new look site

it all started a coupe weeks ago when I wanted to incorporate my Strava data into the sidebar. I soon realized the old design offered too narrow of a sidebar to fit the widget provided by Strava, and I didn't want to hack it up and make it more narrow.

So what's Strava? Strava is a very cool way to track your ride data with a GPS device like a Garmin or even a GPS-enabled smartphone like an Android or iPhone. Until I get my Garmin Edge 500, I've been using my iPhone and the Strava app. It seems surprisingly accurate, and i can often zoom in and see the different sides of the road I was riding on in opposite directions. I also hear you can upload a .kmz file and view a "playback" of your ride in Google Earth. I need to figure that out next. Anyways, the coolest features of Strava are the way it automatically categorizes, or "segments," your climbs, and tracks your times and how they stack up to other people who use Strava. So it encourages a friendly competition to see who can ride the climbs the quickest. It also will upload any HR and power meter files if you want. It's kind of like an online cycling club. My friend and cyclocross evangelist Greg Keller wrote a great blog about Strava here. I am curious to see if the Garmin devices will measure any more accurately than my iPhone. I hear from a friend that technically the Garmins should be more accurate as they create more data points. The one thing I think the Garmins need is WiFi, simply for data upload to the Strava servers. That is by far the best thing about the Strava iPhone app, as it automatically syncs your ride info to your acct when you end your ride, either via cell signal or WiFi. Though the user interface is slick too.

anyway, back to the new look of the site. it's cleaner on the eyes for sure. I may be making a few changes to my title banner. But for now, i think I need to focus more on blogging more often than how the site looks. I've also changed up the Tweet feed up top, and show my 10 most recent Tweets instead of 5. Twitter is so quick and spontaneous that I definitely am using that media more than anything else. I've deleveloped a great group of friends on Twitter, most of which I've met through cycling and racing, but others that I've never met, but with which I still share a common interest or two.