I'm so excited, this takes so much of the work out of it, and I might be able to recruit a few more coworkers for it now.
2015-04-10 14:43:35
108
2015 National Bike Challenge (now with Strava!)
https://nationalbikechallenge.org/
Hosted by People for Bikes (instead of LAB)
It took just a few seconds to add Strava and synch it to the NBC site (and it's already registered my miles!).
We need that Rust Belt title back!
2015-04-10 14:36:52
My Own Team, With Blackjack and Hookers will ride again! Hopefully with fewer broken arms this year!
https://nationalbikechallenge.org/team/4141
2015-04-10 15:31:42
Am I able to join a team without starting one myself? I don't want to be an administrator. I ride around 5000 miles a year if that helps...
2015-04-14 13:49:40
Depends on the team. Some are invitation-only, others are open to whomever.
If you go to the local teams listing (https://nationalbikechallenge.org/local/leaderboards/teams) and click on a team name, you can click on the "Join" button on their profile page if it's open to all.
2015-04-14 14:40:01
I'm checking out the Strava logger (as opposed to Endomondo). No opinion yet. Will keep using it for a while to see how it all feels.
But there is this one thing that keeps bugging me (and it's in both systems). The altitude logic is easily fooled by things like tall buildings and bridges (I did a 45° climb on the way home today!)
I realize that a full solution is not going to happen but it seems like some of this stuff should be tractable with maybe a few heuristics. For example, you can probably track that there's a bridge carrying the road; in urban environments, ignore the instantaneous climbs. And so on. The GPS in my car coerces position to the nearest road (a pain in complicated interchanges); so you can do something.
So two questions: 1) Is there some app out there that's cleverer than these? 2) Is there some research on this, maybe explaining why this is so hard?
2015-04-15 19:10:39
@Ahlir, how much did you pay for that app?
2015-04-16 06:04:57
I'm just guessing because I really don't have a clue, but I would suppose the program has to interpolate between the gps satellites and fixed gis topo data, and it's probably the rare topo data set that incorporates man made structures like bridges and overpasses. Like I said, a guess. It would probably be a lot more accurate if it incorporated altitude data (or at least checked against) at the device.
2015-04-16 07:09:51
@jonawebb: Neither of the apps I listed cost anything (well, unless you subscribe to their more complicated services). But then I didn't say that I necessarily wanted free.
So, are there devices or apps that do elevation right? It's okay if I have to pay.
2015-04-16 10:46:13
No, my point is, you get what you pay for. Improving the quality is an expensive proposition. You don't just introduce a new heuristic (as you know, from your work in speech): you also have to verify that it's actually improving things, not just solving one problem while making others a lot worse. And that takes a lot of time and testing, because a lot of data is involved.
I'm pretty sure Garmin's devices work really well for this.
2015-04-16 11:14:09
Strava has a revenue stream; I assume part of it goes to product improvement; I see that there's a "Strava Labs" that does in-house development.
Strava gives you the ability to change altimeter data for a ride, but it's not working for me. Apparently I need a device with a barometric altimeter (or maybe not, depending on the source of the error; the explanation is confusing).
I haven't checked into smartphones, but cycling Garmins have an altimeter. Garmin also implies that their GPS technology is "suited for the most challenging conditions" but don't explain just how. They're expensive.
Strava also allows you to enter corrections that they then pass on to Open Street Map (their map source).
2015-04-16 15:48:47
Ok, since we're (sort of on the subject).
For the ride home I decided to compare my bike computer mileage (7.1) to the Strava mileage (7.3); this is a ~3% difference, which seems a bit much. I looked over the route trace and I would have to say that the wiggles and the cut-corners seemed to cancel out. So maybe it's my bike odometer.
I have it set for my 700mm rims, so that leaves the tires. They're a bit soft at the moment so it's conceivable that the effective diameter is smaller. But it can't be that much different, can it?
Anyway tomorrow I plan to see if Endomondo and Strava can run at the same time or whether they fight each other in some way (say for the GPS). From mt limited knowledge of Android they should be able to access location at the same time.
It should point out that I periodically get told that I'm "over-analyzing" something (or, more sharply, "over-thinking"). Feel free to ignore this.
