Week in Review - May 26th, 2012

The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

So with that, let’s get into the action!

DCRainmaker.com posts this past week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this week:

Sunday: Week in Review–May 19th, 2012
Monday: A busy weekend running, riding and testing–including the Magellan Switch and Switch UP
Tuesday: Visiting with the folks at Recon Instruments
Wednesday: A quick pile of odds and ends
Thursday: Garmin releases Edge 500 update, adds TSS/NP/IF & more
Friday: A Paris night run from Notre Dame

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:
Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:

1) UCI bans live-data tracking for cycling races: A serious bummer coming in the professional cycling world that will likely end various Live Tour trackers for the big races this summer (i.e. Tour de France).  Hopefully this will get changed, but I doubt it (short term).  I agree with much of what Ken (the author of that post) says.  Further, I’d think this may also put a solid dent into various companies plans looking to further integrate standard cycling head units with cell-technology (aka merging a Garmin GTU with an Edge 800, just speculating).

2) Top 20 ‘Must-Do’ Triathlons: A quick list from Men’s Health of the Top 20 races in the US to do.  I’d agree with a fair chunk of these (though not all), but there’s a ton of one-of-a-kind races in there.

3) Sweet Olympic Ad: Following on a previous Proctor and Gamble add, this poster-image from Paralympic Canada is pretty awesome (click for full size).

4) I’m apparently featured in a nifty video with Chris Lieto: Ok, featured might be a bit strong – but I’m there! I didn’t know about this until a reader sent it in.  Good times!

 

Me in a video!

5) Boise 70.3 Race Course In Detail: For those of you doing Ironman Boise 70.3 this year, this post from pro triathlete Trish is worth the read.  I did it last year and agree with everything she noted.

6) Top Ironman Pro Athlete plans to walk marathon in upcoming Ironman race to prove point: Some interesting news from down under, check out this Slowtwitch thread for a ton more on it.

7) Things to consider with kids racing triathlons: A reader sent this in, which may be a good primer for those parents who have kids looking into doing triathlon races.  Much of it may be common sense, but if you’re new to the sport, it’s a worthwhile read.

8) Inspirational video of 13-year old buy doing triathlon with friend: This is a bit older, but the first time I’ve seen it.  It shows the story of a 13-year old who completed a triathlon, taking his friend with cerebral palsy along for the ride.  Impressive.  (Thanks Jacob for sending in!)

Inspirational triathlon video

9) 30 reasons to bike: In case you needed more excuses for getting out there this weekend and working off the cupcakes, here’s a (at times funny) list of reasons to start pedaling (Thanks Ken for sending in)

10) A bit of an update on the swimming HR monitor display system: I shared info about this back in the fall, and here’s an update on where it stands.  Ultimately, I think these products are just showing the initial stages of what will become far more advanced down the line.  Using LED’s is similar to what 4iiii’s does above water, but ultimately, I suspect we’ll see products move towards actual displays ala Recon, Google Glasses, etc…

11) Laserspoke Power Meter thoughts: A few of you have asked about what I think of the Laserspoke power meter system that ended up on a Kickstarter-ish site recently.  Some of you may know this isn’t actually the first time we’ve heard of this company, and I doubt it will be the last.  I highly doubt they’ll hit $85K in funding (since they’re only at $700 now), but it’s interesting.  I should also point out that using spokes as an avenue for power meters is something others in the industry have looked at.  But as others have found, bridging the gap from lab to a durable product is incredibly difficult.  Looking at the list of tasks yet to be accomplished on the site above, I’m not convinced they are far enough in the design stage to really be effective in a Kickstarer-like scheme.  Just my two cents.

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

I’ve been trying something new where I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website updates that I see go out, each week. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners) and I’ll make mention of it here. Sound good?

MapMyRun and MapMyRide receive updates: Mostly a graphical/user interface overhaul, but a few new features and bug fixes as well.

With that – hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

A Paris night run from Notre Dame

(Quick Heads Up: REI has the Garmin FR610 down to $299 (with the heart rate strap, usually $399) on some sort of temporary sale.  Thanks to all that sent this in.  And, that particular REI link helps out the site as well.  You have to add it to your cart to see the cheaper price.)

Today was a very very long day.  One could argue it started yesterday, nearly 4,000 miles away in DC.  Our flight from DC to Paris was delayed nearly three hours due to a cloud based electric light show.  People in IT always talk about ‘moving to the cloud’, well…our airplane wanted none of that action.

