Monday, 24 October 2011
I had driven to work in the morning, and so I pulled my bike from the car for the evening ride. My start at 18:07 was later than it should have been. I knew that it would be well into dusk when I would arrive home.
My Garmin device began losing its signal below Riverscape and continued to do so through the rest of the ride. I wondered if something had happened to one of the satellites, but realized only at the end of the ride that the wheel magnet had swiveled to perpendicular with the wheel. Its position was too distant to be adequately registering my speed, and without speed in my Lotus setup, the device assumes I've stopped. So it stops.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 60 to 65°F at 17:45
Precipitation: none
Winds: 5 to 10 from the northwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: (elapsed) 00:43:20 for 11.95 miles
Heart rate: 135 bpm HRave, 148 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 11 pedestrians, 4 dogs
Playback of the ride
Showing posts with label speed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speed. Show all posts
24 October 2011
15 August 2011
Bike-commute day 67—to work
Monday, 15 August 2011
By the time I reached the concrete embankment on the Mad River, I thought, Well it's Monday, so there's no point in aching over the time or cadence or heart rate. And as soon as thought, I glanced at the Garmin device to check my speed, cadence, time, and heart rate. I was pleasantly surprised that all were a level above my typical ride last week.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 64 to 66°F at 07:25
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:41:35 for 11.93 miles
Heart rate: 132 bpm HRave, 154 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 4 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride
By the time I reached the concrete embankment on the Mad River, I thought, Well it's Monday, so there's no point in aching over the time or cadence or heart rate. And as soon as thought, I glanced at the Garmin device to check my speed, cadence, time, and heart rate. I was pleasantly surprised that all were a level above my typical ride last week.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 64 to 66°F at 07:25
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:41:35 for 11.93 miles
Heart rate: 132 bpm HRave, 154 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 4 cyclists, 4 pedestrians, 1 dog
Playback of the ride
28 June 2011
Bike-commute day 44—to work
Tuesday, 28 June 2011.
I saw Gary and Amy on their tandem, on the low plateau above the Mad River. This was one of the earliest passings by this year, and an indicator of how late was my start today. I opened up my intensity then, hoping to make up some time.
As I navigated the curve around the DP&L executive golf course, I saw a flash of two convict-orange-clothed walkers ahead in bright sunlight. As I neared, the walkers moved into shade and the bright orange shifted to a tea rose hue. I recognized them as I neared; it was Gladys and Millie. They had crossed Linden and were headed toward Burkhardt, extending their normal range quite a bit. I stopped to say, "From a distance, your orange was brightly lit, and I thought I would be accosted by some escaped convicts. But I think I'm safe with you two." They laughed and bragged about their excursion beyond their usual walk to Linden. As I clipped in to continue the commute, Millie warned me of another cyclist's approach from behind me, and I said, "Oh yeah. I passed him around Burkhardt. He's slow, at least compared to me. See ya."
After the short conversation, I opened up the intensity once again. In the last 2 legs, I closed with short sprints into Research Park, maintaining an HR of more than 150 bpm almost 3 minutes up to Airway, less than a minute between Woodman and Spaulding, and almost 2 minutes up to Research Boulevard.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 68 to 70°F at 07:35
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:40:46 for 11.99 miles
Heart rate: 133 bpm HRave, 161 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 9 cyclists, 16 pedestrians, 2 dogs
Here is a playback of the ride.
I saw Gary and Amy on their tandem, on the low plateau above the Mad River. This was one of the earliest passings by this year, and an indicator of how late was my start today. I opened up my intensity then, hoping to make up some time.
As I navigated the curve around the DP&L executive golf course, I saw a flash of two convict-orange-clothed walkers ahead in bright sunlight. As I neared, the walkers moved into shade and the bright orange shifted to a tea rose hue. I recognized them as I neared; it was Gladys and Millie. They had crossed Linden and were headed toward Burkhardt, extending their normal range quite a bit. I stopped to say, "From a distance, your orange was brightly lit, and I thought I would be accosted by some escaped convicts. But I think I'm safe with you two." They laughed and bragged about their excursion beyond their usual walk to Linden. As I clipped in to continue the commute, Millie warned me of another cyclist's approach from behind me, and I said, "Oh yeah. I passed him around Burkhardt. He's slow, at least compared to me. See ya."
After the short conversation, I opened up the intensity once again. In the last 2 legs, I closed with short sprints into Research Park, maintaining an HR of more than 150 bpm almost 3 minutes up to Airway, less than a minute between Woodman and Spaulding, and almost 2 minutes up to Research Boulevard.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 68 to 70°F at 07:35
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit, ankle socks, open-finger gloves.
Bike: Lotus Legend fixed gear
Time: 00:40:46 for 11.99 miles
Heart rate: 133 bpm HRave, 161 bpm HRmax
Bikeway users: 9 cyclists, 16 pedestrians, 2 dogs
Here is a playback of the ride.
28 April 2011
Bike-commute day 16—to work
Ahhhh. The first day of cycling weather (that didn't have necessary errands or a dicey weather forecast) in two weeks!
