Charles River Wheelers

WheelPeople: Your Bike Club Newsletter

Stay up-to-date with the latest Charles River Wheelers news, events, and rides. Our WheelPeople newsletter is tailored for current and prospective members seeking bike-related updates, expert advice, and cycling inspiration.

WheelPeople offers club and member news as well as informational content from third parties. Views expressed in third-party content belong to the author(s) and not CRW. Consult a professional for advice on health, legal matters, or finance. CRW does not endorse linked content or products. Content published in WheelPeople is owned by Charles River Wheelers (CRW) unless otherwise stated. 

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  • 2023-04-29 9:05 AM | Wheel People (Administrator)

    BY Eli Post

    You need to have the route loaded on your cellphone to fully enjoy a Club ride, and ride safely and comfortably. You can’t always count on following the person or group in front of you.

    Getting the route on your phone is really easy, and you have to follow a few simple steps.

    Before we deal with routes, we must urge you to join the CRW-Ride With GPS Club (RWGPS). It’s absolutely free for CRW members, and you get indispensable voice activated turn directions. Go HERE to join. This is a one-time effort and you will feel blessed with the added power at your disposal.

    You must also download the RWGPS app available at the Apple store or Google.

    Now onto getting the route onto your call. The easiest and most direct way is to use the “Send to Phone” link on the route page. Remember, you joined the club and your cell phone is known to RWGPS. The route will open in the app and you can either “view” it or “download” for future use. We recommend the download and the route is permanently saved and works better in low signal areas.

    Another viable option for storing the route on your phone is to copy it to your collection. The “More” button top left has a “copy to my routes” option. There is however a downside to this option. The route will no longer be in the CRW account, and if you have a free account, you will not be offered voice activated turn directions.

    You should be all set to enjoy riding.


  • 2023-04-29 9:05 AM | Wheel People (Administrator)

    By John Allen

    Them was the days. I used to survey for a CRW ride route with a bicycle computer and a pushbutton-operated voice recorder. I took notes, calling out the mileage in each one. I’d prepare a cue sheet or draw a stick map from my notes. (Newcomers: stick maps showed all the turns, but each segment was bent so the route went more or less straight across the page.)

    Technology advances. Now, with the RidewithGPS app on my smartphone, I can record a ride and convert it into a route. I also can lay out the route on a computer.  

    But by default, RidewithGPS gives only bare-bones turn-by-turn cues. Riders need to know what lane to merge into, well before reaching any complicated intersection. And RidewithGPS usually does not give any cue at all when a route goes straight through an intersection.

    For that reason, I create custom cues. Here’s an example from the short version of the East European Ride, which I have led, You can find that ride in the CRW route library:

    East European Ride, short, Spellman start, extended cues - A bike ride in Weston, MA (ridewithgps.com)

    Between miles 15 and 16 in Concord, this ride turns left from Old Marlboro Road to Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, which has three northbound lanes: a left-turn-only lane, a through lane and a right-turn-only lane. The route then almost immediately crosses Route 2. My cues are these:

    • · Prepare to turn left
    • · Turn left into through lane on Old Rd to Nine Acre Corner
    • · Cross MA-2
    The image below is from an edit screen in RidewithGPS, which shows the cued locations. These are the three light green cartoon dialog balloons in the image, going from left to top right.

    RidewithGPS places cues at turns by default, but when giving turn-by-turn navigation, Ride with GPS reads out each cue some distance ahead of the location shown on the map. So, for example, the cue in the image to turn left is read out before the left turn. This advance distance is adjustable in settings: you could increase it for a faster ride. But also for the safety of riders, you will want to place custom cues earlier when it is necessary to prepare with a lane change, or downhill. (In the dark ages before GPS,  we painted arrows on the road earlier on downhills? Same idea.)

    Notice also that the red line shown for the route takes a square corner for the left turn, and shows incorrect lane use. The Google data that RidewithGPS uses has one line of travel for both directions on a two-way roadway, and that can’t be right! But riders follow the cues, not the map, and the map displays too small anyway on a smartphone or GPS device to reveal its anomalies. Once again, the cues are what matters.