For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me, I only got 2hrs of sleep on the plane (it’s not a super-long flight, only about 7hrs).  By time we got to Paris it was around 9:30AM.  After deplaning and customs, close to 10AM, and by 10:58AM we had arrived at our hotel in the heart of Paris.  Just in time to zip over to meetings that I had.  From 11AM till 6PM, one after another like traffic reports.

Around 6PM, I headed back to the hotel and took care of e-mail for about 2 hours before managing to get about 40 minutes of sleep.  At which point, it was time to run!  I didn’t want to miss my run, since it’s important that I keep fitness levels fairly high for the next two weeks going into the Alcatraz triathlon.

The run tonight was a mixed tempo run.  The intensity fluctuated a little bit over the course of the run, somewhat alternating up and down without at 5 and 2.5 minute intervals (though 2 minute rest sections only every 15 minutes).  It’s a fun workout that I enjoy a fair bit, since it keeps things changing/shifting.

This time the trip was booked at the last minute, and the hotel options were somewhat limited for the holiday weekend (it’s a holiday here in France too on Monday).  But I found a place fairly close to Notre Dame, so I figured I’d try out a different neighborhood this time (compared to my last trip two weeks ago).

I started at the above sign post, which is roughly where the GPS unit finally picked up and figured out where I was.  I wasn’t helping matters by walking instead of just staying put.  Plus, showing up nearly 4,000 miles away from the last known location didn’t help either.

At the start of my run, the sun was just finishing setting (at 10PM!).  All these pics are taken just using my little point and shoot camera, simply on a ledge.  At mostly at either the beginning or ending of my run.  Since I forgot to put the SD card in it before leaving the hotel, I only had four shots to work with.

My run started from just outside of Notre Dame, and then continued downriver towards the Eiffel tower.  You can see it in the below photo out in the distance:

For the most part, I was racing one of the faster dinner river boats (actually seen above).  We were going about the same speed, roughly 10MPH.

The weather was fantastic this evening for a run.  A wee bit warm and humid, but it brought out lots of people – so it was fun to just enjoy the vibe of the city around me.

My route along the way would rotate me back and forth across the bridges, simply based on whether I would hit a stoplight at an intersection.  If the light was green or safe to cross, I’d stay on the same side.  Otherwise, I’d bail across the bridge and usually succeed at crossing on the other side.

Here’s a map from the Magellan Switch UP GPS unit of tonight’s run (I was doing 200m intervals at the end in the lower right back and forth on an empty street, hence the squigglier overlapping lines):

By time I got back, sunset was no longer.  But Notre Dame was still quite illuminated, just hanging out there greeting my return.

At this point, now past 11PM, it was time to head back to the hotel, take a quick shower and change – and then find some food.

Don’t worry, the night didn’t disappoint – after dinner, it ended well:

With that, off to bed for another round of meetings tomorrow before getting to enjoy the long-weekend ahead here in the city.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh P.S. – For you local Paris folk, if you have any recommendations for a good place to rent a road bike or two, that’d be greatly appreciated.  Something that can do about 50-miles.  In other words, not a Velibe bike. ;)

Garmin releases Edge 500 update, adds TSS/NP/IF & more

It’s been nearly 10 months since the announcement that TSS/NP/IF metrics would come to the Edge 500, and as of 11AM central time – it’s finally available.

For those that want to get right to the action, you can swing over to here and download the update (or if you have the WebUpdater software installed on your computer, just plug the unit in and update).

The update follows in the steps of the Edge 800 update we saw back in October, and adds the following capabilities (official listing):

- Added two additional training pages.
- Added various power-related data fields, including left and right balance for supported power meters, Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor (IF), Training Stress Score (TSS), maximum lap power, last lap power, and Watts/kg power.
- Improved support for power-based workouts.
- Added the ability to modify the FTP value and to recalculate the power zones based on the new FTP value.
- Made improvements to the power meter calibration process.
- Fixed an issue where Auto Zero was incorrectly displayed as an option when paired to the PowerTap hub.
- Improved the calculation of elevation gain/loss.
- Improved the calculation of time behind on the Virtual Partner page.
- Fixed various issues with viewing activities in history.
- Fixed various issues related to courses.
- Fixed various other issues.
- Updated translations.

Updating the Edge 500 is pretty straight forward.  Assuming you’re using the new dashboard driven process, it’ll go ahead and see your device, then download the update:

Alternatively, you can use the WebUpdater software instead.  I prefer this method – it’s worked for years.

