Winter Bike Challenge

[DismalScientist]

Do we want to bring back the snow/freezing rain bonus?

Based on unscheduled school closings? Fed closings? Toilet paper shortages in supermarkets?

[Mikey]

I'd say no to the freezing/snow bonus. I think the 10 pts + 1pt per mile, should be a good motivator to ride every day. I think we should keep track of it separately though, it may make a good side contest for one of those useless trophies.

[ronwalf]

I'm unclear on what baggage is, or why it needs a long discussion. Does removing that bullet change anything?

[Bilsko]

Well, you can't program a TCX or GPX file into a smartphone...at least not yet. So a smartphone can't replace cue sheets like a Garmin can. Even the 200 and 500 do breadcrumb trails that, to my knowledge, can't be done with a phone...which again goes back to the TCX/GPX file issue. You're right though that the 800 sucks at providing ad hoc directions and I haven't even bothered attempting to use this feature on my 800.

Maybe I'm not following exactly...but I dont have a problem downloading GPX files to my Android via RidewithGPS. Sure, its kind of a pain to go through the steps, but for the past two DC Randonneurs brevets, I've pulled the GPX files down from their website, uploaded to RidewithGPS, then downloaded them as routes onto the Android app. Shows map view, cue sheet style, and turn-by-turn (not sure about audio turn-by-turn though)

[TwoWheelsDC]

Maybe I'm not following exactly...but I dont have a problem downloading GPX files to my Android via RidewithGPS. Sure, its kind of a pain to go through the steps, but for the past two DC Randonneurs brevets, I've pulled the GPX files down from their website, uploaded to RidewithGPS, then downloaded them as routes onto the Android app. Shows map view, cue sheet style, and turn-by-turn (not sure about audio turn-by-turn though)

Nope, I'm just dumb. I didn't know they had an Android app. I'll have to check that out.

[Rod Smith]

You can enter rides manually at Strava, but they do not count towards their challenges. Endomondo did not require participants to own a fancy cell phone or GPS bike computer to paticipate in the National Bike Challenge.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Maybe I'm not following exactly...but I dont have a problem downloading GPX files to my Android via RidewithGPS. Sure, its kind of a pain to go through the steps, but for the past two DC Randonneurs brevets, I've pulled the GPX files down from their website, uploaded to RidewithGPS, then downloaded them as routes onto the Android app. Shows map view, cue sheet style, and turn-by-turn (not sure about audio turn-by-turn though)

Do you happen to know if there's an iPhone app for us Borg? I couldn't find one.

[acl]

Do you happen to know if there's an iPhone app for us Borg? I couldn't find one.

Ditto, please, if anyone knows of one that will give turn-by-turn.

Btw, cyclemeter does let you download a GPX file, which you can then follow on their map display if 1) you can read it (I find my iphone screen pretty much impossible to read in bright sunlight, especially while also trying to ride and pay attention to things around me), and 2) you don’t mind the battery suck of keeping the display on (running cyclemeter with the display off doesn’t seem to be a big battery drain-- though I am a couple hour max rider, not a full day rider—but running it with the display on is a huge drain). It does NOT give you turn by turn directions, let alone audio directions. (I would like audio turn-by-turn, but not enough to spend $400 on a garmin for it). I don’t find it super useful for following a route because of those 2 caveats, but it is better than nothing.

[Bilsko]

Do you happen to know if there's an iPhone app for us Borg? I couldn't find one.

Googling Ridewithgps iphone came up with this:
http://ridewithgps.com/help/IPhone

[rcannon100]

Okay, input and comments has pretty much stabilized. I am declaring consensus and have posted the announcement on a new thread. Please tweet it, blog it, to your #bikedc comrades. I will post what registration looks like.