2015-04-16 18:05:33
Humphrey could have beat Nixon with that margin of error :)
2015-04-16 18:08:36
I do know that if you take a GPX file that Strava generates, and dump it into Endomondo, you get generally the same display and result... except that Endomondo's "calories burned" calculator seems to think that a given ride burns 3x as many calories as Strava does. And for me, Strava seems more often to be correct on this.
2015-04-17 07:38:36
Garmins are expensive, but on the plus side, they're a lot more accurate, and they don't kill the battery on your phone. Their own batteries hold like 16 hours of charge or something like that.
2015-04-17 08:04:09
On a ride last Sunday, I rode 25 miles from my back door to my back door, and I descended 200 feet more than I ascended (Endomondo on Samsung S4). I did feel like hell.
2015-04-17 08:32:41
So, this was interesting...
Miles ridden:
bike: 8.01
Endo: 7.96
Strava: 8.5
Strava excludes stopped time, so I get 12.7mph
Endo doesn't, so I got 11.2mph
Elapsed time is all over the place: 37:55; 42:29; 40.14/48:40
When I look at the route maps, it's obvious that Strava samples location at a much higher rate than Endo; there's comparatively more jitter. Standing at a light yields a squiggly blotch, which I assume is gps error. I get splotch sizes between 1-2 street widths. I don't know if they remove your standing "distance".
Without further study I would say that Strava over-estimates distance, likely due to their (unsmoothed) sampling. On the other hand the numbers it generates are more flattering (at least for me).
This was with my Samsung S4, simultaneously running both apps; it took less that 5sec to start/stop them at the same time.
To sum up: if you are a Strava fan and care about accuracy, you might want to invest in a proper GPS unit. If you're doing the NBS, I would definitely recommend running Strava on your phone (for the glory of Pittsburgh, of course) ☺
2015-04-17 10:22:34
examples (simultaneous logging; same gps)
Endomondo
Strava
Endomondo
Strava 2015-04-18 10:41:06
AFAIK, the altimeters built into Garmin units are based on barometric pressure, and are affected strongly by changes in weather.
I've yet to find anything that seems provably accurate (and reasonably precise) for elevation.
2015-04-18 14:14:07
I’ve yet to find anything that seems provably accurate (and reasonably precise)
So true. Of so may things in life...
2015-04-18 15:55:50
You need a device that has an in-device altimeter as well as well as a G4 connection to adjust for local barometric pressure reports from the NWS, or similar. Someone make that.
2015-04-20 11:33:15
the Garmin Edge 510 has an onboard barometric altimeter that you can adjust at known elevations.
2015-04-20 14:21:21
One thing to note if using Strava for this is that, if you want to log miles as "Transport", you have to edit the ride manually on the Strava site before you sync the ride data on the Challenge site. You have to go to "edit activity" and select the "Commute" tag.
Unfortunately, the Strava phone app doesn't let you make this selection before the ride is uploaded or after. You have to go to their site.
2015-04-21 10:09:56
I am at about 2600 for the year so far. Started straving every mile since January 1st. My goal is 10,000. I been averaging about 32 a day since mid march. Need 27.4 a day. Once I get on a bike again. Own two, both are in the shop and I am out :(
I will join the challenge.
2015-04-21 20:50:01
Does anyone know if the OTB is doing Pedal for Pints again this year?
2015-04-30 07:16:55
Anyone else having trouble getting in to the NBC site? I have a login from last year and even though it says "New to the 2015 challenge? Create an account" if I try it says I already have an account with that email address. Password reset has not worked.
Also is MapMyRide still supported or not? (I wonder if my account was through that app or through Facebook or something.)
I was going to switch to Strava but I'm a bit worried about what else that will break.
2015-04-30 10:12:01
I've had no problems logging in.
MapMyRide is still supported, so are Strava, Moves, and Endomondo.
2015-04-30 10:39:46
No problems logging in. There is the “New to the 2015 challenge? Create an account” but also the "Have an account?" login button.
2015-04-30 11:35:52
An update on my Strava experience.
1) It's pretty good, but I can't say it's that much better than Endomondo. The app design is maybe slightly better. It probably depends on your color preference (green vs orange).
