September 2007 – Frank Kinlan's Blog

Garmin Edge Stats

Now I’ve managed to retreive my history I was really surprised by the stats it was showing up for the year.

So far I’ve done 4107 miles at an average speed of 13.3 mph. Now for the oddball data 257080 calories burnt Average heartrate 123 bpm Max 192 and if I didn’t like hills I do now, 173,368 ft of climbing.

This is only the data I’ve managed to recover from Motionbased there are a couple of rides I didn’t upload as they weren’t significant at the time. I’ve posted 75 rides on motionbased most with cadence and heartrate data.

268 miles was my longest week. I’d say they were all quality miles as It’s been such a good year that I don’t remember a bad ride. I’ll delve into them a little deeper when I have time.

Weekending 30 Sep 07

Monday:Work. No Gym, no spinning and no rides. New Edge charger on the go.
Tuesday: Sorted the Cadence sensor out on the Toy at 5:30 in the morning. Read article in Pro-Cycling about Discovery Channel demise. Work.
Wednesday: Work but could fit a session in the gym in.
Managed to get to West Kirby for Barbera,s class. First of the week and missing two days felt like going cold turkey. Anyway it was good to getback into it. Had a good go and the result was 700 calories burnt. Two new women got a round of applause at the end. The first class is always the hardest. Spoke to them after the class, I don’t think they quite know what they had let themselves in for but they made the grade. Gym for me for a few sets of weights. Funny thing was there were lads getting stroppy with each other for resting on the machines. Read the articles lads, 30 seconds to a minute between sets for for what your doing. Five minutes posing between sets is taking the piss.
Thursday: Aldi winter cycle clothing scrum 9:00 Aldi carpark. Work.
Spinning class West Kirby, Loiuse,s Europa Pools class full. Got the entry back for Saturdays Audax.
650 Calories burnt and two sets of weights afterwards. Another three first timers, the two next to me not quite knowing what they had let themselves in for.
Friday: Probably a spinning class. Got to stay in for some double glazing to get delivered. It’s a hard life. Planned the route for the Audax.
Gym then Barbera,s spinning class. I’m not going to do the weights before spinning again as it really took it out of me. 550 cals burnt but it was hard work.
Class was about half full but some of the women were playing musical bikes. Swapping the one in their space for a red flywheeled one. Supposed to give a harder workout. Now I know all about workouts on these bikes, Just put an extra quarter turn in on every routine and you won’t need a bike with a red flywheel.
For those that read the spinning write up I now do all the climbing sections out of the saddle, this is to simulate how I ride my bike. I don’t sit in the saddle pushing a leg breaking resistance , it’s just not natural , so its out the saddle with a level of resistance in that simulates being on my bike. Looks like a wet Audax tomorrow time to give the Aldi gear an outing.
Saturday:Discovering Shropshire Audax 118 Km.
Had a good day proved to be harder than the 73 miles would suggest. Every time I looked at the Edge it was showing a gradient of 10 per cent. Will do aseperate post on the event.
Sunday: CTC Presidents Ride in memory of the late Graham Mills. 18 mile ride to Eaton from Christleton pond. Nice easy ride to the village hall at Eaton. One small sharp shock after crossing the canal but nothing drastic.Spoke with afew that had come across the site but not met me on the rides before. Having only been in the CTC for a year means I haven’t bumped into the members of the DA let alone remember a tenth of the names.
Pace was a bit higher on the way back with a trip along the canal to Chester. Then it was along the Dee to the blue bridge and back on the cycle path to the Eureka. Rode home via the missing link. Another good day, nearly time to don the winter clothing but may have a few fine days left.

Write ups and pictures in separate post.

Garmin Connect

Just as we are all getting to grips with MotionBased Garmin has announced the new site will be called Garmin Connect.

http://www8.garmin.com/pressroom/outdoor/082907.html

This anouncement totally slipped by me as I was preoccupied with the Edge 705 anouncement. Hope it doesn’t change too much and the old links work as I now have over 70 rides on MotionBased.
I suppose it had to come as I don’t really use the Trailnetworks side and I don’t look at any of the running routes.
The Forerunner 50 sounds quite good value at $99 . This is going to give Polar a very hard time. Some of their basic models are close to that and don’t have gps on them.

