I know it's been a while. It's actually been a while since I have actually commuted. I was laid off from my full-time job a bout a month or so ago. But today I took out the Casseroll to ride to a meeting downtown. Man it felt good. Yeah I have been getting in some miles on the road bike, but commuting is different. There is more of a sense of purpose. Going out for a 40 mile road ride is just for enjoyment, you would never go out for a 40 mile loop in the car every day for fun (if you do, stop it, just stop it). But while on these rides, I have been been using a app for my iPhone that is meant to be used to calculate ones carbon offset. It's put out by REI of all companies called Bike My Drive and does a great job of measuring the offset of carbon in lbs, trip calories burned (seems a bit on the high side) and $$ saved from biking rather than driving. You set the price of gas and your car's mpg. But that's just the start of the coolness. The app uses GPS technology to track your mph, miles, average speed and elapsed time. When users finish the ride it is uploaded to EveryTrail where it syncs to Google Maps, plots the ride and gives more data like vertical up and down, speed and elevation. Nice! I've been trying to use this on some longer rides too, but it's a major battery suck and only lasts a couple of hours. Users can adjust a distance filter that determines the distance traveled before a new location update is generated--more space between each update=longer battery life.

Here is one of my recent rides to check out. Another cool feature that I don't use that often because it means stopping to take out the iPhone, is users can take photos along the way and the images will appear on the map--very cool. So until I get another full-time gig, which may be soon, I'll have to settle for cool apps like this to remide me of better days to come.

Zm