Behind Cyclogz

Around the Earth

2008-08-25T01:46:23Z

I am happy to announce that, Cyclogz just went around the earth. Yes. All the riders put together, the total distance ridden just went over the circumference of the earth at the equator, which is approximately 24,901 miles.

Server Upgraded

2008-08-03T16:04:45Z

This morning, I upgraded the servers. The new setup has twice the RAM and twice the CPU speed.

Automatic Geotagging

2008-07-19T19:22:10Z

I am pleased to announce that Cyclogz can automatically geotag your ride pictures. Here is how it works.

Before getting started, make sure that your camera is set to the local time.
Upload your pictures to Flickr™. Cyclogz will only look for public images, so make sure to share your ride pictures with the public.
After uploading your ride log to Cyclogz, click on the &Setup Photos" link. This will open up a new window.
Enter your Flickr ID to get Cyclogz search your ride pictures. You can go to sites like idGettr to know your Flickr ID.
Follow the rest of the instructions on that window to associate the photos you want with the ride.

That's it. Cyclogz will then geotag your photos, and generate a slide show!

At this time, Cyclogz will not save the geotag data back to Flickr.

Custom Charts

2008-06-22T00:53:20Z

Here is an update for the ride diary. In addition to browsing all logs, you can generate elevation and distance charts for custom date ranges. Here is an example. This is a summary of all my rides done this year so far.

Simply select and start date and an end date to draw elevation and distance charts for that range. More charts to follow based on your feedback.

Perf Updates

2008-06-17T05:40:27Z

Thanks to cpayne, I had a chance to look into one of the long-overdue performance issues with browser-side processing of cycling logs for Cyclogz. With tonight's changes, my tests with Firefox indicate a 30% performance improvement on the browser side. Maps and charts should now render faster.

Happy riding.

Popout Maps and Charts

2008-06-16T04:24:14Z

Just added support for popping out maps and charts in new browser windows, so that these can be seen in more detail. Look for pop-out links on each log.

Mile Marker Updates

2008-06-06T05:17:57Z

Here is take-two of mile marker support. You can now hover your mouse over mile markers to see the altitude and time of the day. Here is an example.

Mile Markers

2008-06-01T07:11:55Z

Ride maps now include mile markers. Here is one, for example.

Ride Diary

2008-05-27T04:36:51Z

I am pleased to announce that Cyclogz now supports personal ride diaries today. Apart from showing the logs chronologically, this diary lets you see vital statistics on a monthly basis so that you can train better.

This is just the initial version. Please check it out. If you have suggestions, please email.

Happy riding.

Manual Ride Entry

2008-05-18T16:47:35Z

Cyclogz now lets you enter ride logs manually. You can now input all the numbers, and upload course file, and enter a log the old fashioned way, i.e. manually.

Till now, Cyclogz provided two ways to enter ride logs:

Directly from GPS: This is the fastest and preferred way to enter logs. The steps are simple. Connect your Garmin Edge to through a USB cable to your PC or Mac, login to Cyclogz, and the select "Upload" and then "From GPS" from the menu at the top right corner of the page. Cyclogz will automatically upload the logs from your Garmin.
Garmin .tcx files exported from Garmin Training Center: You can use this approach to upload older logs stored in the Garmin Training Center. For this style of upload, you will be asked to download and install Adobe AIR, and a small Cyclogz Uploader application on to your desktop. Launch this application, login to Cyclogz, select your .tcx file, and upload all the logs.
Manual entry: This is the latest addition, and my motivation to add this was quite simple. Over the past 3 weeks, I lost two of ride logs in my Garmin Edge 305 - once due to a mistake of mine, and the other time, due to a some crankiness in the unit itself. I hate to lose my logs, and needed a way to recreate them.

The first step to manual entry is to generate a course file for your ride. My favorite web site to create course files is MapMyRide. Go to that site and chart the course from start to end. After creating, MapMyRide lets you export the log as a Garmin Course. Choose the .tcx format for the course, and save the file on to your desktop.

Then come back to Cyclogz, login, and click on "Upload" and "Manually" option to open a form. Enter all the numbers, enter start/end locations, and upload the course file, and then save.

Note that this feature is still experimental. Try it out, and please let me know your feedback.

Happy riding.

Feature Updates

2008-05-04T19:29:32Z

Here is a summary of updates pushed today:

Better activity editing, to edit the name, locations, and a more spacious editor to enter ride notes. Click on the "Edit this log" link to find out more.
An experimental activity snapshot next to the rider profile on each log. There are still some kinks to be fixed.
A more streamlined rider profile edit pages, to pave way for future changes.
And, finally, a way to delete rides. This can only be done if the ride length is too short.

Happy riding, and your feedback is appreciated

KML Support

2008-04-13T19:05:06Z

Activities can now be viewed in Google Earth. Just click on "View in Google Earth" link on the map. This feature requires Google Earth to be installed on your computer.

Why are Some Rides Titled "Unknown Loop"

2008-04-07T02:29:59Z

Here is why, and how to correct that? When a ride is titled like this, it usually implies that the Ride Location is also marked as "Unknown". This can happen in the following cases:

Sometimes, Garmin GPS devices get cranky and does not capture latitude and longitude. In this case, there is no way for Cyclogz to figure out where the ride was ridden. In this case, Cyclogz will show applicable charts for the ride, but the map will not have the route displayed.
The other possibility, is that the place you rode at does not exist in our databases. Cyclogz relies on Geonames, and this is not a complete database of all places on this planet. Sorry.

Here is where, Cyclogz needs your help. If you notice that Cyclogz generated such title for the ride, you can do the following to correct it:

Edit the title. See this for more details.
Edit the ride location. Just click on the current location value to edit it.

Timezone

2008-04-03T02:40:56Z

Cyclogz does not ask you what time zone you are in. Instead if figures out the time zone based on where the ride took place, and what time zone that place is in. One more minor detail, done without asking each user to select their time zone at registration time.

Metric, Speed, Improved Embedding and More ...

2008-03-31T03:21:13Z

Here is a quick summary of some of the changes that were made over the last few days to Cyclogz.com:

Metric unit support: If you prefer meters and kilometers over ft and miles, you can now login to your profile, and chose metric units for your view.
Speed chart: You can now view the speed vs distance charted for each ride. Note that, just like elevation, the speed shown in the speed chart is a moving average, i.e., an average computed over a moving window of samples. This gives a more realistic view of the average speed along the way over the the instantaneous speed which tends to be more noisy
Improved Widget: The widget to include a Cyclogz log on to your blog is now cleaner with several tabs showing each chart, map, and even a summary of the widget.

Happy riding.