Wikipedia of Maps

Openstreetmap.org has been around for a while now. I like to think of it as the Wikipedia of mapping. It is a worldwide editable map.

BUT, it was just recently pointed out to me that there is a subset of openstreetmap.org called opencyclemap.org which contains road and trail data overlayed on topographical contours. . . how awesome is that?!

AND, someone has updated the McDonald/Dunn Forest area of this open map database to include fairly complete and up-to-date roads and trails (thank you unknown person(s)). This is the first time since the old Pogue map that we have both current trail and current road data, available to the public, for most of the rideable trails in the McDonald/Dunn forest area.

AND, for those of us that ride pavement, the opencyclemap.org data includes paved bike route data also.

Mountain Biking the Corvallis Area

Are you interested in riding with other people and exploring the mountain bike trails around the Corvallis area?

In most cases, the Corvallis mountain biking community gets together for group rides by using group email lists instead of calendars of regular rides at regular locations. As such, if you are not already a member of the community, it is hard to find out what groups of people with what level of ambition are riding where, how far, and how fast.

Well, check out the Corvallis Mountain Biking blog. Craig Cole (ccole@peak.org) coordinates two weekly rides, every week, all year round, rain or shine at 9:15 PM every Thursday night, and 7:00 AM every Saturday morning. Details, stories, and contact information is all available on the Corvallis Mountain Biking blog.

Embedded Calendar

I've always wanted a running calendar with all the cycling events that might be of interest to the community. Now, with the ability to embed Google Maps, I can create a calendar that is hopefully fairly easy to keep updated and useful. So, here it goes. My first try at a clean complete, public calendar of events.

More Mapping Software

About a month ago, I finished a three day bicycle tour over to, and down the coast, that I thought would be about 65 miles per day, with maybe 8000 ft of climbing over the whole tour route. When I was done, I had ridden a 94 mile first day with over 7000 ft of climbing and a 115 mile last day with over 9000 ft of climbing. It was a great tour, but I was baffled with how inept (some may read stupid) my planning had been.

While perusing a web page the other day for a Mt. Hood area race, I starting playing with this very cool embedded Google type map that traced the ride profile below as I moused over the route map above. There was a link to the mapping site attached to the map so I clicked on it. . . ta dah! And yet another personal route mapping web site. . . but hey, this one is really simple and works really well, and uses Google for its map data, and it talks to your gps, and it has all kinds of more cool features, and it's free. . . and, I couldn't stop my self from playing with it and drawing all kinds of cool routes to plan new tours and see the exact distance of rides I've done over the years and exactly how much climbing I really did . . . and, and, and . . . you just gotta check it out.

If for some reason the there is not a cool map embedded above this line, the link for the mapping web page is "ridewithgps.com".

Interactive Mid-Valley Bike Map

All road cyclists in the mid-Willamette Valley now have an outstanding new route finding resource. Check out the interactive Mid-Willamette Valley Bicycling and Pedestrian map. With this map, you can choose road routes based on distance and difficulty. The maps can optionally include contours, aerial photographs, road shoulder information and more.

Three cheers to the GIS Department of Linn County, the Linn County Commissioners, the Albany Bicycle & Pedestrian Commission, and the members of Santiam Spokes, Mid-Valley Bicycle Club and Albany Fitwalkers for committing to and following through on this tremendous projecct!

Trainer Night at Peak Sport

Wednesday night January 14th, from 6:15 - 8:00 PM Peak Sports Bike Shop will be showing "Pure Sweet Hell" a cyclocross film. All interested persons are invited to bring their bicycle, their trainer, and a towel to ride while we watch. There is one trainer available for loan to the first person that requests it for the night.

Peak Sports on Facebook and Twitter

Check out Peak Sports, now on both Facebook and Twitter.
On Facebook Peak Sports is set up as a group you can join to keep up to date on local outdoor acitvities, as well as being notified about sales and events at Peak Sports.
If you follow Peak Sports on Twitter, you can be instantaniously notified of events, sales, or other happenings as they happen. There will also be occational "twitter sales" with extra crazy discounts available for minutes to hours for people that are following Peak_Sports on twitter.