Aldi Winter Cycling Clothing

It’s that time of year again, the nights are drawing in and even sunny days require more than just a short sleeved top.

Aldi are doing their Winter Cycling Clothing offer this Thurday 27 September.

http://www.aldi.co.uk/

This clothing saw me through my first winter season of cycling. All of it is excellent value and quality. I made multiple purchases last year and a lot of it is still unused with the tags on as I dropped a couple of sizes over the year. It’s quite generously sized and Aldi offer a 30 day return policy. The only problem is that if your looking to exchange it then there is likely to be nothing left. It sells out VERY fast.

For a comparison I paid £30 for a pair of Altura waterproof overtrousers, Aldi have theirs for £7.99. The other garments all offer the same great value. There is no skimping on the quality either. If your looking to kit yourself out for the winter then this is the chance to do it at bargain prices.

My motto last year was to buy two of everything as one was going to be in the wash and I’ll be doing the same this year too as last years stuff is too big on me. I just hope there is enough length in the medium sized garments. Be there for when the doors open as it’s a bit of a bunfight on offer day.

Turned up early and was first in the queue, saw Dave in the queue and bumped in to a few regulars from the Eureka. I ended up spending over £100 on the hit and some of it is even better than last year I would say. I’ll do a seperate review of the jacket as I can see this being one of my favourite tops this year.

The trolley got filled with:
3 long sleeved jerseys in blue
2 jackets full zip one blue one black.
2 bibpants, one with stirrups one without.
1 pair pants,
1 waterproof fluorescent jacket
1 waterproof overtrousers
2 pair waterproof winter gloves one black, one blue/black
1 overshoes with cap

All the above is a medium size and fits me well. The gloves at £2.99 are going up against the Sealskinz at ten times the price. They are long in the cuff and easily cover the end of the sleeves of the jacket or jersey. A lot of thought has gone into some of the items with really good detailing.

No glasses and there was a problem with the lights too. I’ve got no excuses now for not going out this winter but after last year I won’t be looking for any.

I am still getting visitors looking at the post I did on Crane Sports Technical Ski gloves that I tried last year so this years stuff should prove just as popular.
More when I’ve tried the stuff in anger.
I’m not putting the Discovery Channel stuff away just yet and I can see the day I end up freezing by wanting to still be a fashion victim.

03 Oct 07 Tried the Overshoes and cap on for size. The design of the overshoe,s has changed this year with the zip on the side of the shoe. There is one shortcoming with the ones I have, the ankle top is too loose. I bought the 10/11 size to make sure it fitted over the shoe but you’d need ankle like tree trunks for this sizing. There shouldn’t be a problem with the zip this year and the material has changed with a more stretchy panel on the inside.

Garmin Edge USB Chargers

The twelve hour battery life of the Garmin Edge 205/305 is a shortcoming that needs addressing if you do daylong rides such as Audaxes and the like. There are a few options out there similar to the emergency mobile phone chargers such as Cellboost and PowerMonkey etc and the Homebrew route that I tried.

Part of the problem when your Edge gets down to one blob of battery life is recharging it on the move. On the Audaxes time was a bit tight in the control points and the Edge doesn’t recharge in 5 minutes. You dread seeing a low battery warning after 100 of 125 miles I can tell you.

My Edge is mounted on the stem but there is also a clearance problem with USB connector. Its a tight fit and any pressure on the cable means the Edge won’t take a charge. This tight fit rules out the use once Emergency Mobile phone packs like CellBoost (£5 at Tesco,s). Riding colleague and Garmin route planning mentor Ray has a pack from Akhter that works that cost him about £20 I’ve been told, it gets put in a pouch that gets looped onto the handlebar. His setup works but I still like the Heath Robinson efforts that abound.

There are two methods of regulating the voltage to your Edge charger first is the step down method. You start with a higher voltage and drop it down to 5v through a regulator . The excess voltage generates heat and is not efficient. It’s easy to do though and the parts are cheap. Cheap enough for the Cellboost pack to be thrown away.

The other method is DC-DC conversion. This is what I think is in the more expensive chargers like Ray,s. This is the blood out of a stone method and is more efficient than the step down method. Without going in to too much detail it allows you to extract all the energy out of a set of cells to top up your Edge. You can quite literally charge your Edge from a single AA cell.