2) Strava seems more focused on getting your competitiveness in gear. I get a ride Power and something called VAM. You get ranked on popular stretches. For example I discovered that I'm 78/145 on the "Mini Bayard Light-to-Light Segment". I never knew that. And now I'm pondering if I should be trying harder.
Strava has an annoying bug: it doesn't notice bridges: you find yourself doing some awesome descents, followed by amazing climbs. They know about the bug; no solution as yet (this is for the smartphone version).
2015-04-30 14:22:03
Lest I forget... Y'all are invited to ride with the Tag-O-Rama team in the NBC!
Click the Join button on this page:
https://nationalbikechallenge.org/team/5345
No special reason to join this particular team, except liking to ride. Or as Eddy Merckx put it: Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.
2015-04-30 14:42:27
Cool. Signed up. I'm just into the "platinum" class, whatever that is.
Re the Strava app vs Garmin thread above, yes the Garmin GPS is more accurate and does not suck the life out of your gps equipped phone. For some reason the GPS on most smart phones is incredibly power intensive, while Garmin has optimized power use. Different mapping programs (Strava, Map My Ride, Ride with GPS, etc) process the incoming data to some degree (i.e., the GPS in your car, if you have one, has this general notion that you should be driving on a road, and so it will default to putting you on the nearest road. The mapping apps will do that too with the raw data.
The Garmin units mostly have pressure sensors in them, and they can get change in altitude from that the same way that an airplane does altimetry. This is why your elevation will change if you interrupt a ride for a few hours, especially if the weather changes. there is a way you can enter survey points with known altitude (i.e., you home, etc) to calibrate/rectify the altimetry.
Yes, Strava is geared toward competitive types (thus the term Stravassole) as well as training analysis, etc.
2015-04-30 17:20:01
Car GPS does align your car to the nearest road; except when it doesn't (like for a totally new road: time to buy a new map DVD).
I don't get why Strava doesn't do road alignment. I understand not doing it for its 'runner' mode but the bike mode should be smarter. Their "map a new ride" function knows about roads, so why not? Maybe if they gave you a road/off-road switch it would accomodate. Easy enough, I think (yes there's edge cases, but so what). Then there's getting a grip on the sampling rate.
Re the altimeter calibration: Strava knows your coordinates from the GPS, and it would surely have access to a survey mark database. So within reason it should be able to self-calibrate barometric pressure using nearest known location. Or am I missing something?
2015-04-30 20:13:35
My Garmin Edge 500 has a DB of known survey marks (probably not all of them). You can activate a function that allows to use chosen mark as a base for altimeter calibration.
2015-04-30 22:10:20
I think that Strava was built with dedicated gpc devices (i.e. Garmins) in mind and they are really very accurate. A lot of mountain bikers use it too, so road registration automatically would not be a super good idea. It might be nice to have it as an optional feature and who knows maybe it is.
2015-05-01 05:14:21
Ah, got my account figured out. I am not a fan of the NBC site's usability! (Ding 1: I was trying to create an account on my phone and when you click in the text box to enter info it removes the only label that tells you which information you're supposed to be entering there. Ding 2: To reset your password, it sends you an email with a link, then you follow the link to the site and that generates a second email with a temporary password - but it doesn't really tell you that's how it works so you're clicking all over the place and then they lock your account for 15 minutes.)
I think my main argument for Strava over Map My Ride is that my old bike friends (who now mostly live on the west coast) are using it. I have a few friends on Map but they don't do much. The app has got really slow to start with recent iOS updates too. Also it doesn't seem to be syncing my workouts properly at the moment...will have to poke at that.
(Recent reviews say that the Strava Apple watch app is a mess, but that's not relevant!)
Go Burgh!
2015-05-01 09:22:58
Stef appears to have logged roughly as many miles as the rest of the Pgh crew combined in April... (OK, not quite true but close enough).
2015-05-01 09:25:35
Unfortunately, CtC was in April, and I ramp up my miles in March and April, and then they kinda fall off in May because I get sick of being on a road bike.
2015-05-01 16:55:50
No Pedal for Pints this year? Boo.
2015-05-08 23:37:13
What? No incentive beer? That's it, I'm outta here!
2015-05-09 05:57:26
Back to the original topics . . .
