Category Archives: Uncategorized

MinnSki: Garmin Ski Trail Distances

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  • Return to Main Page: MinnSki (Nordic Skiing in MInnesota)

Ever noticed how imprecise the ski trail maps are? While we all appreciate the organizations which create these maps, the serious skier (racer) needs to know exact distances and elevations for determining workouts. Thus, MinnSki provides this Garmin Ski Trail Distance Portal. 

A few comments …

  • It would take your host, the NorthstarNerd, a long time to ski and measure all the trails in Minnesota and its neighboring regions.
    .
  • Garmin Trail Reports are welcome! Please email Rich Hoeg. I will need the exact distance in kilometers, and a link to a trail map or detailed description which describes your ski route. Currently measured trails are listed near the bottom of this page.

See my blog post that compares the difficulty of various ski trails including the City of the Lakes Loppet, the Mora Vasaloppet and the American Birkebeiner trails by measuring Garmin data for feet climbed per kilometer.

Garmin

Use MinnSki’s search engine to learn more about any of these trails

 

   

 

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Garmin Foreruner SportTracks Tutorial and Data

Sample Brule River Workout Image (click to view full sized)

Sport-Track-Brule-River

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Garmin Measured Ski Trail Distances

Outstate Minnesota

Twin Cities Metro

Cleary Lake: trail map

Eagle Lake: trail map

Elm Creek: trail map

French Park: trail map

Murphy Hanrehan: trail map

  • Knob (3.02 km)(Alan Bain)
  • Kettle (6.00 km)(Alan Bain)

Upper Peninsula

  • Trail Report #1

Wisconsin

Brule River: trail map

See my blog post that compares the difficulty of various ski trails including the City of the Lakes Loppet, the Mora Vasaloppet and the American Birkebeiner trails by measuring Garmin data for feet climbed per kilometer.
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SportTracks Data: (often multiple laps)

MinnSki is a proud paying supporter of SkinnySki.Com

Remember, link to the main MinnSki page to access other cross-country skiing resources such as MinSki’s LinkedIn Group, Twitter List, and Custom Google Nordic Skiing Search engine.

MinnSki: Search Engine

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  • Return to Main Page: MinnSki (Nordic Skiing in MInnesota)

MinnSki has created a custom Google Search Engine. By design, this index does NOT include manufacturers and ski shops. Our focus is the non commercial side of Nordic Skiing (cross-country skiing) with a primary focus upon Minnesota and its neighboring regions. However, recognizing the contribution that local ski shops make to Nordic Skiing in Minnesota, they are linked later on this page.

If you have suggested additions for this search engine, email the NorthstarNerd!

Here are links to the 61 sites presently indexed:

Magazines

Organizations & Clubs:

Portals:

Racing: Minnesota Skinny Ski Series

Racing: Other

Ski Trails: Minnesota

Three Rivers Park (Twin Cities)

Ski Trails: Upper Peninsula

Ski Trails: Wisconsin

Ski Trails: Other

MinnSki is a proud paying supporter of SkinnySki.Com

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The next section of this page links Minnesota commercial ski shops and services. While not part of search engine, they are a valuable part of our community.

MinnSki (Nordic Skiing in Minnesota)

Uncategorized

Ski-tracks Welcome to MinnSki!

Cross-Country in Minnesota (and nearby)

> Garmin Measured Ski Trail Distances

> Google X-Ski Search Engine (also browse sites)

> MinnSki LinkedIn Group

> SkiCam Man (a unique perspective!)

> Ski Trail Difficulty Ratings (Garmin data)

> And more!

> Nordic Skiing Blog Posts

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You may have noticed that MinnSki is a sub-site of NorthstarNerd.Org.

NorthstarNerd.Org is dedicated to open access sharing of knowledge at no cost to the user. You will never find an advertisement on this site. Should you ever get lost on this site, use the Nordic Skiing link in the top menu bar to return to MinnSki.

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A few past blog posts related to Nordic Skiing (view all via the Northern Life Category):

and finally, the classic

You can link to the Nordic Skiing Category to read all the posts. I promise some new, and unique content each Winter! Stay tuned. If you have suggestions or comments, please contact your host, Rich Hoeg … the NorthStarNerd.

NorthStarNerd is a proud paying supporter of SkinnySki.Com

DARPA Red Balloon Challenge

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Early this morning (around 7 am) before church I read about DARPA's red balloon challenge. As my mind wandered during Pastor Mark's sermon (sorry!) I thought … gee … between my corporate Yammer network, and the Yammer Best Practices network … I could put together a virtual team that would reach across the USA into hundreds of large corporations and involve their techies!

Thus, when I got on my computer after church and got ready to set my plan in action. Darn! Wouldn't you know … a bunch of MIT students set a network into action and located all the ten balloons in under ten hours. I was already too late before I even started! Next week I'll pay more attention in church!

One of DARPA's goals was to see how quickly social networks could be utilized to achieve a common goal. In this instance the answer was "fast". For an interesting analysis, link on over to General Electric's Global Research Blog. They have a nice post with links which will fill you in on the competition.

The map below shows where the balloons were found (click to view full sized). Thus, as you can see the task was both difficult and a geographical challenge.

BalloonMap

Has Wikipedia Lost its Mojo?

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Back in August, 2006 I attended Wikimania (my blog post from 2006). At the time, this conference and Wikipedia were "where it was happening" in terms of the web. However, if you fast forward to December 2009, has Wikipedia lost its mojo? In a recent article posted by the Industry Standard's managing editor Ian Lamont, he notes:

"Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia built on the backs of a seemingly never-ending
supply of free labor, is in a bit of a bind: Many contributors are
throwing in the towel. As reported in a page one story in Monday's Wall Street Journal,
"unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write,
edit and police it are quitting." And, the article adds, not enough new
blood is coming online to replace the quitters."

Let's return to Wikimania. This conference is Wikipedia's annual event. Back in 2006, attendance was free and the presenter list read almost like a "who's who" of the web. I took time off from work and hung out in a Harvard Law School dorm for $20 per night. Friendships I developed during that conference are still maintained today, and I've even built schools in rural China thanks to Dj. Since the Summer of 2006, the conference has never again been held again in the USA.

While I understand the need for Wikipedia to be a global organization, they need a big annual event in America. In my professional life I lead collaboration projects for a Fortune 100 company. While virtual collaboration is nice, it is critical to physically bring together design teams on an occasional basis. In the corporate environment, we understand this fact (i.e. the need for face to face interaction). Does Wikipedia understand this need? Although I've never contributed a huge number of edits to Wikipedia, unlike most netizens I have contributed. Organizations need to grow and expand their user base, and by this I mean more than those folks who just read Wikipedia's content online.

I wish Wikipedia good luck, and if they ever have another Wikimania in the USA, I would seriously consider attending. 2010 is scheduled for Gdansk, Poland.

Wikipedia-148