http://blog.mtbguru.com The MTBGuru weblog and forums Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:09:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We've added a new map type, 'Topo Maps' - you can select this type using the selection buttons in the top right corner of the trip map: Selecting this map type will serve you USGS topographical map data, with a scale determined by your map zoom level. Thanks to the USGS ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2008/07/05/topo-maps-us/ Time to get the blog out of hibernation! We've been silently making upgrades, adding new features to the site and testing them out, and there was not much time left to write about it here. More about that below, but first a service announcement: I've created a new home for the ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2008/06/07/whats-new/ It's the time of the year to make plans... as in MTB race plans. Someone posted a great calendar of mountainbike endurance events in the US on MTBPath. As it's so handy, I've inserted it in an extended post, in slightly reformatted version. Follow the link below to make the ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2008/02/10/upcoming/ A wonderful and happy 2008 to everyone and of course, we wish you many exciting trips, rides and new discoveries. And check out this MTBGuru-calendar (pdf) - that'll let you plan your rides. Granted, it's a bit SF Bay Area-centric, but hey, that's where we do most of our riding, and ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2008/01/03/2008/ A happy holiday to everyone! No white christmas here in the San Francisco Bay Area; though it's rather chilly, it actually looks like we have perfect mtb conditions (forecast is sunny, trails are tacky-dry). MTBGuru's Santa brought some Virtual Earth / Live Maps support as mentioned in the previous post. To ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2007/12/25/map-links/ Google is of course not the only game in town - Microsoft's Live Maps and Virtual Earth have made a lot of progress. The latter will even run in 3D from within your browser; only on Windows PC's though. Virtual Earth features some nice 3D models (for instance, the Golden Gate ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2007/12/25/virtual-earth-live-maps/ You may have noticed the new 'Terrain' feature on the trip and home maps. Under this name Google Maps is now serving pretty cool looking shaded relief maps displaying physical features. This has also become available through their maps API, so we've enabled it on MTBGuru: now you have yet ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2007/12/13/new-terrain-on-the-map/ When I first moved to the Bay Area from Europe and started riding the trails here, I didn't believe it when people told me about park rangers setting up speed traps for bikers, writing tickets with huge fines for riding after dark etcetera. Needless to say, I've come a way ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2007/12/04/trail-advocacy/ Here in Northern California it looks like the Thanksgiving weekend will bring primo conditions for riding, hiking and other outdoor endeavours: the October rains nicely wiped most of the dust off the trails, and look at this weather forecast for San Jose: There's hardly any snow in the Sierra's now, so ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2007/11/21/seasons/ Last friday there was a full moon and Halloween was approaching: it was time for some craziness. Enter the Henry Coe Moonlight Madness ride! Our plan was simple: leave at midnight, ride through the night on Coe's best trails, arrive at the Hunting Hollow parking lot early in the morning, in ... http://blog.mtbguru.com/2007/10/30/henry-coe-moonlight-madness/