I use a Garmin 60csx mounted to the bike. Whenever I upload the GPX file to Strava, I always lose 0.1 mile. Weird that it is a constant.
An regarding altitude on your GPS, it depends on your GPS and your settings. The 60csx will either use barometer or navsat positioning and compute the altitude (don't ask me how, I'm just quoting the manual). Either way, it's only a rough figure anyway as you are not a ground level taking the reading.
2015-05-09 06:03:23
OTB is doing Pedal for Pints but only during the month of June.
2015-05-10 15:32:03
I am having trouble distinguishing between my commute miles and my recreation miles. In the beginning when I signed up it asked what most of my miles where for, recreation or commuting? I put recreation as I ride a ratio of about 70/30 (recreation/commute), most long rides on the weekends that make up majority of my miles are recreation.
Every time it syncs it syncs it as recreation. I selected commute in Strava but it won't change it. It is set to automatic sync. Do you have to be manual to have recreation vs commute?
It isn't a big deal, but I am a nerd and even have a spreadsheet that keeps track of my miles, what they are for, and what bike they were on. That way I can know myself what I did to save miles on my cage vs just getting out and keeping in shape.
2015-05-12 08:11:11
@ShooFlyPie, I've had the same problem with Strava. Despite labeling my rides as "Commute", they still show up as recreation. The only fix I've found for this, and it's a tedious one, is to manually subtract the recreation miles and add the commute miles. Like you said, it's not a big deal, but it's a nuisance.
2015-05-12 08:31:55
June? But I'm thirsty now!
On another note . . . I switched to Strava after there were reports of slow synchs with Endomondo. Only complaint is Strava constantly shorts my mileage by 0.1 mile. Yeah, I know, not much of a percentage on a 30 miler, but hey, we need all the mileage we can rack up to bring the Rust Cup back home!
2015-05-12 14:51:00
@scott cool on OTB Pedal for Pints!
It says there are 1,704 riders in our area signed up, but only 468 have logged any miles beginning at the start of this month. Pretty sad, I'm guessing Cleveland is doing better than that.
2015-05-12 15:46:01
We OCD types are really good about recording miles. I'm not doing much of anything different from what I did in 2012, only that I know I'm riding more. The Endomondo site has become a diary of sorts.
2015-05-12 16:35:28
It's sort of annoying that I have to go hit sync, unlike previously. I switched to Strava this year because my new toy, these bike goggles, natively does it. And speaking of that, I suppose I should post about those goggles. At some point.
2015-05-14 14:23:26
Yes, it would be awesome to read about your experience with the glasses!
2015-05-14 18:42:45
Strava seems to be syncing automatically for me (whenever I log into the NBC page, the sync typically says "4 seconds ago" or something, and the recent ride is there. It takes data a while to propagate through the whole site.
2015-05-15 05:57:48
it had been a week since it had synced, when i logged in, so I hit sync and it did. Strava is marked primary for me.
2015-05-15 06:02:50
Might it be Facebook related? I have Strava and Facebook linked up as well, and tend to "log in using Facebook" on the NBC site. I don't know if the login mode changes functionality.
2015-05-15 06:11:01
So how do you check on the Rust Belt Challenge? I've navved all over the site and can't seem to find an actual tally.
2015-05-15 07:06:36
national ->leaderboards ->local challenges ->find mine
you may not like what you find...
[ok just to make us feel better, if you normalize by ridercount, we're at 0.0214 pt/rider and they're at 0.0198. We may be fewer but we pedal morer!]
2015-05-15 07:38:43
Thanks! About as I suspected. Cle is riding the hell out of bikes.
2015-05-15 11:30:50
No they're not. We ride more, but we don't have enough people.
According to my quickie arithmetic, if we can sign up 217 more people we'll be in front (that's with ~200 fewer riders than CLE).
(What's the cyclist translation of "go bucks"?)
2015-05-15 14:58:08
CLE has 572 riders who have logged miles.
We have 504 riders logging miles.
2015-05-15 15:23:27
Not to be confrontational, but I correspond with several people from Cle. If they somehow got everyone on the next several Crit Masses to log miles (that would be anywhere from 700 to 850 people each), we would be done. They are indeed riding the hell out of bikes up there. 
All I'm saying is, step it up. Cle is not frelling around.
