Most recent Garmin logged bike ride

Upgrades prior to HHHs

After that first training ride at Blue Mounds, WI (on the worst hills of the route) I decided on a gearing change for my bike. Transitioncycle.com helped me out with a "like new" used chainring. For a better gear ratio I went from a 36T to a 34T. After the change (the following weekend) I had a second practice ride at HHH (200k) stages 2 & 3 last and it was a big improvement. Now the only problem, with a couple weeks to go before the event, is finding any hills around Waukesha for training that compete with those around Blue Mounds.

I've been tweaking the insoles of my bike shoes with a couple of different brands; Superfeet and Powerstep), I need the arch support, particularly in the left foot. Right now I use a Superfeet insole in the right shoe and the Powerstep Pro (3/4) in the left.

The last change is that I recently dumped my Polar CS100 and it's multiple sensors for the Garmin FR305. I've been using the FR305 for a little over a year, but I just installed it's accessory quick attach/detach bike mount. It's nice to have the display back up on the handlebars and to be able to pop it on and off the bike. I also added the cadence sensor, for the complete telemetry package.

That's about it, I'll be on vacation for about a week, hopefully I'll get some training rides in while down in the Springfield, IL area.

Safe riding all.

Bike Computer Consolidation II ?

A while back I posted an article about consolidating my bike computers into one unit, and at the time I choose a Polar CS100. But now, due to a problem with accessing their website, I can't login to my old account and I can't register a new account, (because the CS100 S/N is in use by my old account). I've tried emails to Polar, but so far no response and I hate to lose all the data I've entered. If I can't get access to the original account, I might have to think about a new cyclometer. I like my Garmin FR 305, but I'm not sure that I want to use it every time I ride. Any suggestions for a good alternative?

I may venture out tomorrow, it's supposed to be colder than it was today, but there should be some sun, with a chance of flurries. That makes it at least a 3 layer day, starting with the;

Feet - wool socks, shoes and shoe covers
Lower Half - Bike Shorts and CWX winter running tights (that's only two layers, but I should be ok)
Upper Torso - short sleeve base, long sleeve mid layer w/ hood and a jacket
Head - Hood, helmet and helmet cover.
Hands - Lobster Claw (Vulcan Salute) gloves

Its got to be better than riding inside on the CycleOps Trainer.

Safe riding all (no matter where you ride; inside or out)

Forerunner 305 GPS

I finally got out for a ride last Saturday and it was a great day for a ride (maybe just a little windy on the way back), but that seems to happen to me every time I ride out to Dousman, but at least it stayed sunny.

On this trip I had a chance to try out my latest gadget, the Garmin Forerunner 305 wrist unit that I talked about in a previous post. The version I bought included the following; the wrist unit, heart rate strap, wrist strap extender, AC adapter, USB cable, cradle plus software (CD) and manuals. I used the wrist strap extender right away, otherwise it wasn't going to fit around my wrist over the sleeves of my base layer and jacket. The wrist unit is a little on the bulky side, but it's really not bad at all . I may consider switching to this verses my Polar Bike Computer.

Once I setup the "305" with my info; age, weight and custom heart rate zones (from my VO2 test), I was ready to go. When you first power it on it briefly flashes a screen with the logo and firmware version and then starts searching for satellites. Once that's complete you can press the start/stop button to start logging your activity and press it again to stop logging.

The real fun comes after the ride, you can then upload the data from the 305 to your computer to either a local application (called Training Center) which came with it or to the MotionBased website. You get free access to a limited version of MotionBased when you register your Garmin device on the Garmin website, just use the same login on MotionBased that you use at MyGarmin. Here's a sample of the kind data that can be viewed on the MotionBased site.


This particular site is a player, so that you can view the route you took and playback the ride with all the data points along the way; speed, HR, Elevation, pace and distance.

The next trip for the 305 may be this weekend, if the weather co-operates.

Safe riding all

Spoke too soon

Little did I know that we'd get dumped on, on Friday March 21st. Here in Waukesha we had between 12 - 14" of new snowfall during that day. It put a real damper on Wheel and Sprockets Bike Expo that day (I know, because I was out there for a couple of hours).

Things are looking a lot better this weekend, so I'm hoping to get out on either Saturday or Sunday, to try out the Garmin GPS unit.

Safe riding all.

Garmin Forerunner field test

As soon as I can I want to tryout this Garmin Forerunner 305. Yes, the snow is almost gone, FINALLY


It has the capability to store; heart rate, GPS data and altitude as well as being able to upload the data to either a local application or a website. I'm planning some vacation days within the next two weeks and hopefully the weather will cooperate, so I'll get something posted within that time.

This weekend was the last RyJax class, unless the weather stays crappy, in which case we'll play it by ear. But the first club rides start on April 1st. So another season of riding will kick off soon.