The Energiser Energi to Go charger looks like it might work Ok . I might end up getting one instead of faffing around but where would be the fun in that.

To be continued. The solution is out there.
Mustn’t forget to mention Andy Walshes charger from Poundland. Cost need you ask £1. Battery under the seat, with a switch. He completed a 12 hour Race with it.

MK 2 battery pack is coming up with a 5 volt regulator in it. Been to Maplins for the bits.

Fabricated the Regulator side of the charger into a PP3 cell top. Then potted it in Araldite. The regulator is a 78s05 5volt regulator that I’v had since the days when I used to do computer repairs. I bought a 6 x AA cell battery pack from Maplins whech should supply 7.2 v if fitted with Nicads or Ni-Mh batteries. All thats required now is to fit the mini USB plug to cable and test it.

A 7805 voltage regulator needs around 6 volts before the regulation starts to suffer and is good for 1 amp of current on a heatsink. One final word of warning Nicads and Ni-Mh batteries generate large currents when shorted due to having next to no internal resistance. Take care to insulate any exposed metal or you could end up with more than a melted jersey like I did. If you’ve poor soldering skills don’t attempt to solder a mini USB connector.

The Edge is quite a hungry beastie drawing 380 mA from the PSU falling back to 190 mA after an hour. The regulator draws 4 mA without the Edge connected so it would eventually flatten the batteries if left connected.

Like I have mentioned before the Edge USB port is a very tight squeeze when the Edge is mounted on the stem. The Madone is fitted with an oversize stem and the Maplin USB connector just comes in to cantact with it. It is going to need a bit of adjustment to make it foolproof.

Next project is likely to be a LED headlight unit. The price of the LEDs must be at a level where it is cheap enough to play around with them.

Next test: Field trials.

The field trials in the Discovering Shropshire Audax went fairly well but they weren’t the full onbike trial. The Edge was down to two blobs by the final control and a 15 minute or so charge put another blob back on the battery charge indicator. The exposed part of the 7805 regulator is hot to the touch but these are robust devices incorporating various methods of protection. I also used the pack to charge up the mobile phone on the way home as it is also fitted with a mini USB connector.
Cost without rechargeable batteries is around £2.50. The regulator was in the junk box.

Maplin Part Number

L53AZ USB 2.0 Mini Plug 5p   £1.79
HQ01B 6AA Battery Box           74p
UJ54J L78S05CV 2A reg           77p

Or if you’ve no soldering skills don’t posses a soldering ironyou could try one of these for £1.99

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=99657&doy=3m10

Edge 705 update. Not going to be available until 1st Quarter 2008 !!!!!!

Weekending 23 Sep 07

Monday: Work but booked in for West kirby and Europa Pools. Fifth on the waiting list for Europa pools meant I might have been bumped out of the class.
It’s a close thing trying to make Barbara,s 6 o’clock class and I end up on the front row of three rows, so it’s a full class.
Two weeks ago I did 850 calories in this class but tonight it’s only 650 the heartrate is a lot lower and there is no warmup. It’s still a tough class as like a lot of Barbara,s classes there is very little letup between hills, sprints etc.
Finished with a 7 minute sprint with that extra 1/4 turn to make sure the legs know your not freewheeling.
Then it was in the car to Europa Pools where I made the class with places to spare.
Now West Kirby had taken it out of me and I couldn’t push as hard for the second class and I only ended up taking in half a bottle of water.As the class comes to an end with only the final sprint to do I mention that West Kirby did a 7 minute one. Now the gloves are off, we’ve got to do an eight minute one. I don’t know what the track is but you get to have a YeeHaa half way through. 1180 calories for the two classes.
Tuesday: Work
Wednesday: Lifestyle and Weight Mananagement followup class. Six turned up and and it was a really useful class. Brian had finished his year and had lost 4 stone. Another one that has stuck it out embraced the exercise and done really well. Just to add Brian is diabetic as well. 83.5 Kg This morning.
Thursday : First day off, plenty to do but should do at least one spinning class and some weights to boot. West Kirby tonight. Another tough class 750 calories. Weights in the gym and ran for 5 minutes on the treadmill when I finally figured out how to get the machine started.
Friday: It’s been throwing it down, might get out on the bike later but entered for an Audax in Shropshire. Spinning class at West Kirby no HRM so no calorie count. 7 in the class as its a Friday night. Gym before for weights and a bit of rowing. Not a bad week.
Saturday: Ride day don’t know where yet but the forecast isn’t bad.
Ended up riding out to the Eureka and going out with the NorthEnd to Ruthin for 77 miles. The Cafe by the river was closed and a wasp got trapped in the Giro Atmos and stung me. Ended up going to a pharmacy for some cream. The bad news is on uploading the ride history to the Training Centre I managed to loose all my history. Thats EVERYTHING since last November. I am not a happy bunny at all. Ive managed to reclaim part of it up untill the TLI roadraces but its still a loss of data that I don’t publish on the blog.
Sunday: Rode out to the Eureka for a cup of tea and then rode home at a fastish pace. Cadence not working on the Edge but noticed the wheel magnet missing.