    Sometimes cues are just wrong, even on a route created directly in RidewithGPS. A prime example is also on the East European Ride, just short of mile 24 in Weston, where Conant Road jogs slightly left as it crosses Route 117. RidewithGPS cues will tell you to turn left onto Route 117, then almost immediately turn right onto Conant Road. Why? It’s the square corners again. The lines for Conant Road north and south of Route 117 are slightly offset from one another.  The result is not only confusing, it is a safety concern when riders are told suddenly and unexpectedly to change direction. In such situations, I delete one of the cues and customize the other. Here, I changed it to:

    • Cross MA 117 and continue on Conant Road.

    When riding to create a route, following it accurately will reduce the need to edit it later. Reviewing ride recordings from people who have followed a route can also help refine it for the next time it goes onto the CRW calendar. And when creating a route on the computer, the Draw Lines option may be needed to connect the route where the Google mapping car did not go. Mostly, these will be paths and entrances to rest stops. The need to use Draw Lines can mostly be avoided by starting with a recording of a ride.  In either case, custom cues will be needed for the line segments: RidewithGPS creates cues automatically only where it can identify a road or path.

    RidewithGPS editing software also lets you create Point of Interest icons. These include one for Caution. Points of interest display on the RidewithGPS map of a ride but do not create cues. A custom cue is needed to call out a hazard to the rider, for example: “loose gravel.” A custom cue can inform riders of anything – the split on a ride, length of a climb, distance to a rest stop, you name it.

    I’m not CRW’s RidewithGPS guru, so I won’t go into detail about how to do the editing. But my instructions can set you on the right track. 

    No matter how you create a route, there’s no substitute for riding it shortly before the calendar date to check on details -- construction or other changes; the accuracy of cues in RidewithGPS – and as I have suggested in this article, to customize the cues in the interest of accuracy and safety.

  • 2023-04-29 9:04 AM | Wheel People (Administrator)

    By John Springfield

    In late March 2023 I decided to escape the cold weather and headed toward southern Texas.  I've always wanted to explore the Rio Grande by bicycle.  Now was the time.


    I was looking forward to the warm weather and the TexMex food.


    I started in Brownsville, intending to take a 50-mile loop out to Boca Chica Beach and back.  The road (Route 4) would also take me past the Space-X launch pad.

    However, the pleasantly warm weather turned into a 99 degree scorcher. (

    And the southerly winds (30 mph) produced a crosswind that nearly blew me off the road.

    I got as far as the Space-X complex, when I was greeted with road construction.(The space center launch pad can be seen to the left of the large building.)



    The heat was causing me to drink almost all my water, so I decided to reverse direction back to Brownsville.  Well the heat got unbearable, I drank all my water, and the wind noise was deafening.  My aim was to get back to a Border Patrol inspection station, hoping to get water.  I had to stop several times to recover from the heat.

    Finally, I made it to the Border Patrol spot, got my water bottles filled, and sat in the only shade available all day.   Some start to my trip!


    Realizing the heat would continue all week, I learned to arise before dawn and bike an hour in the dark (I have front and rear lights).  The traffic was extremely light at this pre-dawn time, and it allowed me to avoid the worst part of the afternoon heat.(The tombstone commemorates  those who perished in the last battle of the Civil War in 1865.)


    I tried riding on some back roads (some dirt), but realized there were no services.

    So my ride pretty much followed US-281 and US-83.  For the most part I had a wide breakdown lane all to myself.  But I also got chased by lots of unleashed dogs! (This is pretty much the road (US 281 West) and the scenery all day)


    The highlight of the trip was getting off the highway and visiting the old settlement of Roma.(The poster shows famous missionaries.)

    When I arrived on Sunday morning, the town seemed deserted.

    There were various signs explaining the history of this old bi-cultural town.

    And there was an overlook of the shallow Rio Grande, allowing me to see Mexico.

    On the fourth day I entered Zapata.


    Here is where I had lunch and supper at a terrific family-run restaurant. I ordered the steamed white fish with sides of veggies. My cardiologist would have been proud!


    On the fifth day I arrived at the busy city of Laredo.

    It was here I would make a decision. I was headed north, but the nearest motel was 75 miles. I would need a day off to recuperate from all the heat.

    It's not TexMex food, but for my "second breakfast" I had cardiologist approved egg whites, turkey bacon, and fruit


    But when I awoke to severe lightning and thunder in the morning, I realized it was time to go back to Boston.  My 74-year-old body just could not take more heat, let alone 75-mile days...


    As it turns out, when I got home the temperature was a perfect 55 degrees!

    You can see more trip details and more photos here https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/OldMan


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