All I'm saying is, step it up. Cle is not frelling around. 2015-05-15 16:07:50
CLE has 26.8% active challengers, we have 23.7%.
I mean, tsk. On many levels.
What's worse,the interwebs say that CLE has 394,335 people while we have only 306,062. I won't do the math. But this is grim.
So ok, maybe only 68 more riders who actually ride.
Or ruthlessly hounding our 1200+ malingerers.
2015-05-15 19:12:28
I switched to Strava but it's still not sync'ing unless I go to the NBC page and click "sync now." Is there a setting or something? I'm using the iPhone app.
2015-05-21 13:41:47
I've been off tracking rides for a while now, but is the point scoring still heavily biased to number of days riding? Is there a way to share a logged ride among multiple riders?
2015-05-21 13:53:13
I think you have to go to the website and hit sync. I do not think it will sync your Strava unless you login to the National Bike Challenge webpage and authorize Strava to sync.
It is based on 20 points a day and then your miles.
Points = (days ridden)*20 + miles ridden.
I don't know about multiple riders. I think all the individual multi-riders should log their own miles.
2015-05-21 14:03:32
Yeah, see, I thought I had authorized it to sync. I'll look around for some other setting.
2015-05-21 14:33:03
Interesting. I'm using a Garmin, which automatically syncs to the Garmin website either from my phone or my wifi, and then Strava automatically syncs with Garmin. In that mode, the nbc site appears to automatically sync with Strava whenever I log into it (if I click Sync Now right after logging in it will correctly list my miles and say "last synced 1 minute ago" or something like that). Not sure how I got all that to function other than to set up the various auto syncs, but it may conceivably be different with the Strava smartphone app doing the actual recording (though I can't think why).
2015-05-21 14:37:42
Well, also last year MapMyRide synched automatically and it wouldn't do it this year either. Same install but I ran into a problem where it wouldn't sync at all and then installed a new version, so all bets are off there...
2015-05-21 16:30:48
I've been using the Strava on Android for the past month or so.
Last week the sync'ing stopped.
I check the interweb: Lots of people report this problem. A (wide) range of (complicated) solutions are proposed.
In my case this worked: kill and restart the app. The queue of unsync'd rides then uploads and all is well.
If that hadn't worked I would have rebooted. Then reinstalled the app. Then gone back to Endomondo. I have too many other things I need to obsess about.
2015-05-21 17:58:11
We're getting beat.
33 - Rust Belt Battle - CLE
Cleveland, OH
90.09
2214 riders
(701 riders have logged miles)
35 - Rust Belt Battle - PGH
Pittsburgh, PA
84.03
1829 riders
(673 riders have logged miles)
We're also losing to *cough* Tallahassee, FL
2015-05-28 20:27:21
@otbbicyclecafe's says Pedal for Points tickets are in: https://twitter.com/otbbicyclecafe/status/606201281733120001?s=09
2015-06-03 18:00:51
Meh endomondo changed the home page and now it is a PITA to log miles. It used to have a view of how many miles you logged that day and also that week. On the log miles page, it had a drop down menu where you could put in your saved commute miles, and now I can't find that anywhere.
2015-06-03 21:41:13
If anyone figures out how to get back to what seemed like an easy way to log and view miles, let those of us who are a bit technologically challenged know please!
2015-06-04 07:14:22
Here's what I do:
I use Endomondo on my phone to track miles when I'm not on one of my regular routes where I know the distance.
When I log in to the NBC site, I do it by clicking on the Endomondo link. This syncs any miles I've logged through the phone.
And I log miles manually on the NBC site. I have named rides I've entered for my commute, etc. It's just a matter of picking the ride.
2015-06-04 08:02:49
Yeah, I noticed that, too. Has anyone tried the paid Endomondo site? I'm willing to part with $6 for a 30-day trial, but I'm not sure I'm ready for $30/year. This is going to be a serious bummer if there isn't a simple, web-based mileage logger. It was pain enough to move from the previous one in March 2012, and not be able to copy or preserve numbers prior to that.
2015-06-05 08:07:59
If anyone figures out how to get back to what seemed like an easy way to log and view miles, let those of us who are a bit technologically challenged know please!To see miles -> training/statistics.