Steve Cummings Training Ride 5

As you may have guessed this is the fifth time I’ve done this ride. The major change is that I now start and finish it at the pelican crossing in Brimstage. Many because I’ve moved and you won’t be seeing a start and finish on RestHill for a while.

Nice sunny start to the ride and I’m at Benty Heath Lane for 9 o’clock. Stopped for a gel before the climb up Primrose Lane and took a picture or two on Dark Arc Lane and the Switchback which I’ll post when I can get them compressed to fit on the page.

just a word about Dark Arc, it’s steep, dark, potholed and potentially dangerous. Now the leaves are starting to fall it’s going to get worse so be warned. From the road junction at the top the surface deteriates towards the edge so you want to be in the middle of the road. Then it steepens to 1 in 8 where it goes through overhanging trees. Leave your sunglasses off or you won’t see the potholes.
You could be doing 30 mph at this point trying to maximize your speed for the inevitable climb up the other side.

At the bottom of the hill is a slight bend which is blind from the position you are in. The law of averages says your going to meet a vehicle coming the other way one day so stick to your side of the road. I meta white van once coming the other way and there is no reaction time at all. Given that you’ve kept your speed up and dropped into the right gear for the climb you should be able to use your momentum to reach the railway bridge no problem.

After that it is about 100 yards to the crossroads where we turn left with a picnic area on the right. This is taking us through Delamere Forest on a section of road known as the Switch back. It’s a rolling climb where if you attack it you end up cliombing really quickly. After an initial steepish climb you hit a section where the dips allow you to increase your speed for the next section and so on. Once youve done the final one you could be doing high 20,s into the village.

Right at the crossroads and carry on untill you hit the railway bridge and the first stop at the Station Cafe.

The Station Cafe is famed for it’s all day breakfasts. It’s not something I touch these days but I do like a bit of cake. The cakes on offer at the Cafe are super and come with cream if you want it. Victoria sponge above was good but the chocolate cakes have been “Historic” as Michael Winner says.

Heading out of the cafe it is up the road and past the Abbey Arms. Another place where you yould struggle if on a diet. 17 inch dinner plates don’t help. I was going through to Cotebrooke but the road was up again. This time there is no chance of sqeezing through so I have to retrace and go down the road and pick the route up at Oulton Park. The next section is all slightly downhill with a detour to the Ice Cream Farm for a spot of lunch. Before reaching the Ice Cream Farm the traffic is halted by a pair of swans and their young crossing the road. I’ll up load the picture when I can but they took ages.

Mind you I wouldn’t want to argue with them. Ice cream farm looks nice with all the flowers in bloom and I ended up with a turkey and cranberry sauce baguette. The next section of the ride takes you back to the Eureka Cafe where I ended up spending more than an hour and a half talking to Andy and Dave. Turned off the Cester high road at Puddington and went down to the marsh as I was putting Denhall Lane into the climb. Cake stop at Ness Gardens if you want, If the Eureka is closed you could stop here instead. Cake is good but not as good at the Station Cafe.

Turning down Church Lane just before Neston takes you behind the Church and avoids Neston cross. There are a fair few having an ice cream from the post office.
I get passed going up the hill to the Chester High Road. I suspect he had come out of the road near the bend. Still it’s near the end of the ride. Once round Gayton roundabout it’s down Brimstage Road to my finishing point at the pelican crossing.

Link to Google Map of Ride

More later …..pics and route etc.

