Color-coded Elevation of Routes in Google Earth

One of the reasons I was considering a GPS was to get a better picture of the elevation I was gaining on my rides around town. I've learned that most GPS aren't accurate enough to be useful so I looked for alternatives.

Since all my riding is on-road, I can easily create a track of my route using bikely.com, but the elevation information had some problems. Sometimes it wasn't available at all and when it was available, it wasn't always accurate. In any case, I couldn't export the elevation information to make corrections or perform calculations.

I recently learned about an online tool called GPS Visualizer. This has a set of tools that allow working with the tracks created in bikely.com. The result is Google Earth file that shows color-coded elevations along the route set against a 3D view of the earth's surface in reasonably good detail. The file JacksNicakjack.kmz covers the route we rode this past Sunday. Red is the lowest elevation and purple the highest. The ridge along Pebblebrook stands out nicely even without lowering the eye-level so you can see the hills.

I'll post other routes and the steps for creating these files in a later post.

Long Ride - Fall Version

The Friday after Thanksgiving is always a good day for a long ride away from the malls. The Silver Comet Trail allowed me to put sufficient distance between myself and distracted drivers.


I wanted to explore a different route across I-285 to get to the Silver Comet. I chose a route that took me into a neighborhood that I knew was hilly. I just didn't imagine it would be granny-gear hilly for so many hills. There were several 100-200m stretches of >15% grade. Of course I got turned around and had to go up and down more than I bargained for. Particular painful were the stop signs at the bottom of the hill. I won't recommend this route.

Besides the hills, what I found striking about that neighborhood was no one was outdoors. I saw four people. All of them were getting in their car. How well could these people know their neighbors? It felt colder than the temperature.

I had wanted to ride at least 60 miles which would have taken me past Hiram. I would go out and see what kind of time I was making against the wind. I reached Dallas, GA after milepost 19, and realized I was only 3.5 miles from the Pumpkinvine Creek Trestle. This trestle was the highest point above the ground and would have an expansive view. I was ready for more miles.

I was surprised to find so much housing in view of the trestle. This was disappointing because the developer was the "trees must go" sort of developer. I guess we don't have to go far to find 3rd-world deforestation. The trestle was still nice.

At this point, I was within striking distance of the Brushy Mountain Tunnel at milepost 31 even though this would take my ride beyond 90 miles for the day. I had not seen the tunnel and I still felt good, so I rode on.

Beyond milepost 27 or so, the trail enters a State Wildlife Management area and the terrain becomes noticeably more contorted. The trail stays at an even grade while the land rises and falls above and below the trail. You'll be riding through a cut in the rock and then 2-3 hundred meters further you're looking down into a deep ravine. This was worth riding 80-90 miles to see. Not even a video would do this justice.




The Brushy Mountain Tunnel is bigger than I imagined. There is room for two lanes of traffic inside and tall vehicles that would have trouble with interstate overpasses would have no height problem in the tunnel.

The outbound headwind did not switch directions for my ride back in, and I had an easy time raising my average speed although I wasn't working as hard. As I came back into Smyrna, I found that I was able to clearly see Stone Mountain about 25-30 miles distant. Days that clear are getting fewer and fewer in Atlanta.

Adding variations to the commuting routes

I've wanted a few more miles during the week so I decided to expand my commute routes to include a little more distance. In-bound, I added the big hill that approaches the Centers for Disease Control along Clifton Road from the west. It's a bigger hill than I remember. I think I've only climbed it once or twice before. It rises 175 feet over half a mile for a 7% grade. It's nice and steady though so other than the length, it wasn't too bad. Working hard early in the ride did mess me up for the rest of the ride. Hill profile shown here:



On the way back, I swung south to Grant Park home of the Zoo and Cyclorama. I had never taken the Cherokee Road crossing of I-20, and wanted to see it's attraction to other cyclists. It's not a bad route for those coming from Grant Park up to downtown and midtown.

Breathed in another insect on the way home in about the same spot as before. This one got swallowed, but only after scratching around my throat for a few miles. I'd been wanting to add a little variety to my diet.

Commute Summary

Round Trip Distance: 20.5
Number of Cyclists seen: 27 (new record)
In-bound Route: Emory/PATH
Out-bound Route: Grant Park
Weather: Sunny warmth seems to bring the people out.

Single Speed?

If I didn't have hills like these around my house, I might ride a fixed gear bike. Sure, this hill would be great for working on my buns of steel, but I have to also think about my knees of rust.

This hill is on Stillwood headed east, right before crossing into Dekalb County. It's not very long, but it is steep enough to kill momentum and makes a great warm-up in any gear.

The morning was so nice, I took several shots. This shot of a Bradford Pear shows a branch that would brush my helmet as I pass under. The image is now my computer's desktop image.