2024 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Jeremy McCreary]

Met up today with fellow EBR member D from Encinitas for a coast ride south to Torrey Pines in north La Jolla. Lots of fun and a milestone for me: First ride to crack the 40-mile mark since my ebike-powered return to cycling 26 months ago!

Torrey Pines, the high coastal plateau in the center of this RideWithGPS profile, is home to the main University of California San Diego campus, Torrey Pines State Park, a famous bluff-top golf course, and the Torrey Pines Gliderport for hang gliding and paragliding enthusiasts. Below its high sea cliffs lies Black's Beach, with some of the best surfing in all of SoCal.

Torrey Pines is also home to some of San Diego County's priciest real estate — like this sprawling villa overlooking Blacks Beach. This was our turnaround.

Our only stop on the way home was to grab a bite at the Moonlight Beach concession stand in Encinitas.

The view from our picnic table. It was a gray day to be sure, but there's no such thing as a bad day at the beach.

D's Series Serial 1 and my yellow Vado SL.

The ride per the Specialized app I use (to @Stefan Mikes great dismay) in lieu of a Wahoo:

Note the elevation gain. Using the FIT data imported from the app, RideWithGPS (above) came up with 200 ft more gain. Go figure.

Used only 65% of the SL's smallish 320 Wh battery. With an ebike this easy to pedal with the motor off, you can go a long way on 320 Wh.

 

[McCorby]

Serial 1 actually!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Serial 1 actually!

Thanks, corrected.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Lots of fun and a milestone for me: First ride to crack the 40-mile mark since my ebike-powered return to cycling 26 months ago!

My sincere congratulations, Jeremy! I admire your leg power, too!

Used only 65% of the SL's smallish 320 Wh battery. With an ebike this easy to pedal with the motor off, you can go a long way on 320 Wh.

You are a model user of SL e-bikes!

The ride per the Specialized app I use (to @Stefan Mikes great dismay) in lieu of a Wahoo:

It is nothing wrong about using a smartphone on the bars as long as you don't ride rough terrain or in the rain (none applies here). The only situation that could make you go for a GPS computer would be a ride as long as your iPhone ran out of the battery (you cannot put the phone in OFF mode!) Well, the powerbank is an option (I used to ride with a cable extending from my pocket all the way to the phone for a long time myself...) I am sure Jeremy you would be able to ride 50-milers or Metric Centuries soon!

The view from our picnic table. It was a gray day to be sure, but there's no such thing as a bad day at the beach.

That's the spirit! The best motivation for long rides! A story from the past (July 26th, 2021):

A friend of mine who is an active road and gravel cyclist used to give titles such as "Just to have a lunch with my parents" to his 200+ km rides. I set off for my first Imperial Century on that day. After returning home, I named the ride:

I regret Jeremy you are not on Strava. You could set Strava the way all your rides were available to your Followers only (but you could have no Followers!) Your effort would count to the Electric Bike Review Riders Strava Club (that's how it works for @fooferdoggie). Perhaps you could start from 2025? Your Specialized App can send the rides to Strava, too! A great motivational feature!

Note the elevation gain. Using the FIT data imported from the app, RideWithGPS (above) came up with 200 ft more gain. Go figure.

Strava has an option to adjust the elevation to the ride map...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Thanks for the kind words.

It is nothing wrong about using a smartphone on the bars as long as you don't ride rough terrain or in the rain (none applies here). The only situation that could make you go for a GPS computer would be a ride as long as your iPhone ran out of the battery (you cannot put the phone in OFF mode!) Well, the powerbank is an option (I used to ride with a cable extending from my pocket all the way to the phone for a long time myself...)

Almost ran out of phone battery 3 mi from home but caught it in time to hook up the small 5,000 mAh powerbank I carry just for that purpose. No GPS tracking was missed.

What do you make of the 10% elevation gain discrepancy between the Specialized app and RideWithGPS? They were both working from the same raw GPS data collected by the Specialized app.

Since both apps report absolute elevations about 100 ft too low, I assume that my phone's altimeter is off by that amount. (My previous Samsung Note20 was also off by that amount.) But that bias shouldn't affect elevation gain calculations.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What do you make of the 10% elevation gain discrepancy between the Specialized app and RideWithGPS? They were both working from the same raw GPS data collected by the Specialized app.

