I've complained for more than a decade about what a horrible company Garmin is (such as here in 2006, here in 2013, and here last year, among others). The only thing worse than their hardware design is their software design, but it's a strong competition to the bottom, backed by an apparent company-wide disdain for their customers.

The latest evidence of this disdain is new firmware for some of their cycling computers that renders them utterly incompatible with Garmin's own desktop software, and, for good measure, almost all other track-processing software in existence. Of course, this "feature" is not even [...]

Everyone is familiar with Google Maps, but for various reasons (cost, quality, expressability), many mapping applications use map data from OpenStreetMap ("OSM") instead. It's free to use and anyone can add/edit/update it pretty much in real time... it's like Wikipedia, but for maps.

I have particular interest in it because lots of cycling-stuff uses OpenStreetMap data...

I use the maps on my phone when riding, via the Galileo Offline Maps app (name changed Feb 2019 to Guru Maps), and sometimes with the Maps.me app.

I plan my cycling routes with OpenStreetMap data, via GraphHopper. The Strava route builder also uses [...]

So, my web site was down for a few days. Sorry about that.

It doesn't happen often, but this time was a doozy. The ISP hosting my server went bankrupt, and by the time I found out, my server was sitting dead on the floor of a warehouse.

I've got to say, though, I'm actually very thankful.

My web hosting has always been free, a kind, ongoing gift from a former coworker at Yahoo!. Even though we haven't talked for a decade, he's let my server sit in his business and occasionally burn up some of his support staff's time. [...]

Ah, the wide open road, one of the great benefits of cycling, getting away from the stress of the city and immersing oneself in nature, freeing oneself, at least temporarily, from the coffin of electronics that our modern lives have become.

Cycling lets you leave the electronic shackles behind, and connect with nature and friends.

Don't get me wrong.... hiking can be great, as can motorcycling. Both get you away from the rat race, but cycling seems to hit the sweet spot. You can see a larger variety of different scenery than you can on foot, yet you're still "raw" [...]

This picture is from the same snowy outing almost two years ago that produced the three-part "Kyoto At Night During a Heavy Snow" posts (part 1 - part 2 - part 3). This shot mimics the one that leads Part 2, but this one was taken five hours later (at 4:42am) after the snow had long stopped falling.

Anyway, it's just a random photo to accompany a recommendation for users of Adobe Lightroom to read Victoria Bampton's "Lightroom Catalogs – Top 10 Misunderstandings" article. New users may find some misconceptions cleared up, while veterans will find a good resource to [...]