Since my last bike-commute, I bought and installed a Garmin Edge 705 cycling computer that is GPS-enabled and with a heart rate monitor and cadence-speed sensor. For further product information:
The cyclometers always failed first in the cabling. As the cabling on each bike successively failed, I thought then that keeping track of ride statistics was just giving in to a tendency toward obsessive-compulsive activity. I counteracted by giving in to inertia, and decided not to fulfill either a need or a desire to repair the computers.
But I've missed the statistics, and I've been ready to feed my OCD for some time. Back when the first cyclometer failed, wireless devices were beginning to be available, but they were pricey. Like all technology, prices have been coming down while features were piling on. Since last Autumn, when I decided it was time to upgrade to a wireless cyclometer, I've been searching out and comparing the many brands and models available. I finally decided on the Garmin 705 when I found it available at steep discounts that made its price more competitive with other brands that had fewer features.
Today's ride now is documented thoroughly with little effort. Before today, I kept refreshing the list of timings, memorizing them as I rode from home to work and from work to home. But today's ride had no memory work, other than the reminder to press LAP as I passed each established checkpoint. I could focus instead on whether I was really pushing the edge of what I could do, since I had set an alarm to indicate when my heart beat below 136 bpm or above 167 bpm. (I never heard that "too high" alarm today. Gotta find out what it sounds like some day soon.)
Then, at my desk after a shower, I plugged in the USB cable from the 705 to my computer, accessed my account at Garmin's site, and downloaded the commute data. The data crunching is instantaneous and immediately understandable.
Route with charts of all statistics and graphs of speed, elevation, and heart rate along an axis of time. You can also display the graphs of speed, elevation, and heart rate along an axis of distance or timed movement (tosses out those seconds or minutes spent at stop lights).
Chart of split statistics.
Route with a graphed comparison of speed and elevation. A playback of the entire ride moves red markers through the chart and through the route, while the momentary readings of time, distance, elevation, speed, and heart rate vary at the bottom.
Route with a graphed comparison of speed and heart. A playback of the ride is also available here.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 45 to 48°F at 07:50, 52 to 55°F at 11:00
Precipitation: none
Winds: 10 to 15 mph, gusts to 20 mph from the south
Clothing: 2-layer top, 1-layer bottom; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:46:26 for 11.94 miles
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 1 dog
1st Garmin day
- The Garmin sales site offers the basic device+HR for $500, +HR+cadence at $550, +HR+cadence+topo at $600, and +HR+cadence+street at $650.
- I purchased my device at a 40% discount at Amazon.com. I researched lower prices considerably, and one site had a lower price, although they had no 705s in stock.
- I'm able to use the device without maps for now, since my riding is in familiar territory.
- I'm looking for the best deals on mapping to load to the device. Since I plan to use the device in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, California, and perhaps Arizona and Pennsylvania, the mapping may become fairly expensive.
- Selecting the mapping add-ons is likely the most complex part of using the device, with options for road riding, trail riding, and geographic location.
- Setup took an evening, including charging the main device, setting up an online account for keeping statistics on my rides, setting up the main device, installing the device mounts on two bikes, and figuring out the mounting of the cadence sensor.
- I'm having trouble for the moment installing the cadence-speed sensor on my Trek hybrid, because the sensor doesn't seem to span the distance between the cadence magnet on the crank arm and the speed magnet on a rear-wheel spoke. I've contacted Garmin support online, which promised a reply in 3 days. This is the 2nd day of waiting for the reply. —There's no such trouble for the cadence-speed sensor on my Lotus fixed-gear. The trail bike may have a similar problem.
The cyclometers always failed first in the cabling. As the cabling on each bike successively failed, I thought then that keeping track of ride statistics was just giving in to a tendency toward obsessive-compulsive activity. I counteracted by giving in to inertia, and decided not to fulfill either a need or a desire to repair the computers.
But I've missed the statistics, and I've been ready to feed my OCD for some time. Back when the first cyclometer failed, wireless devices were beginning to be available, but they were pricey. Like all technology, prices have been coming down while features were piling on. Since last Autumn, when I decided it was time to upgrade to a wireless cyclometer, I've been searching out and comparing the many brands and models available. I finally decided on the Garmin 705 when I found it available at steep discounts that made its price more competitive with other brands that had fewer features.
Today's ride now is documented thoroughly with little effort. Before today, I kept refreshing the list of timings, memorizing them as I rode from home to work and from work to home. But today's ride had no memory work, other than the reminder to press LAP as I passed each established checkpoint. I could focus instead on whether I was really pushing the edge of what I could do, since I had set an alarm to indicate when my heart beat below 136 bpm or above 167 bpm. (I never heard that "too high" alarm today. Gotta find out what it sounds like some day soon.)
Then, at my desk after a shower, I plugged in the USB cable from the 705 to my computer, accessed my account at Garmin's site, and downloaded the commute data. The data crunching is instantaneous and immediately understandable.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 45 to 48°F at 07:50, 52 to 55°F at 11:00
Precipitation: none
Winds: 10 to 15 mph, gusts to 20 mph from the south
Clothing: 2-layer top, 1-layer bottom; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:46:26 for 11.94 miles
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 1 dog
1st Garmin day
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