Where can I find a detailed explanation of the differences between rag stride and stride?
So far the only differences I can tell or find is that ragtime l.h. stays closer most of the time to the middle of the keyboard and stride reaches down on 1st and 3rd beat to the lower end of the keyboard.
In my view: there's "ragtime", and there's "stride piano" (there is no "rag stride").
Ragtime is the music of Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, James Scott, etc, etc. It is composed, meant to be played as written, and usually has sections and interludes.
Stride piano is the music of James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, Willie the Lion, Donald Lambert, etc. It comes from ragtime, so early stride pieces are composed, have sections and interludes, but they are sometimes played a little looser, with variations. For examples, James P. Johnson recorded his Carolina Shout several times, and other pianists as well, and they are all different, sometimes just a little bit, sometimes quite different. Also stride piano is a style, you can take any song and play it in the stride style. Dick Wellstood recorded Giant Steps, Donald Lambert did a few classical pieces.
In ragtime the left hand, as you mentioned, does not travel as much. The bass note is higher than in stride, and the chord is lower. Also in ragtime the bass note is often an octave. In stride the bass note is usually a single note, far down, and the chord is higher up, giving a sound that is less muddied.
In stride piano, the left hand often has tenths in the bass, especially on medium tempos, those tenths can be broken upwards or downwards. Also some players "mess with the rhythm". Fats Waller doesn't do it that much, but James P. Johnson does it a lot. Things like oom-oom-pah-oom, or suspending the left hand for a while. Listen to his Liza on YouTube.
Stride piano is a style where the right hand is important too. Just because you're playing oom-pahs in the left hand (the so called "stride bass") doesn't mean you're playing the stride piano style. Stride incorporated blue notes and dissonance that ragtime does not have. This can be heard in Carolina Shout (one of the earliest stride pieces), and it is known that Thelonious Monk was inspired by James P. Johnson (as was Duke Ellington).
In the right hand, there's a certain way of syncopating the medody, characteristic figures in thirds, etc. That is all part of the stride piano style, and to me, playing a stride bass with bebop lines is perfectly doable, but it's not "stride piano" per se, it's... well, it's bebop lines with a stride bass.
Plus stride tries to travel at break neck speed whereas rag sort of strides along at a decent pace. I am sure that there is many more differences.
Tempos in stride can be faster than in ragtime, for sure, but there are lots of stride pieces at medium or slow tempos
Another thing I have noticed is that some stride players play left hand stride and right hand whatever.
Especially when playing pop song melodies with little or no improvisation. And very little syncopation, anticipation. What do you call that? Seems to be a lot of different ways that things are done.
Then it's "whatever" on top of a stride bass, but not stride piano.
Hope this helps.