2015-06-05 08:21:03
I use strava and I don't have any issues. Seems to simply log my numbers automatically when I log in.................It just takes like 20 minutes to update after you do so.
Also, to the question I asked above about miles used for transportation/recreation. This can be changed if you hit edit profile and then hit 'ride logs" in the top of the edit profile section. Good luck between switching through the pages though. This website seems clunky.
2015-06-05 08:39:58
NBC can be linked to both Strava and Endomondo so as to have your miles upload automatically. You can even set things up so that both of the loggers are linked (one gets to be "prime").
It does take time for data to upload and propagate, but it didn't use to a couple months ago: stuff would appear within a minute. I expect that NBC is currently getting pounded (presumably a good thing) so you just have to wait.
Note also that sometimes you need to restart the logging app on your phone; it occasionally just stops transmitting the data.
2015-06-05 14:34:21
Just checked today, we are at 1,919 riders registered. OTB said that if that number hits 2,000 by then end of June, they'll extend the Pedal for Pints promotion for the duration of the NBC.
Come on, guys! Time to get grandma to register for the Challenge!
2015-06-26 10:39:10
I've futzed with the Endomondo site, and app, a bunch of times, and have reverted to logging my miles since June 3 on paper. I have no idea how many miles I've ridden this month.
I see no way to enter miles without spending an hour or more re-mapping every one of my 25 route combinations, separate from categorizing each trip as one of them.
Nor do I see any way to extract my data from their database so I can load it into a spreadsheet or anything else. I've dutifully logged every trip since March 2012 in this system. It would truly suck to lose all that.
2015-06-26 11:07:43
@Stu (et al):
If you want to log straight to NBC, sign into your account then:
1) click on the red 'Log Miles' button near the top.
2) On the panel that shows up, on the top, click on the calendar-like icon.
3) This will give you the current month; you can click to other months.
4) Click on a day; enter distances on the bottom and click "log miles". This will replace any existing entry so make sure you adds things up first. Note that you can name and save routes.
For Endomondo, sign in then:
1) click on Training at the top; on the next page click the blue "Add Workout"
2) If you're just entering miles, use "New workout with no route", otherwise select a stored route or draw a new one; there's also a "Import from file" option but it looks like you'd have to figure out the format(s).
For Strava, sign in then:
1) Click the orange + sign-in-a-box in the upper right corner, and choose "Add manual entry"; then fill out the form.
For the latter two you need to connect to NBS and go to My Account, then:
1) click on Edit Profile and scroll down; on the right will be an Authorized Apps section. Pick a vendor and click Authorize. I don't quite recall what then happens but it it's pretty easy to follow (to link accounts in).
This causes the mileage to periodically upload to NBS, so there's nothing more to do (well, except ride).
It was noticeably more painful in previous years, but not so bad this time. The Endomondo saved-routes scheme seemed better designed than the others.
2015-06-26 12:14:01
Strava has been the way to go for me. Only one minor issue, which is that rides that I tag as "commute" are not being registered as such, so I have to manually change that on the site.
2015-06-26 14:40:45
Yea I have given up on the commute designation with Strava, partly because the "avoided CO2" designation for me is laughable. When I am not biking I'm flying 100+k mi/yr, meaning I have one of the largest carbon footprints in Pittsburgh. To make matters worse I'm a climate scientist...
However, the actual logging of rides via Strava appears now to be completely automated and seamless.
2015-06-27 07:53:13
For the commute part, I'm mostly interested in how much of that I'm doing in terms of distance. I know I'm saving money, and the CO2 saved thing is also meaningless to me: I work for a lime manufacturing company, where the mere process of making limestone (CaCO3) into quick lime (CaO) in a kiln (calcination) releases a crapload of CO2 as a byproduct. Riding a bike is never going to offset that.
2015-06-27 09:03:50
Ok, I was not my turn to cook dinner tonight. So here I am, waiting, and desperately trying to find meanings on the interwebs.
But dinner will be worth it: spicy chicken/tofu goop. Tomorrow will be pot-luck with my partner's work-group. One of my dishes (a curry) was "requested". Why does it work that way? But I digress...