After that’s complete, the unit will restart and start installing the software:

For most, it’s these two lines that are the big ticket items:

- Added various power-related data fields, including left and right balance for supported power meters, Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor (IF), Training Stress Score (TSS), maximum lap power, last lap power, and Watts/kg power
- Added two additional training pages.

The first item is the addition of TSS/NP/IF, along with some additional power data fields.  The TSS/NP/IF calculations are exactly the same as how TrainingPeaks calculates them, and are the resultant of a partnership between the two companies that started last summer.  This ultimately ensures that the different sites and devices align.

This means that in order for metrics to align between the device, Garmin Connect, and Training Peaks, you must have your profile settings identical between the three.  In particular – your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) must be identical.  Any deviation from that will result in differences between the device and the site.

On the device itself, TSS/NP/IF can be added as a data field just like any other data field:

In total, here are the power related data fields now on the Edge 500:

- Balance (Instant)
- Balance – 3s Avg
- Balance – 10s Avg
- Balance – 30s Avg
- Balance – Avg
- Balance – Lap
- Power (Instant)
- Power – %FTP
- Power – 3s Avg
- Power – 10s Avg
- Power – 30s Avg
- Power – Avg.
- Power – IF
- Power – Lap
- Power – Last Lap
- Power – Max
- Power – Max Lap
- Power – NP
- Power – NP Lap
- Power – NP Last Lap
- Power – TSS
- Power – W/kg
- Power – kJ
- Power Zone

On the second big item of two additional training pages, it brings you to 5 training pages in total.  On the Edge 500 you can add up to 8 data fields per data page.

Note that this isn’t the new lap-summary information that was added to the Edge 800, that feature didn’t make it to the Edge 500.

Finally, this update adds support for left/right power metrics – in line with supporting Garmin Vector (once it releases), as well as current generation power meters supporting power balance, like the newer Quarq 2012 units.  This will also support other left/right power meters down the road, like the Brim Brothers cleat-based unit, the Pioneer unit and the O-Synce unit.

At present, while I have the software successfully loaded, I won’t be able to give it a full whirl until this weekend.  So feel free to drop your post-update feedback below in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

A quick pile of odds and ends

I’ve only got a few minutes for a quick post, as I’m trying to wrap up packing for a work trip again on Wednesday night.  I’m headed back over to Paris for Thursday/Friday, and then staying around for what is the long-weekend here in the US.  I’ve got chocolates to consume, and merely limiting it to Thursday/Friday won’t be enough time.

Tonight I finished up some quick photos I wanted to take before I got to completing my workout.  Since I’m packing up the Quarq bike and shipping it now that review went out last week – I figured using it as a backdrop for some other gadget photos would be useful (mostly just pretty).

Of note though isn’t the gadget, but rather my modification to it,.  Can you tell from this picture what I tweaked?

Probably not I’d guess (which is good).

What I did was take the somewhat pain in the butt old-school ziptie Edge 705 mount system that Timex decided to use for the Cycle Trainer 2.0, and converted it into the new fangled Garmin quick-release quarter-turn system.  Since the standard Timex Cycle Trainer box came with two mounts, and a box of Garmin quarter turn mounts is $9, I was up for some experimentation.

(Side note: I have no idea why Timex would use the older Edge 705 mount system.  Meaning, if you’re gonna ‘borrow’ someone else’s mount system, at least borrow the current generation one that everyone likes…just sayin’.)

I’ll write up a quick tutorial as part of my final review – but the key thing you need is a hot glue gun…and a fair bit of glue.  That’s it, no other tools needed.  Especially not a saw.

With that modification done, and letting it sit overnight, I can both easily pop it both on and off the Timex mount itself (as normal), but also quickly move it between bikes using the Edge mount rubber bands.  It works way better that way.  Seems pretty stable.

I’ll test it out this weekend on whatever bike I manage to rent/find/borrow/temporarily steel/etc while over in Paris.  I’m looking for a nice 2.5hr ride (with tempo sections) outside the city somewhere.

I also stashed in my bag the new Quadlock bike iPhone mount kit as well.  Since my phone has international data roaming on it, this might be solidly useful in case I get lost on aforementioned French ride.

I’ve got a slew of iPhone bike mount kits, and this one does seem to be the most stable and most rock-solid.  But, it’s also the most unprotected.  Yes, the case itself is fine, but it won’t protect your phone from sweat, rain, or a nasty crash.