Just a wild guess: Specialized app may work based on GPS data or a barometric altimeter while RWGPS might adjust the ride data to the map.
I would not worry were I you. Even GPS computers get the elevation gain wrong. If I'm in doubt, I correct the elevation gain in Strava.

Specialized App: Do you think it is really good?

Wahoo.

Strava.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Specialized App: Do you think it is really good?

The GPS part is by no means perfect but good enough for my purposes, and you can't beat the price. The assist tuning part is very well done.

No recurrences of the previously reported rider power recording failures in the last 15-20 rides.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The assist tuning part is very well done.

The only thing that is perfect here. But Mission Control was exactly the same!

 

[RabH]

The next few days are looking truly awful so 2024 has come to a close, my final stats for the year!

6561 miles covered from only 87 rides, in what was our worst year of weather ever!
Average distance 75.4miles
Elevation gain 423,098ft (438,557ft in 2020 so not my best but that was from 151 rides)
Longest ride 170 miles

In conclusion it was my best ever year on the bike despite the weather, the most miles in one day ever and my best ever average distance (beating my 72 miles from 2012)
It was also the most imperial century rides in a year, 21 in total!
I don't think I will top this year but time will tell, if I stay healthy anything is possible I suppose!
I wish everyone all the best for 2025, I look forward to all of the ride stories and photos once again!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

The next few days are looking truly awful so 2024 has come to a close, my final stats for the year!

6561 miles covered from only 87 rides, in what was our worst year of weather ever!
Average distance 75.4miles
Elevation gain 423,098ft (438,557ft in 2020 so not my best but that was from 151 rides)
Longest ride 170 miles

In conclusion it was my best ever year on the bike despite the weather, the most miles in one day ever and my best ever average distance (beating my 72 miles from 2012)
It was also the most imperial century rides in a year, 21 in total!
I don't think I will top this year but time will tell, if I stay healthy anything is possible I suppose!
I wish everyone all the best for 2025, I look forward to all of the ride stories and photos once again!

Another stunning year in the saddle from you! These would be mindboggling numbers in my climate, where nearly everyday's a good riding day. Add the wind, rain, and cold you face in some combination on nearly every ride, and they become impressive beyond words.

Which once again leads me to ask for proof that you're not a space alien from an advanced cycling civilization.

 

[r1roman]

my numbers this year,happy new year.

 

[JGcycle]

The next few days are looking truly awful so 2024 has come to a close, my final stats for the year!

6561 miles covered from only 87 rides, in what was our worst year of weather ever!
Average distance 75.4miles
Elevation gain 423,098ft (438,557ft in 2020 so not my best but that was from 151 rides)
Longest ride 170 miles

In conclusion it was my best ever year on the bike despite the weather, the most miles in one day ever and my best ever average distance (beating my 72 miles from 2012)
It was also the most imperial century rides in a year, 21 in total!
I don't think I will top this year but time will tell, if I stay healthy anything is possible I suppose!
I wish everyone all the best for 2025, I look forward to all of the ride stories and photos once again!

Very impressive.

 

[BlackHand]

What do you make of the 10% elevation gain discrepancy between the Specialized app and RideWithGPS? They were both working from the same raw GPS data collected by the Specialized app.

Since both apps report absolute elevations about 100 ft too low, I assume that my phone's altimeter is off by that amount. (My previous Samsung Note20 was also off by that amount.) But that bias shouldn't affect elevation gain calculations.

That's not atypical with what I see with rides imported to Strava/RWGPS. RWGPS definitely does some error correcting to the imported data. They've stated that this correction may not improve accuracy in all situations, but they keep it consistent because trying different algorithms for different situations (urban, flat, mountain, forest, etc) just made things muddier.

You could try reimporting your ride and then use the 'replace elevation' function in RWGPS so it will use its GIS dataset (derived from this SRTM data) to compare. Given how much of your rides are along bluffs above the beach or on the beach below the bluffs (typically 40-50ft difference?) it wouldn't surprise me if you see a decent amount of variation.

Does the Spec app also show elevation loss? The Bosch app does, and when the Nyon's altimeter is off it records more descent than ascent( 180ft difference on 12/26) despite my trip starting and ending at the same points. The Bosch sw seems to throw out any elevation gain below sea level as far as I can tell. But when the .tcx is imported to RWGPS the ascent and descent totals more or less match.

For me, outside of the above situations, RWGPS usually shows 5-10% less ascent and Strava 5-10% more ascent than my Nyon head unit records. The Kiox on my new bike uses the phone's altimeter/gps and trips from that show both less variability and less consistency(ie which platform shows the most/least ascent seems random, but the spread is narrower) between the various platforms.