Weekending 16 Sep 07

Monday: Work. Down as a reserve for Europa Pools but might try West Kirby if I can get there in time. A crash on the M53 meant Liverpool centre was snarled up and I arrived late for Barbara,s class and still had to get changed. At least there was a bike for me. the other problem was no water. A short class meant it was ONLY 500 calories!!. With that it was off to Europa Pools for Louise,s class. Made it in time but traffic was slow.
If last weeks broken bike was bad, bike number 16 comes a close second. Slack in the chain meant it had an uneven feel lightly loaded that coupled with a resistance knob that put in a full hillclimb in about half a turn made for a difficult class.
Louise,s sister of mobile phone fame had her feet on the bars at one stage but it wasn’t what it seemed as she had injured herself. Finished with an 8 minute sprint with 20 seconds out the saddle. More banter in this class and 600 calories burnt although the first class felt harder. I’d put it down to the shorter duration and the lack of water. 11 chinups on that convienient bar.
Tuesday: Booked in for Europa Pools late class. Tried to get in the early class but it was that full Louise had to give her bike up. So it was off upstairs to the Gym for an hour. Ran a mile @ 11.4 km/hr . 20 mins crosstrainer in reverse mode had me using leg muscles that I would pay for tommorow. Rowing 500 metres in 2:05 (a steady pace) and weights 1 set.
That done it was back downstairs for the class. Now I’d wondered if Europa Pools had spent some money on the place as there were two shiny new fans in the room.
The class was over booked by the way and Louise had no bike again!

It turns out Hanni bought the first fan from Argos for £15 and Dasa had to have one too but felt guilty about it. I’ve posted the link and the cataloge number is 425/0090. Plenty of talk about the equipment breaking down and a lot more besides. Got told how the girls felt guilty turning up in cycling shorts and shoes and the personal fans just add to it. Don’t know what people think of me turning up in full Discovery Channel kit including the socks. I get enough odd looks in the gym.
Louise is wailing that she,s going to ballon up to 25 stone by missing out on her classes. I offer to lend her my scales as I had to buy a pair that measured over 21 stone when I was that weight.
Anyway class went OK and it was 1100 calories burnt including the gym session.
Pushed myself at the start of this week and I get paid back tommorow.
Now for those that follow my weight, it’s 82.6 Kg this week.

Argos Fan link

Wednesday: First day off and I’m due a ride.Turned up at the Eureka for a ride and to sign up for the Eureka Cafe Anniversary Ride but do it on the Saturday. Now it wasn’t going to happen at first but Ann has given me the route to Risk Asess on the Saturday, which is what I’m going to do. Went out with Peter Andy and Dave and a few others with the intention of going to Ruthin and ended doing 87 miles (post above)and then went to Barbara,s spinning class at West Kirby.Barbara,s spinning class at West Kirby, half full and three newcomers made it to the end in one piece. 630 calories.
Thursday: Restday, write up the rides, plan the route for Saturdays ride and give the legs a rest. Its the first time in a while that the legs have suffered the following day.
Spinning class at West Kirby 650 calories.
Friday: Rode down to Woodside to take the famous Ferry across the Mersey only to find it closed and with the race starting at 10 oclock I had to take the train. Turns out the ferry doesn’t open untill 10 for leisure cruises. Shuttle service runs from Seacombe before then.
Now after the millions that lined the route for the Tour de France I was expecting a few more than thwe handfull that turned up for the Liverpool start. It may have been different in Sefton Park but at the official race start there were between 5 and at the most 10 people there. some of those were workers in businesses coming out to see the start. I was the odd one out as I turned up on a bike. With more than one telling me I was going the wrong way when I was riding back into town.Took the train back to Hamilton Square and did a coastal ride around the Wirral to the Eureka Cafe. Twas a bit windy on the seafront but ended up putting 50 miles in.

Spinning class at West Kirby 600 calories.
Saturday: Eureka Café ride started at 9 and had a great day. Spent Thursday programming the Edge with the route and it worked really well. this years route has a few changes and I really like the new bit before Farndon. Made good time and was back at the Eureka for 3:50. The climbs were a bit easier and for a moment I wondered what all the fuss about Nant Mill was and then it hit me. The last bit to the road junction is steep, that steep that last year I was over the bars gasping for breath. I was on beta blockers last year and these do put a block on your performance. It was still a tough climb but when I reached the top it was straight across the road and down the hill.