For the past couple of days, I've been checking the Pittsburgh NBS front-page where, amazingly, my image appeared ever so briefly (and this is speaking as someone who sometimes struggles to claw himself out of the triple-digit ranks).
For the local set, images featuring bikes have accounted for 65-75% of instances. For the national it looks to be more like 80%. This is not counting people in otherwise non-functional spandex attire, but counting the default bike image.
On the surface, the question might be: why is not Pittsburgh as bike-ish as America? But maybe the question should be: why is everyone so bike-ish abut their participation in the NBS? It's not in the rules. Isn't biking just a part of normal life? What about you ?
[...] Dinner appears.
Not much bikeish to report, other maybe than the discussion on whether anti-unionism is a contemporary expression of pro-slavery. [NOTE: this is NOT discussion bait. It was just dinner talk; but hey, think about it.]
Oh look. A bar of white chocolate from Aldi's.
Sorry. Gotta go.
2015-07-02 19:37:24
I'm assuming Pedal for Pints was not extended past June?
2015-07-10 10:12:50
After futzing around with Ahlir's instructions, I decided it wasn't worth the bother. I'm not tracking miles at all, anywhere.
2015-07-10 11:47:41
Oh Noo-ooos!!! Say it ain't so!
Stu, you can't quit now! Those dastardly CLEs are at 36th, while we languish at 44th. Oh the shame of it; I don't think I'll ever be able to to show my face in Cleveland again.
Don't give up! Surely some one of us would be happy to walk you through the whole thing! Maybe even using one of those shared desktop thingies. After all, this is high-tech Pittsburgh!
Worse, we never made it to 2000 riders! And now I'm stuck with this OTB ticket and no beer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZoikac30II
[Are there ANZAC clubs in the US? Kinda looks like one. Unless they slapped together some scenery just for the shoot. Or, wait, maybe he was touring down under.]
2015-07-10 19:00:30
I'll probably show my face in Cleveland again in a couple weeks. On my bike of course. I might even log the miles :)
2015-07-10 22:21:28
I am bi-urban. Although I may be having a three-way with Montreal.
2015-07-11 07:00:50
The sync from endomondo is all kinds of fucked up
2015-07-12 21:54:27
Sometime in early June I noticed something changed with the interface--I needed to add a workout (which took umpteen extra clicks (I exaggerate; it was umpteen - 1 clicks); prior to that I just entered my numbers. It still required checking with Bike Challenge Central to make sure all was copacetic (which it wasn't 15% of the time--logged to wrong day)....Anyway, I just go straight to the Bike Challenge and manually enter my numbers now....I still use Endomondo to login because I figure if I change anything, I might lose all my data...I don't know why they can't get this right...use a date stamp on the data and it should sync fine...and why Endomondo changed its interface is their business, but thy are losing mine...
2015-07-12 22:06:14
Yeah, the sync from Strava is bunk as well. Looks like if we lose the rust belt battle it won't be because of lack of bicycling LOL.
I just logged 640 miles in the last week and the NBC site synced with Strava, shows the rides, and yet my total miles for the time period never updated with the new 640 miles worth of rides I logged. It just says I've ridden 240-ish miles, shows the new rides I posted, but the totals never updated with them.
XXXXXX
And of course as soon as I say something about it, the totals updated for me LMFAO. I guess it's all good now.
2015-07-12 22:58:13
I'm still doing it, but I'm not sure why. No free beer. And I'm actually OK with Cleveland having the RustBelt Crown. They have so little else.
2015-07-13 07:38:41
Ironically, Strava magically started syncing automatically for me at some point in the last 10 days or so. Before that I had to go to the website and prompt it to sync.
2015-07-13 08:13:59
NBS does seem erratic in is updating. I've learned not to worry about it; just check the next morning and things seem to have updated.
Strava seems pretty reliable; all you really need to remember is to click a button at the start and at the end of a ride. Updating just happens.
The whole scoring thing is goofy but I figure that as long as my miles show up in the calendar display on my profile, it's probably working. Though I sometimes wonder about that #1-in-the-USA dude who seems to be logging 200+ miles a day (so far, this month). Maybe he's tracking furlongs? The longest stage in the TdF is 144 miles.
And, yes, nothing is sadder than a challenge with no beer.