 

[BlackHand]

Some of you may know I took a spill a few weeks ago on some ice. I was commuting in to work on my new road ebike with its 700x32 slicks because I had the other bike out of rotation for new tires/chain and to repair the rack. Anyways, took a pretty good bruise to my hip and my ribs that took forever to heal but I started back up this week.

Work slows down after the holiday and with the kids off school I have time for my wandering commutes home - which this time of year is in the dark, usually wet and somewhere between cool but not really cold.

December 26
On Thursday I headed down through Queen Anne and then through Seattle Center and across downtown.

The north side of the Ballard bridge

That's the Space part of the Space Needle up in the corner. The glass alien flowers are part of the Chihuly Garden right next to the Needle.

After heading through downtown, I returned by the University Bridge where the authorities would like to remind drunk college students that jumping off this bridge is a BAD idea.

34.2 miles for the day, and pretty dry in the evening.
Luckily the 25mph wind had died down for the evening part of the ride. I'm only 50% Scottish heritage, so I don't like riding in those winds

@Jeremy McCreary Elevation gain 2683 / 2713 /2897 ft depending on which sw. Notice the change in pressure from when I arrive at work to when I leave at the ~11 mile mark.

December 27

Still windy and damp both in the morning and evening. But dry all day while I was at work. Another evening just circling around Queen Anne neighborhood.

The Seattle skyline

This time I came back across the Fremont bridge.

This is looking north towards home. The bridge is down at the bottom. I think it was about a 15% on this block. Goes over 20% on the next block down, and the last block averages 28% and the inclinometer on my bike showed 31% max. Pretty sure I could hit Rab velocities on the descent but that would be a BAD idea with a major 5 way intersection and draw bridge at the bottom

35.5 miles and 2470 / 2135 / 2589ft of elevation gain for the day.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

That's the Space part of the Space Needle up in the corner. The glass alien flowers are part of the Chihuly Garden right next to the Needle.
View attachment 187906

Great photos! Every installation of Chihuly's glass art I've ever seen has been truly breathtaking in its use of color, form, and pure imagination. The one you show here is no exception. Would love to see it in person.

From a commissioned installation with an undersea theme in the lobby of a UC San Diego medical clinic.

@Jeremy McCreary Elevation gain 2683 / 2713 /2897 ft depending on which sw. Notice the change in pressure from when I arrive at work to when I leave at the ~11 mile mark.
View attachment 187908

Ah, similar to the gain discrepancy I got on this last ride. Since RideWithGPS tends to report the larger gain, my ego says to go with that one.

Good reminder that changing atmospheric pressure can be a confounding factor here.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Does the Spec app also show elevation loss? The Bosch app does, and when the Nyon's altimeter is off it records more descent than ascent( 180ft difference on 12/26) despite my trip starting and ending at the same points. The Bosch sw seems to throw out any elevation gain below sea level as far as I can tell. But when the .tcx is imported to RWGPS the ascent and descent totals more or less match.

Yes. RideWithGPS and the Specialized app both show a roughly 30 ft difference between gain and loss for the ride I reported just above.

To be fair, this can also happen when a ride passes through a space-time discontinuity. You don't always feel them.
;^}

 

[BlackHand]

Yes. RideWithGPS and the Specialized app both show a roughly 30 ft difference between gain and loss for the ride I reported just above.

To be fair, this can also happen when a ride passes through a space-time discontinuity. You don't always feel them.
;^}

Like this time going through a mile long tunnel and I mysteriously showed an extra 5000ft of gain from RWGPS even though the upper end of the tunnel is only about 25ft higher than the lower end.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Like this time going through a mile long tunnel and I mysteriously showed an extra 5000ft of gain from RWGPS even though the upper end of the tunnel is only about 25ft higher than the lower end.

Steve, did you have Strava at that time? You can use Adjust Elevation to get the true elevation gain for that ride.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Like this time going through a mile long tunnel and I mysteriously showed an extra 5000ft of gain from RWGPS even though the upper end of the tunnel is only about 25ft higher than the lower end.
View attachment 187923

Exactly.

 

[BlackHand]

Steve, did you have Strava at that time? You can use Adjust Elevation to get the true elevation gain for that ride.

Yes, Strava got it right. I think that I recorded it natively in both at the time, but I can't really remember.