Feb 26 2011

Topeak handlebar mounted phone/PDA case

I haven’t published a product review on the trailsnet blog for awhile, so now’s a good time to review one of my most useful trail tools.

Next to my trusty steed, or in this case my trusty bike, my Topeak phone carrier is probably my most important trail tool. Heck, since I often rent a bike, but always have my Topeak, I could argue that the phone case is my most valuable trail tracking tool.

I learned, the hard way, that carrying my phone in my pocket wasn’t a good idea. I had finally broken down and purchased an iPhone, because a.) I needed a portable trail-tracking GPS and b.) I love everything Apple makes.

The first time I took it out on the trail, I turned on the tracking system (At the time, I was using the Trails app.) and jammed the phone in my shirt pocket.

Bad move.

After owning the phone for less than a month, I was mortified to feel the phone slip out of my pocket, hear it as it crashed to the ground, and see it as it made its final tumble into a nearby ditch.

It’ll be fine, I thought. Only a couple scratches… or in the immortal words of Monty Python, “It’s only a flesh wound.”

Wrong!!

Major damage!! Long story short… I had to buy a new phone. And for a cheapskate like me, that hurt.

So I knew I had to come up with a better system than jamming the phone into my pocket.

I began the search for a phone case that mounted on my bike. It had to be something that would secure and protect the phone yet allow the magic satellite signals to reach the GPS thingy majobby on my phone. (Sorry to go all technical on you.)

Topeak handlebar-mounted
PDA/phone case

My search ended at REI in Boulder, CO where I discovered the handlebar mounted PDA case by ToPeak. The actual case is perfect. It’s just the right size, holds the phone securely, and is easy to put on and take off my bike. The plastic mounting bracket is easy to secure to the handlebars and can be put on just about any bicyle.

Topeak PDA case w/
iPhone inside

I’ve had it for almost two years now and haven’t dropped another phone. I have ridden many trails in that time, and some of them have been brutally bumpy; not a problem.

The only downside is that the ToPeak PDA (or smart phone) case is a bit hard to find. I have discovered that the same REI where I bought my first case, no longer carries them or at least didn’t when I went back to buy a handy-dandy back up case to mount on another bike.

Topeak case on left & mounting
bracket on the right

They do appear to be available at Amazon.com, so if your local bike shop/sporting goods store doesn’t carry them, check out this Amazon.com link.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/02/26/topeak-handlebar-mounted-phonepda-case/

Feb 26 2011

Texas trails

The weather’s fine,
The trails sublime…
clap, clap, clap clap!
Deep in the heart of Texas.
I’ve logged a little over a 100 miles the past couple days, on Texas trails.
Yesterday, I rode Lake Mineral Wells State Trailway and today, I blasted up and down the Trinity River Trail System in Fort Worth, Texas.
It was surprisingly warm for the Mineral Wells trail, but a bit windy.
Today’s weather on the Fort Worth trails was perfect; low 60s w/ a slight breeze.
The Mineral Wells trail is a rail trail that runs from the town of Mineral Wells to Weatherford, Texas. It has a crushed limestone surface and a slight grade leading up to a whopping elevation of a little over 1200 feet. The only disappointment was when I found out that after tracking the entire trip using the Everytrail app, the system crashed somehow, and I lost all the coordinates, notes, and photos that I recorded on the iPhone. Bummer. I’ll still be able to produce an Everytrail guide, but I’ll have to draw in the map portion and use photos from my Panasonic camera and notes from my head.
That last one is the scary part.
The Trinity River Trail is a different story though. Everything worked fine. I got a little off track on the first leg of the trip, but I found a better route on the way back, so I’ll make the necessary adjustments. I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the Trinity Trail is and how nice the city of Fort Worth looks from the trail.
If any readers have had experience on Texas trails, I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to leave comments or send an email.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/02/26/texas-trails/

Feb 20 2011

Snapshot of trail users

happy, healthy bike rider on trail

Who are all those people using our nation’s trails?

