Toes to the Edge

Doggett’s Coat and Badge is the the oldest rowing race in the world. Here is an Erg Tour route so you can row it yourself.

Instructions:

1. Follow the these instructions if you do not already have Erg Tour installed.
2. Download the Doggett’s Coat and Badge route and unzip it into your Erg Tour directory which is C:\Program Files\ergTour by default.
3. Run Google Earth and let it initialize
4. Connect your Concept II PM3 to the computer and select a workout.
5. Open a command window and switch to the Erg Tour directory.
6. Run this command: ergTour -e -f DoggettsCoatAndBadge_v1.ge

Google Earth allows people to add 3-D models of buildings that are then shown on its maps. London, being very popular, happens to have many models available for download. To add these, go to the listed page and click on the ‘View in Google Earth 4′ button.

Extra 3-D buildings to add to this route:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=74544132a520acd4af304f2ecb647df
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=45049696ab8c5ca4de899d35f9c616dd
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=a44e9a5ba3454316bd02647800d941b6
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=345682ce8dd172d79d03be4da3d2a68d
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=cd47b23d468d293cbfd21a8ab4d05139
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=f3ab8131e51f418fba50d5614b4d7e3d

Google has now documented the COM inteface to Google Earth. I’ve been using it in my program Erg Tour. That was without the benefit of documentation, so now that the official documentation is out I hope to make better use of the API.

Controlling Google Earth from Python looks something like this:

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I can’t believe it. You build, you test, and still deploy the wrong code… Grrr. A big apology to all those that downloaded version 0.2 and received a dialog box saying that it timed out. Somewhere between testing and uploading I selected the wrong version of the installer. The new Erg Tour setup.exe is version 0.3 and contains the fix.

Also I will be posting detailed directions soon on creating your own routes.

I’ve been making great progress on ErgMate

10/25/2006
o sorted out bug lists – I found I had a Palm memo, Progect file, and spreadsheet all with defects and notes in them. Finalized on an Open Office spreadsheet for defect tracking, a palm memo for the work log, and a pdesk/progect file for structured notes.
o added preview and save of music/cox clips from ClipsDialog
o cleaned up mp3 tag info not present bug

10/26/2006
o moved slideRatio calculator from python prototype to C++ wrapper. I had forgotten just how much quicker it is to code in Python. It would be better to leave higher-level calculations in Python, especially if they are not ocurring on every update.
o added new coaching clip ‘Slide Ratio’

Ambient Pink-Floyd mixes are wonderful background music for early morning coding sessions.

Two races are available for Erg Tour – the Head of the Cuyahoga and the Jack Speakmon Memorial Regatta. The Head of the Cuyahoga is installed with the new Erg Tour setup program. Download the Jack Speakmon Tour and place it in the Erg Tour folder. You can run this tour by opening a command window, switching to the Erg Tour directory, and executing:
ergTour.exe -e -f speakmon_v1.ge

If you will not be in Boston this weekend you can still row the Head of the Charles (and other races) by using a program called ergTour. It uses the Concept II Model D rowing machine to guide Google Earth along the race course.

Instructions
1.Start Google Earth and let it initialize. It is very important to do this first.
2.Connect the PM3 to the PC via USB cable.
3.Select your workout.
4.Run ergTour.
5.Start rowing.

Note: It is very important to have the Concept II PM3 connected before running Erg Tour.

Full instructions are in the documentation, including command-line options for creating a file for your own river. The program is installed by downloading and executing this setup.exe.

The program is free but will run for 45 days only.

Enjoy!

Edit:
11/04/2006 Erg Tour Version 0.5 uploaded. Note that many command-line paramters have changed. Also now includes Head of the Charles, Head of the Cuyahoga, and the Doggett’s Coat and Badge
10/22/2006 Renamed the program to Erg Tour and included a second map.

Concept 2 has placed some interesting interviews and video from the CRASH-B races online: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6193709687934906288&q=bob+spenger&hl=en

The first is with Bob Spenger, 81 year-old rower.