Cycling in Burgundy

7 07 2009

Back in June my family and I spent a week’s holiday in Burgundy and took the bikes down with us. We were based North West of Dijon in an area where the hills are gently rolling, weather on the whole was great and the excellent wine flowed nicely in the evenings (Top tip, if you want to enjoy a near Champagne taste at a fraction of the cost then when you are in Burgundy you should certainly try some Crémant de Bourgogne.).

My experience over the week was that the area is excellent for either road or off road cycling. I also have the impression that cycling in the region is very safe and on most of the country roads you’d be lucky to see one car every 10 minutes, and even those that pass generally seem very respectful to cyclists. It’s even quieter off road where you’d be lucky to come across anyone at all.

I didn’t have the time or opportunity to venture onto any single track but did experience the amazing set of farm roads that crisscross the countryside, highly recommend for a gentle off road cycle through the fields.

Tracks through the fields

We also tried cycling along the Burgundy canal, this was brilliant for a family ride with the kids. The cycle path is essentially a dusty road that runs alongside the canal with a very gentle incline or slope each time you encounter a lock. The views along the canal are stunning as it meanders through the beautiful countryside, passing by the very quaint villages where you can take a short detour to have a refreshing beer and lunch in any of the delightful cafes and restaurants.

Cycling along the Burgundy canals

We had a great holiday and look forward to going back very soon, maybe we’ll try out one of the many vineyard cycle routes :-) .Locations of visitors to this page

You can find a little further information about the Burgundy canal and cycling there here.





GPSies – Share your tracks

4 07 2009

GPSies is a very cool website set up by Klaus Bechtold that shares your GPS tracks, allowing everyone to upload and download tracks very easily and view in Google maps.

GPSies1

Tracks are available to download in a range of file types from KXML to GPX , there is also a quick and easy option to export tracks to your Garmin GPS too.

GPSies2

But with so many tracks available it’s good to see that an excellent search facility is provided. Search results can also be filtered by the following catagories: By Foot, By Wheel, By Motor, On Water, At Winter and Others.

Once you’ve found an interesting track, detailed information can be viewed for it including an altitude profile, and users can provide feedback via ratings, so you’ll know if the track is going to be good or not!

But it’s not just us Joe Public using the site as I was delighted to see that MBR Magazine uploads their routes to the site, currently they have 52 tracks uploaded, see below,

GPSies3Locations of visitors to this page





Memory-Map Routes to Garmin Edge 705

29 06 2009

If you have a Garmin Edge 705 and Memory-Map then I’m sure you’re probably having a few issues getting your routes downloaded to your Garmin device. I believe this is fixed with the latest version of Memory-Map but here is a way to get round the problem if you don’t have the latest version or just don’t want to run the update.

Before you get started you’ll need a small utility (GPX2CRS) to convert a GPX file to a *.crs file. The generated *.crs file can then be imported into Garmins Training Center application and then finally exported to your Garmin Edge. You can download GPX2CRS for free here.

The GPX2CRS utility also has some extra features like speed simulation, speed adjustment, track reversing and automatic creation of course points. And it also allows you to add track points to avoid the ‘Off course’/'Course found’ problem.

OK, to get your route over from Memory-Map to your Garmin just follow the steps below,

  • Firstly plan your route in Memory-Map then right click on the Route and select Save As…
  • In the Save as type drop down select GPX eXchange files (*.gpx) (see below)

MemMap1

  • Give your file a name and click Save
  • Now start up the GPX2CRS utility
  • In the Convert GPX to Course tab, click the button next to GPX File: and select your previously saved GPX file (see below)

gpx2crsLocations of visitors to this page

  • Now click the Convert button and give a name and location for your *.crs file
  • Now start Garmin Training Center (you can get this for free here)
  • Click File, Menu item Import and select Courses… (see below)

Garmin Training Center

  • Select your *.crs file and click Open
  • Connect your Garmin device and click File, Send to Device…

And that’s it, you should now have your course loaded onto your Garmin and be ready to hit the trails. It certainly works for me and I can convert my files pretty quickly now just following the simple steps above.





2009 UK cycle events guide

23 04 2009

Thanks to BikeRadar.com here’s a great and very comprehensive guide to all UK cycle events planned for the coming months, Events Guide 2009





The bluebells are out, time to stop and enjoy the view!

22 04 2009

The sun has finally decided to shine for a few days now and I got the chance to get out on the trail. And what a turnaround it’s been from the recent gloop we’ve had. The trails were dusty and dry, it’s such a pleasure to be out biking in these conditions, fantastic!

 

I have to say that I don’t normally like to hang around, too busy trying to beat my virtual partner on my Garmin Edge, but with the bluebells out in the woods and looking amazing, I had to stop to take a few pictures. I even grabbed a few photos further along the trail including the sun glinting off my trusty steed J Enjoy…

 Bluebells out in the woods

 My trusty steed glinting in the sunlight...





Rain Glorious Rain, time to get the Bontrager Mud X’s out!