While I was (still) getting ready for my evening brick workout, the UPS lady came.  She dropped off a box which had the new Lytro camera inside:

Aside from being the most ugly and non-functional camera design I’ve seen yet, it’s intriguing from a photo standpoint.  As you may know, the camera allows you to take photos that you can adjust the focus on afterwards.  In other words, no focusing at all.  To show how it works, below is a quick image I took of a pile of watches.  Note that you can click around on the image and re-focus it:

The only other bummer (well, to be fair, the camera and software from what I’ve played with thus far is mostly full of bummers), is that the software only works on a Mac at this time.  So while I have a little Mac Mini at home, I don’t have a Mac Laptop.  Thus, for things like this weekend, no pics until I get back.

Actually now that I think about it more, I could probably spend an entire review writing about why this camera seems highly rushed to market, overhyped and generally somewhat disappointing…but, I’ll hold off for now in hopes that it allows me to make all sorts of awesome Paris chocolate photos.

With that out of the way, I knocked out my workout.  A fair while indoors on the bike, and a shorter 30 minute hard run afterwards.  I was testing the Magellan Switch UP both indoors and out, as well as the Timex unit (and the Polar pedals inside).  Technically, had I thought about it, I could have brought the Timex unit outdoors running as well since unlike the Garmin Edge cycling units, it’ll actually display running pace as well as normal speed.  Nice touch.

And finally, I recently picked up a nifty little Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth Low Energy) USB plug that would allow me to connect to BTLE devices, such as the Polar H7 HR strap, the Wahoo BlueHR strap, and the Wahoo BlueSC.  This would be useful if someone like Golden Cheetah supported it for their real-time mode.

To give you a sense of scale, I put it next to a little Eiffel Tower souvenir I have.  It’s basically the same size as the sweet little ANT+ one that I use for downloading data from my Garmin.  If you’re an app developer and are doing stuff with BTLE connectivity to sport devices…let me know.

So with that, it’s time to wrap-up this not-quite-as-quick post.

Thanks for reading!

Visiting with the folks at Recon Instruments

I’m never one to turn down the opportunity to chat with folks in the sports technology industry about what all of you want in consumer products.  So last Thursday night I made a beeline for the airport, first catching a flight to Denver, then a second flight a short bit later to Vancouver, British Columbia (that’s in Canada, no, it’s not part of the US).

Now despite arriving to an empty customs hall (different country and all), my stay in the immigration area wasn’t exactly as quick as I had hoped.  By that time in the day I was pretty exhausted, since I was operating on three hours of sleep and had been up quite a while.  Thus, my answers about my intentions in Canada weren’t apparently the correct answers.  Sometimes explaining the whole blog thing is difficult (for example, she wanted to know why a Canadian citizen couldn’t simply come here and speak to Recon instead).  This ended up with the initial agent sending me off to a secondary area.  No, not for my baggage, but for me.  It was like you see on those Discovery Channel shows when they’re trying to catch illegal immigrants.  Except, again, with me.

Thankfully, the secondary agent there was able to pull up the site – and even knew what Recon Heads up Display goggles were.  A couple of minutes later he apologized and sent me on my way.  Woot!

Don’t worry Canada, I still love you, and I won’t hold it against you.  After all, you gave me The Girl.

The next morning, I walked a few hundred meters over to the Recon Instruments offices, located in the trendy Robson street area of Vancouver, British Columbia.  The last time I was on this street was during the Winter Olympics in 2010 (in fact, the first few pictures of me in this post were taken in a building almost directly next to the Recon building).

Just inside the front door, I’d find what appeared to have been a hostile takeover of the McDonalds ball pit.  Except, they only stole the red ones.

So why was I here anyway?  And who is Recon Instruments?

First, Recon Instruments makes James-Bond style heads-up display ski goggles.  You probably remember my mention of trying out a pair back this winter while skiing in Seattle.

Well, Recon was looking to gather my feedback on the marketplace in general.  Essentially, they wanted to do a day-long deep-dive into my ANT+ Symposium Presentation I gave on the sports technology market.  It would include many of their team members. 