Nant Mill and the climb out of the river/stream.

Link to Map of Ride

Above link also includes Fridays ride to watch the Tour of Britain Start. It all wants sorting but I’ve limited access to the computer these days. Sometimes I’m editing the page on my PDA phone and errors are creeping in.

Sunday: Work

Weekending 09 Sep 07

Monday: Barbera,s spinning class at West Kirby as there was a waiting list at Europa Pools. I don’t how many the class was to be but, but punters kept coming in and a bike being dragged in for them. What started of as two rows nearly ended up as three.
Now I never spin with zero resistance so I’d burnt 81 calories before the class got up and properly running. Now if Louises sister gets to read this she wants to geta copy of Barbera,s CD as the class was what I would call hard and the music was all new.

Now I set a new maximum calories burnt total tonight of 850 calories. Coupled to a new maximum heartrate of 196 BPM you couldn’t say I was coasting. Now everybody had a good go tonight. I didn’t see anyone coasting and Barbera would make a remark if her regulars were slacking. Even she said we had all done well.

Barbera still hasn’t got around to seeing what I write about the classes even though they come up in a Google search of “Spinning Calories Burnt” as number 2 out of zillions. Only Mens Health Magazine is above me with Slimming World (a mega oranisation) in third.

The reason this class was so hard was that Barbera played the entire CD with no breaks or pauses while a track is changed and we never get asked what we would like!…
The format was four of each seated sprint, hilll, sprint, hilll, chest presses with four each for a full track, sprint for the final track. You get the drift if you’ve done a class or two.

The secret is there is no letup in these classes for you to recover. My average heartrate was 151 BPM for over an hour. A good class Barbera even though you have no inkling of how many people read about your classes.

Not content with a personal best Spinning it was up to the gym for some weights (nothing above 50 Kg just to remind of what I was. Still scary now.) Rowing:500 mtrs in 1.55. 10 minutes on crosstrainer felt relaxed compared to a spinning class. Still sweating though. Shower, home. Took about 3 hours to write this post on the PDA as I don’t have broadband yet.
Tuesday: Booked in for ONE class at Europa Pools, the woman on the phone asked if I was rested and upon asking why I was told someone had left the class lastnight early. They assumed it was me. Can’t be in two places at once, no doubt someone will fill me in with the details.

Not a bad class but I didn’t feel like breaking any records tonight. 660 calories and a max heartrate of 170 BPM. Got asked if I was going to do two classes to which the answer was an emphatic NO, see above. Busy day, got the Triumph running after a two year break. All I need now is some gear that will fit me.

Wednesday: Ride day. Good choice of rides these days. Wednesday section or Merseyside from the CTC or going out with the North End going out with the fast group means I’m in for a battering. I need two bottles to go out with the fast group as they stop for nothing.

A miserable start to the day had everyone calling upon the weather forcasters credentials. Spoke to Ray about the new Garmin coming out and ended up giving him a belt on the arm as a wasp landed on him. Unfortunatley for Ray the wasp moved as did Ray so he got a whack for nothing, sorry Ray. As it was the Northend headed out and I was struggling to pack the over trousers away.

I ended up tagging on to four who turned of down Capernhurst Lane and were heading out to Rose Farm Cafe. I’d missed the other group heading off to Woodbank. I didn’t know it as Rose Farm Cafe but Utkinton Garden Centre which is why I get people doing searches for the garden centre visiting the site. Jack and Tony are on the front with tony,s wife whose name I have forgotten twice already (Muriel)and Sandra behind with moi playing tail end Charlie.
Jack took on a scenic route adding a few loops in where I wasn’t expecting them. Muddy roads had us avoiding each others wheels. It was more slurry from the dairy farms in that neck of the woods than mud.
On arrival at the Cafe it was packed with cyclists, a large group of the Chester road club and another group from somewhere in Cheshire.

