Ever since 'smart phones' have debuted, the promise of using that device as a cycling computer has been a dream, and the times where it has been tried end with poor experiences, typically due to short battery life issues.
However; a recent development by Ride With GPS, (RWGPS) may point to a time soon where your smart phone takes on new life as a cycling computer/data gathering/dispensing hub.
The just announced Apple integration with RWGPS goes a long way toward this goal. Using an Apple Watch as a means to gather route data, a rider can then swipe right in the RWGPS app and that route will then be automatically synced to your RWGPS account and would be available later as a turn-by-turn navigable route. The hitch? You need to use you phone and the watch for turn-by-turn navigation, and you'd need a RWGPS upgraded account (monthly subscription) to make it work.
You might wonder, and rightly so, about battery life. A comment answered by a representative of RWGPS in the press release, (Like it was a live Facebook thread or something. Weird!) states:
"In our testing on the latest app version, we found that the battery lasted 6+ hours (and plenty of juice let [sic]) while running paired navigation, monitoring heart rate, playing music (from Spotify), and checking metrics frequently. "
Comments: This bears watching, (pun not intended), and this may actually prove to be a viable solution for many people who cannot find a reason to be bothered with having to own a GPS cycling computer that does turn-by-turn navigation that costs hundreds of dollars. Not when they already have a smart phone capable of doing the task. Sure, it may not be for those who have ultra-long distance events on the menu, but most folks aren't riding 5-6 hours at a crack either. Still, external battery packs can extend your phone battery life for well over a day. So, there is that, and then you can always think about a hub generator as well. There are a ton of possibilities here.
I get why RWGPS puts the "good stuff" behind a subscription pay-wall, but I can see a time where Apple, or an Android phone app would be made available with a one-time cost that would essentially do this same thing, maybe even better.
Is the day drawing nigh where separate, GPS/cycling only data heads are going to become obsolete because our smart phones will be able to do everything those devices do and more? I think it is a distinct possibility.
First of all, "How is this the third year for this event?" I've not heard about it until just recently. Anyway....
Fairfield, Iowa is hosting a gravel event with three distances on tap. The longest, a century plus a little, is paying out 1K to the Man and Woman who place first. (!!)
Comments: I've scouted the area around Fairfield extensively for Trans Iowa. (No- you are not crazy if you think T.I. never went down that way, but I've scouted a LOT of territory I never used) So, I know that area has some stellar offerings for gravel, Level B roads, and terrain types. It can be dead flat or super hilly.
The event should be great fun, I'm sure, from that standpoint, but look at that purse money! That's gotta grab your attention, and I am thinking that you are going to see some cutthroat racing at the front end of that longer distance part of this event. A grand is no chump change and I figure that as small as this event is, Iowa riders will be thinking that they can take this one down. But you never know. There are other race options like......
The Fairfield event cost $95.00 to get in on the payout possibilities, but Snaggy Ridge is a bargain at $40.00 no matter what distance you run. Sounds like the better bargain to me, but you decide what's best for you.
It's kind of crazy that a city running an event, like the Chamber of Commerce is in Fairfield, would choose to run an event the same day as an event that is set up to benefit children's resources, as Snaggy Ridge's is. Especially when the event venues are less than 90 miles apart from each other, but whatever. Gravel events are now so profuse and innumerable now that finding dates that do not conflict with other's event dates probably is impossible. But still, this seems fixable in the future.
Speaking of the Snaggy Ridge 105, I and N.Y. Roll interviewed Dan Roberts, the RD of that event, on the 100th Episode of the Riding Gravel Radio Ranch. Listen to it from that Spotify link or from Google Podcast feed. Search for the Guitar Ted Productions Podcast.
I'm slowly getting more avenues to distribute this deal. Right now you can search "Guitar Ted Productions Podcast" and you'll get the Anchor.fm and Spotify avenues to listen through. I should be available on Google Podcasts and Amazon Podcast/Audible servers by the time you read this. The podcast has an RSS feed so that may help some of you as well. Later on I should have Apple Play as another source. Any others I should look into? Leave me a comment, please.
There are three Riding Gravel Radio Ranch episodes there so far. I hope to get more content on the podcast soon. Thanks for considering and if you are listening in, thanks for that as well.
That's a wrap for this week! Thank you for reading and I hope that you all have a fantastic weekend!
It's almost overwhelming how many events there are anymore. We tried to sit down with a couple other race directors to look at next year's calendar but it really doesn't seem to matter if we try to move anything, there's something else. I hadn't heard of Harvest Rush before this post and there only seem to be 8 people registered. Could be a good pay day for someone.
ReplyDelete@KJ - I stopped compiling gravel events at the onset of the pandemic over two years ago and I could see then that there was saturation as far as dates/events on gravel went. So, now that we've sort-of come through that, and people are open to attending events again, I am not at all surprised to see things like Harvest Rush pop up.
ReplyDeleteThe question is up again now with the pandemic's passing- Are we at "peak-gravel" and does the amount and scope of events decline, or a=is the dynamic of events changing in response to the over-saturation of events?
I have some thoughts on that......