I actually do things like this for many folks in the sports technology industry – though often over the phone, or tied to other events.  For example at CES, the ANT+ Symposium and Interbike I had many sidebar sessions with companies.  I usually will spend a couple hours with some of the company’s senior designers/leaders walking through ideas they have, and talking to what works and what doesn’t.  Sometimes this is timed to trips I happen to have in the area, and sometimes this is just telephone based.  I don’t get paid for it, since it’s simply just cool gadgetry stuff to me.  In this case since I was actually flying somewhere, Recon covered the cost of my airfare/hotel.

Which, brings me back to my little tour of the Recon place.  After entering the first floor they’ve got mostly marketing folks on this level (and all the cool game room stuff).

Just off to the left of the main entrance is their demo station.  This is what’s used in trade shows and conventions to allow people to see how the goggles work.  If they had gone to Dubai though, they could probably do it all indoors in the gigantic ski area (hmm…I wonder if the glasses will get enough signal inside there, might be something to try in a few weeks…).

As you head down the hallway they’ve got a slew of autographed goodness, including both bibs and various magazine covers they’ve been on.

A bit further down the hall was this interesting display.  I passed it a few times during the day when I would enter/leave the conference I was in.  But it wasn’t until the very end of the day that I actually read what these sketches said.

These were some original ‘marketing/ad concepts’ that an outside ad agency put together for them.  If you click to expand it (and read it), I think you’ll see why the Recon folks overwhelmingly rejected it.  I think they framed them because they are just so over the top whacked that it would have been a shame to trash them entirely.

As you continued down the hall, we found the kitchen area, and game room.  Additionally, there was two taps connected to refrigerated kegs hanging out in the corner (don’t let the water bottles fool you).  In Canada, they just call this ‘nutrition’.

It was funny, at one point I was talking to a few of the employees that had been up at the hill (Whistler) the day prior.  They were up there filming some segments and doing some ‘optimizations’ related to the jump algorithms (this is a feature on the goggles that calculates your jump metrics).  In translation: They basically got to enjoy a day skiing in May, for pay.  Yes, that’s a typical day ‘in the office’ for them.

Also, typical days at the office:

I headed upstairs to meet with the more technical side of the house (as well as the CEO/CFO).  In doing so, I got to check out their ‘Executive Boardroom’.

While in there, I got to pondering: Where exactly does one purchase a gigantic steel and glass eye to mount to your wall?  Is that available at Ikea?

Of course, they had a bunch of snazzy award in there as well, many of which are ‘household names’ within the tech industry for up and coming products.

In light of these awards, it was interesting talking a bit about the recently announced Google Glasses and how they see that impacting their company.  In the short to medium term, it’s actually been a huge boon for them, since they’ve now been thrusted into the spotlight as really the only consumer product out there that has that technology today.  They’ve had some of their execs on CNBC and quite a few other places talking about the heads-up display technology market.

Also of note, is that the Recon glasses run entirely on Android now, so there’s been a bit of information sharing between the two teams at some recent events.  Given what little we know today about Google Glasses, I think it’s fair to say that Recon has a different market in the near-term.  Obviously, that could change down the road depending on when Google Glasses  (potentially years) get released and to what markets they target.

Much of the stuff I saw on the second floor I couldn’t photograph, but, I did get to see the remnants of a pile of of goggles that were used for testing/validation:

Overall, I spent nearly 9 hours with the Recon team talking in incredible detail about the current market today, primarily focusing on what I believe you all want in products (across many consumer segments).  I know at the end of the day both myself and the recon folks shared a ton of cool information about technology and our respective areas that each of us may not have been as familiar in.  I love learning about new stuff, especially in topic areas that I may not work with day to day.

After wrapping up, I zipped over to the airport, where I found this moose inside.  I figured you’d appreciate that I shared my discovery with you.  After all, you can’t go to Canada and not see a moose:

From there I left the moose behind, caught a little puddle hopper down to Seattle, and then a  connecting redeye flight back to the East Coast – ready to dive into my weekend with a 14 mile trail run.

As always, hoped you enjoyed the little peek into things.  Thanks for reading!

A busy weekend running, riding and testing–including the Magellan Switch and Switch UP

From Friday evening until Sunday evening, virtually every hour of my weekend was accounted for down to the minute.  It isn’t until now that I’ve had a chance to really sit down and do anything.  It started with a redeye flight from Vancouver on Friday night (more on that super-quick trip tomorrow), arriving home early Saturday morning.

After a few more hours of sleep to top off the sleep tank, I headed south to Prince William Forest park for a ~14 mile trail run.  Well, about 2/3rds of it in the trees on trails, and the remainder on the road.  The perfect blend for Alcatraz coming up in a few weeks.

