Weekending 05 Jan 2014

Black Pearl Sunk

First ride of the year with this picture being the highlight of it.

New Brighton had crowds watching the waves break with the worst of it over by the time I arrived.

Helmet damaged in my only crash to date.
Helmet damaged in my only crash to date.

Just to add to the helmet debate again in the light of Michael Shumacher accident. My crash was at only 14-15 mph and happened that fast there was no chance of me avoiding my head hitting the ground. It cracked the foam and depressed the plastic shell over a fair size. I had a twinge from my chipped collar bone last week just to remind  me of it.

Thatchbirds at high tide

Had to stop to take a picture of the birds at Harrison Drive, quite interesting to watch them flocking as a wave came in.

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You normally cant get a road bike past Harrison drive due to drifting sand but the council seem to have done a good job and cleared it all. This section past Leasowe Castle is not part of the cycle route.

 

 

 

 

 

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Had to revert to the mobile phone for the pictures on this ride except for the  Sabbath picture.
Interesting ride, other things going on was a cheque in the post that I wasn’t expecting. This had to be paid in and brings you up against Birkenhead parking charges, the street parking having empty bays where they would be full in the past.

I ended up jet washing the bike after this ride which is a first, the sand in the brake blocks sounding like coarse grinding paste.

Went the van only to find it much as we left if before christmas. Polished the acrylic windows with perspex polish as the upper ones tend to mark with twigs brushing against them. Did a damp check after the habitation service and found the reading is coming down which is all good news.

The return trip from Dandy past Burton Point must have had half the northwests twitchers there.

As for the new year nothing planned yet but a spring classic would be nice to see.

Charging your Garmin Edge on the move

Charging.jpg

This post is to address the issue of charging your Garmin Edge on the move. It’s been an ongoing problem for the long distance cyclist since the days of the 305. Battery life for an 800 is about 12 hours from 100% charge.

I resorted to trying to charge up my 305 in Audax control points with mixed results. As you can see an Edge 800 draws 440mA whilst charging a 50% discharged edge.  You can’t get blood out of a stone and whatever system you use your biggest enemy is going to be time.

The charging port on an 800/810 is on the bottom edge as above, this precludes the use of K Edge and Garmin Barmounts20130403_155632[1]

So for an Edge 800 it has to be the stem mount, conversely for an Edge 705 a bar mount may be the better option. On a 705 the charging port is on the bottom and an oversize stem may interfere with USB plug.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultra-Compact-Lipstick-Sized-Sensation-ThunderBolt-Blackberry/dp/B005QI1A8C/ref=sr_1_20?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1388695578&sr=1-20&keywords=power+monkey

Do an Ebay or Amazon search for Power Bank or Power Monkey. There is a vast choice.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/shop-by-accesories/batteries/external-power-pack/prod86599.html

£70 is too much imho, bear in mind it has to charge on the move and the battery needs mounting somewhere. It needs to be robust.

Your Edge shutting down 100 miles is not something you want to see on a 120 mile ride.

The cheap emergency phone chargers are not up to the job for todays devices, like I said you cannot get blood out of a  stone. They are designed for a Nokia and who uses them these days.

The same applies to smartphones perhaps to a greater degree as battery life is hopeless with all the bells and whistles on.

If your already using something that works let me know what it is

In the near future I will be making a charging regulator designed to make use of the MagicShine battery pack.  The pack is rated at 8800mA/hr and will power the light for 3.5 hours.  It will consist of a 7805 regulator and plug for the battery.

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