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

[JGcycle]

Plan A was to kick off 2025 with the local Wednesday morning group road ride but thought better of it after waking up to pea soup on New Years Day:
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So now I'm writing up yesterday's final ride of 2024 instead:
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As the Specialized app saw it:
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This hill ride in upper Carlsbad had 2 purposes: (1) To explore a mysterious gap in Cannon Road, and (2) to run more RideWithGPS grade calibrations with my new handlebar inclinometer.

The Cannon Gap
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Cannon Rd, a major SW-NE artery in Carlsbad, comes to an abrupt halt just NE of College Blvd, then picks up again on the far NE side of a rugged roadless open space bordering Agua Hedionda Creek.

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Yellow arrows bracket the "Cannon Gap" in this Google Earth capture. As the crow flies, it's 0.8 mi across. A prominent-looking trail crosses the gap directly. But are bikes allowed, and if so, is my Vado SL with its 38 mm gravel tires up to the task?

Short answers found only by going there: No and no. Per signage at the SW end of the gap trail, most of the gap is occupied by the Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve, where no bikes of any kind are allowed. And if what I could see of the decomposed granite trail was representative, it was way too steep, rutted, and slippery for the SL anyway.

Route planning tools
This brings me to the route planning/scouting tools currently at my disposal: RideWithGPS, the GPS map in the Specialized app, Google Earth, Google Maps, and various local maps and trail descriptions found online. For starters, none of these resources identified the Cannon Gap as an official ecological reserve. From local experience, that info alone would have put my odds for legal ebike access at slim to none.

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Google Maps can be a helpful planning tool in bicycle mode, especially in satellite view, but not this time. It happily plotted an illegal and potentially dangerous bike route through the gap. No word of the bike ban or trail conditions in the route description.

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To its credit, RideWithGPS found nothing bikeable (marked green) in the gap with the settings as shown. It was right this time, but I've found bikeable trails around here that it knows nothing about.

Google Earth offers 3D satellite views and a measuring tool that also help at times. The rudimentary GPS map in the Specialized app is OK for figuring out where you are and seeing where you've been on a ride but has little use as a planning tool — especially offroad, where the detail's pretty scant and sometimes misleading.

Might have gotten better advance intel on the Cannon Gap from a service like AllTrails or Strava or a GPS mapping bike computer from Garmin or Wahoo. But I have no experience with these resources and have little interest in paying for them for the infrequent planning I actually do.

Checking RideWithGPS grades
This ride's 2nd objective was to gather more grades with my new handlebar inclinometer for later comparison with the grades that RideWithGPS reports once a ride is finished.

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Short answer: Relative to the carefully calibrated inclinometer, RideWithGPS grades are at best 1-3% too low and sometimes much worse. Made sure each time that the slope of the bike's wheelbase was representative of the pitch being measured.

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Example: Started up this nearby water tank access road after bailing on crossing the gap. No problem climbing but decided at the top of the first steep pitch that I didn't trust the SL's 38 mm Pathfinder Pro tires to get me back down in one piece.
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Consistently measured maximum grades of 18-20% on this pitch in both directions, but the RideWithGPS grade plot (blue line) later showed nothing steeper than +10% headed up and -13% headed down — on the very same stretch of road.

Saw the same pattern on my first inclinometer outing. Plan to collect more data, but results to date would seem to confirm my impression that RideWithGPS grades are consistently lower than a hill's steepest part.

Of course, some that's to be expected when the steepest part is shorter than the sampling interval. Just trying to learn (a) to eyeball grades on the fly without the inclinometer, and (b) how far off RideWithGPS grades can be.

Where did you get the inclinometer?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hi Jeremy!

I've just checked with Komoot. It clearly shows the Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve but does not prevent you riding through the Gap.

The second thing: We already have a separate 2025 thread

Happy New Year!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Hi Jeremy!

I've just checked with Komoot. It clearly shows the Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve but does not prevent you riding through the Gap.

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The second thing: We already have a separate 2025 thread

Happy New Year!

Yes, but this was a 2024 ride, as stated. Interesting about Komoot.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Where did you get the inclinometer?

Amazon.

 

[theloafer]

just to let you guys know I'm still around... just health has took a bit of a dive .... so no cycling since june ,back at hospital to see the consultant end of this month.to see what can be done.

hi update... my stage 4 prostrate cancer is now in most of my bones ,and having tried a few options of 3 lots of tablets looks like its going to have its way ..turned down chemo as it would not be a lot of benefit, poss a few extra months but in those few months i would be bad as a dog .saw consultant yesterday and basic advice was go and enjoy your life . on the plus side i dont feel ill just very weary and get tiered very quickly .

 

[DaveMatthews]

hi update... my stage 4 prostrate cancer is now in most of my bones ,and having tried a few options of 3 lots of tablets looks like its going to have its way ..turned down chemo as it would not be a lot of benefit, poss a few extra months but in those few months i would be bad as a dog .saw consultant yesterday and basic advice was go and enjoy your life . on the plus side i dont feel ill just very weary and get tiered very quickly .

All my mojo sent in your direction mate. Hoping for the best

 

[Rexlion]

hi update... my stage 4 prostrate cancer is now in most of my bones ,and having tried a few options of 3 lots of tablets looks like its going to have its way ..turned down chemo as it would not be a lot of benefit, poss a few extra months but in those few months i would be bad as a dog .saw consultant yesterday and basic advice was go and enjoy your life . on the plus side i dont feel ill just very weary and get tiered very quickly .

I hope you're at peace with the Creator, trusting in His mercy and forgiveness.

 

[Te. S]

Hey @theloafer just enjoy life and stay positive sending you positive vibes none of us know how long we have on this planet

 

[Watana Bob]

Loafer, I am sorry to hear that you have to deal with this grim prognosis, I am wishing you the best.
i have never had to face cancer myself, thank God, but I stumbled upon this guys story years ago and book marked it in case that I ever get diagnosed. There is a lot of trash on the internet but this guys story struck me as genuine and I did a little additional research which seemed to partially validate it. I am not trying to give you any medical advice and you are free to disregard the link that I am putting below, I am just stating that if I had cancer and conventional treatment failed and that I was sent home to die, I would give this a try as I would have nothing to lose.
Sending positive thoughts to you.

The Blog – Get Busy Living

 

[Chargeride]

Sorry to hear of that news, we all read it and share the same thoughts of our mortality, not knowing what to say to someone who finds the end has suddenly zoomed in.
My thoughts to you and love ones, I wouldnt take the chemo either, good luck.