Before I headed out though, I did a monster unboxing session of all sorts of new gadgets that arrived on Friday.  It was like national-gadget-review-arrival-day.  Except, only a holiday I celebrate.  We’ll start with the Magellan Switch and Switch Up.  They are essentially the same product, but the Up offers a few more features like a barometric altimeter, vibrating alerts, temperature gauge, and quick release kit (for triathlons).  Think of this as a competitor to the Garmin FR310XT/FR910XT and Timex Global Trainer.  Check out my post (linked a few lines above) for the low-down on all the features in the watch.  Obviously, a review is forthcoming as it nears retail availability in June.

So, off to the trails I went.

The first three miles were along the roadway.  It’s sorta nice to get warmed up on the lightly rolling flats before diving into the trees.

Since I was doing two loops, I left a water bottle at the 1.0/3.0/7ish/9ish marker.  Made it easier than carrying a camelback.  Then another bottle down in the trees.

Soon, I found myself down headed into the brush.  At times, I was out in the open (though still on a trail), like below. Super-bright then.

And other times, in the fairly dense trees:

It’s in these trees that I stumbled upon something I never would have expected: A wedding party getting their photos done.

I was reasonably certain I was about 1.5 miles from the nearest roadway, but perhaps there’s some back entrance I’m not aware of.  Bride, groom, and the bridesmaids/groomsmen, plus the photographer.  Crazy!

But, the nearby area was fairly nice, so I could see some nice places in there to get photos.  I’m just not sure I’d want to be all dressed up in the woods on a fairly hot and humid day with the bugs and stuff.

Finally, just shy of 14 miles later, I wrapped up my run.  I continue to have to remind myself how much different paces are in the trees.  Sometimes the paths are quick (like in the above photo), and sometimes they are downright awful slow (like the rock gardens).  Definitely toys a bit with my time estimates, as I can’t use my simple pace time math (usually I just about about 7-7:30/mile for most runs, which works out).  Here, it’s close to mid-8’s in the trails.

The two units (FR910XT vs Switch) were within the ballpark of each other (13.77m vs 13.62 miles).  As is almost always the case in the woods, it’s very difficult to know who was correct.

With that, I zipped back up to DC for an evening celebration event before eventually running out of energy later that night and falling sleep…the redeye always catches up.

Sunday morning, I was up by 5:35AM, headed out the door for my long bike.  In preparation for this, I unboxed a bunch more stuff.  This included the new Timex Cycle Trainer (GPS) as well as the Quadlock iPhone case.

Ultimately, the Quadlock case lost the battle for handlebar real estate – because quite frankly, I had none left:

Another case…another day.  You’ll get your chance, fear not.

By time I got out to the mountains, it was just after 7AM, so I got on the bike as quick as possible.  And nearly right away I saw my first deer of the day.  It would end up I’d see quite a few more.

A couple minutes later I saw a pair of bunny’s.  Though, my photo makes them just look like a bush, so, no bunny photo for you (or bunnies for The Girl).

Since I was out there super-early, it was pretty dead quiet.  All-in I probably had a dozen cars pass me going the same direction as I in my 2.5 hours of riding.  I had to cut my bike a few minutes short at the mid point of the out and back, as I had to rush back to be at work by 11AM (yup, on a Sunday).  I mostly made it…

But, still an awesome morning to be out there, even if it did mean waking up that early.  On my way back as I neared the end of my ride, there were tons of cyclists heading out.  By the boatloads really.

Here’s the view early-on.  Always thought it was cool to see the ridgelines of the mountains, one wave after another.

Here’s a couple of pics of the Timex Cycle Trainer 2.0.  The altitude was pretty close to spot-on the entire time with the various park service markers (which are at the top of every climb).  Good to see that.

The mileage was a bit short of what the other units said.  Not too much in the grand scheme of things as far as GPS accuracy goes, depending on which unit was most accurate (upwards of about .25 to .70 miles).  But it’s something I’ll keep an eye on as I test it.

The Cycle Trainer is fairly similar to the Edge 500 in a lot of ways (size, data options, etc…) – so it looks at first glance like a viable alternative to that unit.  Again, I’ve gotta spend a bit more time with it beyond my time on the road this morning.

With that, I’ll ‘save’ you photos and details of all the other new gadgets that came in – as it’s been packed full of them lately.  Soon though, soon. :)

Thanks for reading, and hope everyone had a great weekend!