use this blog on my cycle trip to the Nordkapp in Norway. In 1997 I cycled from Oslo to Bodø, just north of the polar circle. This year (2012), 15 years later, I will continue this trip to Nordkapp – the most northern place on mainland Europe.

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