Bicycle Touring Maps

I was so busy earlier this week. I applied a Savannah account to host my research code Sila (hence I need to worry about software licensing). Then I helped some postdocs and grad students to prepare their 3D stereo data visualization. Myself had a demonstration in Prof. Goodman's visualization class. And of course, there are few research papers that I suppose to finish...

Anyway, because my trip is going to start in three months, I better "be prepared". At the beginning of this week I ordered a set of totally 12 bicycle touring maps for the TransAmerica Trail from Adventure Cycling Association. The total for non-member is US$165.00. They are not cheap. But when I received the maps I was pretty happy about their quality.

The maps are not printed on normal papers. The feeling is the same as National Geographics' Trails Illustrated Maps, which are tear and water resistant. In terms of the content, I can find detailed direction of the TransAmerica Trail as well as campsite and post office! Post offices indeed play a key role in supporting my trip: I will need a couple of friends to ship gears to me.

There are more campsites along the trail than I expected. I'm hoping to do tent camping for most of the time. That will save more money for buying the Galileoscopes. Oh... by the way, I finally ordered one for myself so I can take it across America!

Belmont Wheelworks

Wheelworks has a Spring "SuperSale".  Everything is 10% off.  I went to their Cambridge/Somerville store a few days ago trying to get more gears.  However, the popular Ortlieb panniers were out of stock.  The staffs suggested me to stop by their Belmont store, which is twice as big.

So I took a little 12 km ride today.  I'm actually impressed by the fact that MotionX GPS can e-mail me my track!

I started from CfA, ride on Belmont St. and Trapelo Rd.  And then reached the Belmont Wheelworks store.  It was a easy ride in the suburban area with a short uphill section.  I ordered quite a bit of gears but I will talk about them in another post.  The return trip was all down hill so it's was even easier.  My average speed was 20 km/h ~ 12 mph without loading.

If I start my trip on July 1st and finish it by September 1st, I will have 8 weeks.  Say I take one day off per week, some simple-minded math shows I will need to ride more than 7 hours per day.  If I want to include the heaving load, going up hill, and all that... it is not going to be easy.

Running

Spring finally arrives.  The weather is so nice during the Spring Break.  Ann and I ran a bit this morning around the Fresh Pond.  It also gave me a chance to test the iPhone app MotionX GPS.

The picture below is a screenshot of MotionX GPS, which tracked our run.  The round trip from CfA is about 7 km (4.3 miles).  We spent about an hour so the average speed was 7 km/hr.  I know this is slow...

Google Map for Bike

At the National Bike Summit 2010, Washington, D.C., Google announces that the Google Maps supports bike routes!  If you search for a direction, in addition to "By car", "By public transit", and "Walking", now you have the fourth choice "Bicycling".  Perfect timing for my trip!

And this is how I bike home from the CfA!

New Bike

I ordered the Trek 520 on Monday and picked it up yesterday.  So far I am pretty happy with it.  Here are few pictures:

Decision Made (for Job)

I decided to take the job offer from Nordita in Sweden.  The position starts in September so I will have about two months free time during this Summer --- perfect timing for biking across America.

I have been reading reviews about touring bikes.  My short list now includes the Cannondale Touring 1, the Trek 520, the Trek Portland, and the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

The Cannondale Touring 1, the Trek 520, and the Surly Long Haul Trucker are all classic and popular choices for long distance touring.  The Trek Portland is more like an urban bike but it has disc brakes.  I still need more time to consider...

I am heading to Aspen this weekend for a conference.  It will be fun!