6pm: 95 degrees

July 21, 2005 by Eric Richardson

It's hot today. I thought if I waited a bit later to ride home, I'd miss some of that. Turns out it isn't so; it's after 6pm and it's still 95 degrees outside. Oh well, I'm done waiting. Time to just man up and ride.

More Accurate Results

July 21, 2005 by Eric Richardson

This morning I stopped my computer entering Union Station and didn't restart it until I was set to take off from outside the Memorial Park Gold Line station. That may have been what propelled my average speed from 12.5mph to 14.2mph. It also may have been what pulled my trip distance from 6.36 miles down to 6.14. With that accounted for my trip distances now track a lot more cleanly with the ones I plotted on the map.

More Speed

July 19, 2005 by Eric Richardson

It is definitely 95 degrees outside, and I'm definitely drenched, but I just made it home on my first return trip with a computer. Mileage is really close to what I gave it as earlier -- GMap Pedometer gave 14.8 miles; the computer says 14.97.

Average speed was 17.7mph, and that was a number that went down as the ride went on and flattened out. Coming into the bike path in South Pasadena it was around 20. Approaching Chinatown it was 19. Then the lights and traffic kicked in, and I ended up with the final number of 17.7. Way back in May, when I first made the whole ride back, Alan commented that I should be able to hit 17-18mph on this ride. Turns out he was dead on.

Max speed was 36.5mph, and it was right where I thought it would be, on this stretch of road.

Trip time was 50:21, but that's moving time. When I stop at a light the clock stops.

Me and My Computer

July 19, 2005 by Eric Richardson

I bought a cycle computer yesterday -- a Cateye Enduro 8 -- and used it for the first time on my ride into work today. I'm trying to make sure I've got it all set up and callibrated correctly. To do that, though, I need a way to show mileage for the routes I take, which is something driving direction oriented tools won't manage (they don't account for cuts through parks, etc). Gmap Pedometer is an amazing tool for that sort of thing. It lets you just plot points on the map and creates a path out of it. It doesn't hold you to roadways, which is both good and bad. Good, in that parks are no problem. Bad, in that you have to manually click your way down the bends of a roadway.

In any case, it's the best thing I have at my disposal. Here you can see my route from my apartment to Union Station. The pedometer shows 1.29 miles, while my computer showed 1.45. Here's my route from Memorial Park to JPL. For this leg the pedometer lists 4.8 miles, while the computer gives me 4.91.

At first I thought this might be calibration error, but in that case the error should be linear, and increase with distance. Obviously these differences aren't doing that. My best guess? I don't ride in a straight line.

Here's the fun route -- JPL to my apartment. Some parts make more sense from the satellite view; the bike path shows up in empty space on the map. Here the pedometer gives me 14.81 miles. We're see how that corresponds to actual distance travelled by the bike in just a bit.

Other quick stats: Max speed on the ride in was 28.5mph, down a hill on Lincoln. Average speed was 12.5mph, though that includes limited sections pushing the bike through Union Station, etc (at 3-4mph). We'll see what I hit on the hill down Salvia Canon coming toward the Rose Bowl. I'm guessing 37mph.

Stupid Little Buses on the 177

July 15, 2005 by Eric Richardson

If I'm not biking into work I have to take the 177 (PDF Schedule) from Pasadena to JPL and back. The buses that they use on the route are absolutely the worst I've ever ridden in. They're little, they ride horribly on the freeway, and oftentimes they seem to have other issues.

In the last week, for instance, there was one trip in which the bill collector on the fare machine was broken. The driver had to just let people on without making them pay, and probably passed up about $20 in fare just from JPL alone. Even worse, though, was the door. These little buses have a motor that operates the door, and apparently this one didn't want to quite work. It would get the door about 3/4 of the way closed, and that's it. So we rode down the 210 from JPL to Pasadena with the front door partially open. That doesn't seem too safe.

This morning I thought maybe things were going to get better. Up pulls a normal bus, with 177 written on a piece of paper and stuck in the window. The side of the bus was completely white, save for the "Travel Smart, Go Metro" sticker text. Obviously it had fresh paint over a Foothill Transit scheme, and inside the Foothill ads were still up. The ride was infinitely nicer and I didn't feel like the windows were going to rattle loose and fall off.

This afternoon, though, no luck. Back to the good old little buses. This time the air was out, so we had to ride down the freeway with all the windows open.

I hate those things.