2015-07-13 08:23:36
The beer was a cute benefit/gimmick, but I think the natural attraction is for competitive folks and numbers junkies... I was a little more of each of those when I saw more headroom in terms of getting faster.
I might've done it anyway if for no other reason than that it might've been cute for the girls to see how their frequent but short rides stack up point wise. But between the inability to "share" a ride, my cell phone turnover, and all the hassles synching people have reported it was clearly not worth it for me this year.
Maybe next year.
2015-07-13 09:10:12
Life got busy for me in June. In addition to becoming ACTC president (again), I also took on some new responsibilities in Toastmasters, and work is already a near-24/7 proposition.
Something had to give, and this was least important.
To reiterate, though, my approach to cycling is that any broke dude can do it. I am not going to burden myself with hundred-dollar doo-dads just so I can track mileage via GPS.
Endomondo had a drop-down list of my dozen to 15 trips. I rode Route X, click Route X, bingo, 10.4 miles. Click another, today's total 23.3 miles. Click another, 267 miles so far this month. Nice charts. Why did they have to break their site?
2015-07-13 11:21:27
It's the same on the NBC site. You just enter your rides and name them, then just click. I still use Endomondo to validate but the rides get entered through the NBC site.
2015-07-13 12:13:45
Ahlir, that number one dude is some utltramarathon guy out to break a record set in 1939. Although I'm sure the dude in 1939 didn't have a 18 lb carbon fiber road bike with a Shimano Dura Ace drivetrain, so it's really apples to oranges.
200 miles really isn't horrible. It just takes ALL day. Now doing it every day...................Dude's wife must hate him.
http://road.cc/content/news/139788-american-ultramarathon-cyclist-kurt-searvogel-tackle-year-record
2015-07-14 20:54:01
oh-oh, Kurt (the guy I had in mind) is down to 3rd place. The guy with the muscle-car avatar is now on top.
What does this Mean? Other than they're likely to have been all divorced by now. (Well wait, maybe a couple of them are married to each other; this is getting complicated.)
2015-07-14 21:20:00
I did manage to add a couple of days' miles to the NBC page, but the real sticking point is not being able to export routes from the old Endomondo system. I am not going to map out Every. Fricking. Ride. I. Take. That's just too much effort.
2015-07-18 07:27:11
Shit?! Of all the things I could have won, I won a year's supply of toilet paper! Thus the interrobang. I wonder how many rolls they think I use per year?! I'm guessing 1 36 roll box is their best guess...
2015-09-01 17:00:37
Kinda sorry I didn't thrash my way through the recordkeeping fiasco. I know I've done a crapton of riding this summer, and ended May with 450-ish miles.
But all that for a few $20 packs of TP? Yeah, I can't see that as all that whoop-de-do. After all, I'm sitting in a brand-new, made-for-me, $500 Herman Miller office chair, just because I showed up at a Bike-Pgh networking event a few weeks ago. Not bragging, just showing the order of magnitude of prize levels.
2015-09-01 17:24:53
Well poop on you. Poop on me and I've got it covered or at least wiped...
2015-09-01 19:06:33
There are plenty of other non-anal uses of tp:
http://www.dorkly.com/post/69822/the-most-creative-uses-of-toilet-paper-ever#item-25
2015-09-01 23:04:07
While we're on the subject (while reading this you might crap your pants--you've been warned):
http://www.gastroscout.com/woc/craptype.cfm
2015-09-01 23:21:23
Let's keeps the poo jokes rolling.
2015-09-02 08:21:50
2015-09-02 08:40:07
Always good to see Zefrank (a fellow Brown alum...). I have discovered that I underestimated the Scott corporation. The magnitude of their magnanimity is 16 12 packs = 192 rolls. If a 1-year supply is supposed to be more than 1 roll every 2 days, I am definitely not going on any long rides for the next year...
2015-09-02 11:45:10
@neilmd, on the plus side, no emergency runs to the convenience store to buy TP if someone in your home gets the poops, at least for the next year or so
2015-09-02 12:09:00
So if anybody is feeling a lower GI tract issue coming on, just let me know and I can arrange to have almost any quantity of relief and/or protection sent over. If you have a kitten and want to start it off on some very bad habits, I'm your man. Our cats are not interested.
2015-09-12 13:00:34