I really needed to get out of the house yesterday. I wanted good food and beer. There are dozens of places within a few miles of my house to go, but I wanted a longer ride to burn of the calories.
I had some errands to run here in Louisville, and in Charlestown. I didn’t have to carry anything heavy, so I could still do it by bicycle. I brought my camera, but never stopped to take a picture.
I rode the single-speed, and had the GPS with me. My route is below. My GPS has the barometric altimeter. You can tell it was used tracking this, by the lumps where I crossed the Second Street Bridge. The normal elevation data stored with maps has the road dipping down to the river. Neat!
My GPS does NOT have the altimeter. I end up having RideWithGPS reload the elevation data for me. I’m sure yours is more accurate. There is a way you can calibrate it, by the way, which might be worthwhile, not that it really matters that much — even if you don’t calibrate, the relative data should be accurate.
Now that I’ve thought about it more, my GPS can pull elevation data from the GPS signals, or the barometric altimeter. I don’t know how/when it decides to switch.
One ride that I did had lousy elevation data. RideWithGPS seemed to know that and prompted me to use it’s elevation data. Most of the time it works fine though.
It also has a compass, but it’s worthless unless the unit is completely horizontal. Not a big deal, as GPS can figure heading as long as your moving.