17 04 2009

As usual the good old British weather is pouring rain down upon us, but at least the temperature is above freezing. So it’s that time of year to just get out there rain or shine, and to be best prepared I’ve donned my hard tail MTB with a Bontrager Mud X 1.8 on the rear. I have to say the Bontrager Mud X tyre is awesome; it really digs in and grips in the slippy stuff but rolls pretty fast in other conditions. I chose the Bonty after digging through various reviews and can’t recommend it highly enough for gloopy single track riding here in the UK. Check out Biker Radars review of the Bonty here





For Fashion or Function

29 03 2009

I recently relented and purchased some new shorts for when I’m out on my mountain bike. After reading the reviews I plumped for the Endura Single Track Baggies and have to say they are incredibly well made and versatile shorts. My only doubt about these being for fashion or function comes from the fact that unless you want a numb behind you ultimately have to put these on over your regular lycra cycle shorts, in effect doubling the pairs of shorts you are wearing.

Endura Singletrack 3/4 Baggies

 

I understand the value the mountain bike baggy shorts add in the sense of water resistance, protection against brambles and other spiky vegetation. But I have to say the most benefit to me is the fact that I’ll be able to stop at a pub or interact with normal society without looking like I’ve descended from another planet. So is the trend towards baggy shorts formally for fashion or function, I’d love to hear your thoughts?





Walk, Jog, Run

27 03 2009

Planning a route for a walk, ride or a run and want to calculate the distance and view it on a map? Then why not check out www.walkjogrun.net. It’s a site that enables you to do just that using GoogleMaps. You can plan and view your route in either a Map, Satellite or Hybrid view, calculate pace, time and also calories burnt.

The site is mainly targeted at runners and there is a Groups and Community section, but I think the site could easily also be used for walking and biking. Take a look and hit the trails!





Cycling in the snow, are you crazy!

5 02 2009

If you’re bored of sledging and itching to get out on your bike then don’t let a bit of snow put you off! I’ve had a quick hunt around the internet and found a number of innovative (if not crazy!) solutions to bike your way through the winter wonderland.

Let’s start with the craziest solution, the Cycle Snow Plough:

Given that most four wheeled modes of transport struggle in the snow I was fascinated to read about the bike snow plough. The plough is towed behind your bike and from the photos actually seems to do a pretty good job of clearing the snow (at least for everyone behind you), also looks like a great way to build those leg muscles. My only feeling about this is how on earth do you stay upright, I would suggest a slight modification of snow cycle stabilisers or certainly a set of studded tyres! If you fancy finding out more check out this link,

Cycle Snow Plough, attached and ready to go!

    Cycle Snow Plough in action

Ktrak: If you fancy the idea of snowmobiling but want to keep fit at the same time, then why not convert your bike using the Ktrak system. Essentially the system swaps your front wheel for a ski and converts your back wheel into a caterpillar like track, this driven by your normal cranks and chain. I have to say this one looks really cool and I’d certainly fancy having a go, looks like it could get pretty hairy on any big descents though!

Studded tyres: This is the option I’d choose if I felt I could justify the outlay and we were going to have a few months of snow. There are a number of manufacturers that supply studded tyres, one example being the Schwalbe Snow Stud Tyre that retails for around £20.

The advice given is that these tyres do increase rolling resistance but I’d rather have that than be skidding around. With the UK’s temperate climate it is also suggested that it would be wise to have a spare set of wheels so you can swap sets as conditions change given the studs performance off snowy surfaces.

Scwalbe Snow Stud Tyre

Scwalbe Snow Stud Tyre





Time to honour those New Year’s Resolutions

31 01 2009

We’re already at the end of January 2009 and I’ve started to come around to honouring my 2009 New Year’s resolutions or in my case 2009 revolutions given that mine involve wheels. Back in 2007 I had a great year entering many competitions such as the Test Valley Tours and also an F3 Events team Triathlon at Dorney lakes. In the team triathlon I did my very best to keep up with the Iron Men on the bike leg , but it’s rather heart breaking when someone who’s already swum 1.5km cruises past you on their bike. I definitely need to work on my training!

Dorney Lake Triathlon - I'm in there somewhere!

Dorney Lake Triathlon - I'm in there somewhere!

So for 2009 I’d like to get back into the competition scene and I’m certainly planning to enter a number of the Test Valley Tours. These are excellent events for both on and off road. The courses are well marked and offer a variety of distances to challenge any level of fitness. The facilities are usually just right too allowing for a shower, bike wash and hot mug of tea / snack, just what you need after plugging through muddy trails for hours.

This year’s Test Valley tour line-up looks like this for now, so plenty of time to get some training in,

  • 7th Jun 09: Hot Challenge Offroad
  • 5th Jul 09: New Forest Challenge Road
  • 27th Sep 09: Test Challenge Road
  • 22nd Nov 09: Cool Challenge Offroad

Well that’s enough for now, I should stop blogging and get out on my bike. Hopefully see you at one of the Test Valley events…








Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.