I can’t give a conclusive answer for all trail users, but I can give you information about the TrailLink audience, thanks to a brief overview found on the traillink website.

* 62% of the users are male and 38% female (a bit of a surprise)

* 71% of them are between the ages of 31 & 60 years old with ages 46 to 60 being the most dominant group.

* 70% of users are college graduates (I figured the college educated group would be larger, but not that significantly larger.)

* 87% of trail users are bicyclists, 43% walkers, 31% hikers (hmmm, is there that much of a difference betwixt walkers & hikers?), and 17% are runners. (This percentage fits right in with what I’ve seen on the trails too, except, I always get completely confused between the walkers and hikers.)  (-:

I did my own informal “trail user poll” and came up with the following important statistic:

On any given day, out of 100 trail users, 99 of them were happy, healthy, and friendly, while one was a cranky old fart. The good news is, if I didn’t keep including myself in these polls, trail users would be 100% awesome.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/02/20/snapshot-of-trail-users/

Feb 20 2011

Say "Thanks" to trail workers

I love being one of the first people on a brand new trail, so I loved today’s bike ride.

I’ve been waiting for this trail to open for some time, and today, I noticed it was ready for “customers.” It was beautiful weekend day, so despite the trails newness, I didn’t have it anywhere near to myself. It looked as if there were other trail users who like new trails also.
Trail workers are awesome!!
In fact, the trail was so new, there was a crew of a couple guys still working on it, putting on those finishing touches. So as I rode my bike by them, I struck up a conversation. When we parted ways, I said “thanks” for helping bring this new trail to life.
I could tell by their reaction, that they weren’t used to having people say thank you. After all, they get paid to work on the trail, don’t they?
Well in this case, yes. They were paid employees, but they still deserved a thank you. Because a.) I’m sure they don’t get paid a heck of a lot and most importantly b.) they took pride in their work. I could tell this by how enthusiastically they answered my questions and by the smiles on their faces. Here it was, the weekend, and they were working while so many of us were out loafing, and they seemed to enjoy what they were doing.
So a big thank you to all the paid and volunteer trail workers. If it wasn’t for you, we would be missing out on some of the best places and activities on this planet.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/02/20/say-thanks-to-trail-workers/

Feb 18 2011

Great Plains Trail

“The best view of the mountains,
is from the plains.” – K. L. Purdy

I love discovering new, epic trails being planned.

I recently found out about a mega-path called the Great Plains Trail. Here is the first paragraph from the Great Plains Trail website:
The ultimate goal is to establish, preserve and promote a long distance, non-motorized trail running north/south through the short grass prairies of the Great Plains, resulting in a trail that runs from Canada’s Grassland National Park on the U.S./ Canada border to the summit of Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas.


Now that sounds awesome to me. I love the plains, I adore long-distance trails, and I am a particular fan of trails in the western portion of the U.S. because, well, they’re easy for me to access. This trail will fill the bill nicely.


I wish Steve the best of luck with this trail, and I hope he quickly generates a big fan base. It would be fantastic to make this trail dream a reality.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/02/18/great-plains-trail/

Feb 17 2011

Choose your favorite trails website in our latest poll.

A new trail-related poll was unveiled on the trails network blog yesterday. The poll is located in the left hand column of the blog and allows participants to make more than one choice. The topic for this month’s poll is: What is your favorite trails website? And of course, the trails network blog is one of the choices but, hey, no pressure… did I mention you can make more than one choice?

If you want to find out more about each of the trail websites, here are some links to check out:
Oops… I forgot to add
a cute graphic to the
blog on Valentine’s
Day, so here it is.
www…. well, you’re already at the trails network blog, so a link here would be rather redundant.
I would encourage you to vote early and often, but you’re only allowed to vote once, so just vote early.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2011/02/17/choose-your-favorite-trails-website-in-our-latest-poll/