I’d spoken to Sandra about the site and what I’ve been up to on the ride and give her a guilt trip when the baked potato with side salad arrives. This was lessened when I went up for a slice of cake. We all ended up having except Muriel (I’ve finally remembered). The sun is out on the way back to the Eureka and it’s turned out to be a fine day. Did a loop down to Parkgate and up to the Chester High Road. Ended up doing 62 Miles and turned the Garmin off at the Clegg Arms.
No spinning class as there was furniture to move. Which is another story.
Thursday: Booked a spinning class at Europa Pools last week. As it was such a nice day I ended up riding home to pick up the comic. Wrote up yesterdays ride. Did a 10 mile ride around Heswall and rode up School Hill for the fun of it. Bumped into Dave at Tesco traffic lights and had a chat.

Spinning at Europa Pools was a bit of a disaster. Missed the class I was booked in on and did the second class on a dodgy bike. The crank was loose and finger tight wasn’t good enough. It just got worse so I had to stop. Louise got one of the staff to fix it but it needed the right size socket. In the mean time Kerry gave up her bike to me. Thanks Kerry it was apprecieated. Then Louise and Kerry entertained us by doing a step class. Sheila,s fusion class was next up. 400 calories reflects the shortened class. Showers out of order still.Grrrr.
Friday: Ride day, last one this week. Steve Cummings training ride, early start on this one hitting Benty Heath lane for 9 oclock, a bad day out took some more pictures that I will post later. The road to Cotebrook is closed and dispite ignoring the signs as you do I had to retrace and head down the road to rejoinat Oulton Park. Loop down to front at Denhall added. spent longer chatting at the Eureka than I planned. 70 miles.
Spinning class at West Kirby preceded by a set of weights in the gym. 700 Calories. Saturday: Work. No Riding
Sunday: Work. Another rest day. Not a bad week all in all.Toying with the idea of doing a half hour loop after work, but the nights are closing in fast so it’s time to start thinking about lights for the bike.

Garmin Edge 205/305 Maps

This is the first post in the newly added Garmin Edge category. There are a lot of people out there that are of the mistaken belief that the Garmin Edge 205/305 supports maps, it doesn’t. It doesn’t support auto routing or postcode navigation either.

Do not be under the illusion that you can download the digital mapping products into your Edge, you can’t. Garmins high end devices store their maps using a vector format while the digital mapping software uses raster scanning. The two are not compatible.

All is not what it seems with the Digital Mapping Software producers either.They are great for uploading your tracks to view on your PC but they have difficulty with the Edge as they don’t support Garmin Edge Courses. The only software that supports courses for the UK Ordnance Survey Maps is Tracklogs.

The problem with uploading your ride onto Digital Ordnance Survey maps is that they save your track or breadcrumb trail as Waypoints. a Garmin Edge 205/305 has 13,000 trackpoints but only 100 Waypoints. A ride of 5000 trackpoints that you want to save to your Edge as a Course gets converted to waypoints and 5,000 into 100 just doesn’t go.

Just to clarify the differences between a Route and a Course that a lot of first time Garmin Edge users struggle with.

Route. 100 Waypoint limit. You Navigate a Route, Edge bleeps when coming up to a waypoint and gives a 10 second countdown. A Route is a collection of Waypoints. Compass points to the next waypoint. Naming your Waypoints as turn directions gives you a clear concise direction at a junction.
Course A track or breadcrumb trail of up to 13,000 points. You Do a Course. Turn direction Waypoints can be added to a Course in Garmin TrainingCentre but it is crude. Otherwise no turn direction. You are warned when you go off Course and when you rejoin the Course. You can race against yourself or someone else on a Course as this is where the training partner resides.

It is important to know the differences between the two methods as it has a bearing on your pre ride route planing. I tend to use Routes for special events where I just want the turns indicated as I come up to them. If you get lost because you deviated from your route you will have the compass pointing to your next waypoint.

Riding a Course means you have to be within about 25 metres of the entire course otherwise the Garmin Edge is going to be continually warning you that you are off it.

For most of the time I just use the Edge 305 as a logging device. It’s nice to go out do a ride and then upload it onto whatever package you decide to use. I’m using TraningCentre, Motion Based and exporting ride to Google Maps as well asusing Digital Mapping Software such as Tracklogs. Tracklogs supports Garmin Edge Courses and that is the reason I have purchased it.

With the new Edge 605/705 with maps hitting the streets soon it looks like I am going to have to get aquainted with the Garmin Mapsource products as your not going to get very far with Garmins Basemap.

More posts on other Edge features to come, I’m still wondering if there is a need for a Course planning tutorial possibly using the Google map based sites.

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