Back to running and riding in the rain and cold

March 18, 2013 by |Blog|Comments (25)

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My weekend was a bit shorter than most, as I spent the first 30 hours of it working my way home.  I had left Sydney around 3PM on Friday, and with some delays in Hong Kong I didn’t end up arriving home in Paris until just prior to noon on Saturday (though, only about 3 hours later than planned).

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Arriving home at lunchtime a quick check of the weather showed I was in between rain swaths, so I took advantage of the couple hours of non-rain to go out for about an hour ride.  Nothing too far, just up to one of the parks with a loop for cyclists to ride in circles for a bit.

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As is always the case, lots of power meter comparisons still going on.  Though, I’m excited about a new tool arriving this week to more easily capture streaming data from ANT+ devices and compare it.  It will simplify data capture and hopefully remove any of the complexities with working across 3-5 head units per ride.

The ride itself was pretty non-descript.  Just a bit of gray skies, with thankfully no snow on the roadways.  There was some snow hidden away here and there.  Snow and ice have actually been a bit of a challenge for me and outdoor riding this winter.  It seems the times that I’m in town are full of sketchy roads, whereas when I’m away the weather is better.  Something about cobbles and ice that I’m not a fan of.

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Given the break in the weather I was surprised to find only a handful of cyclists out on the loop.

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In fact, most of the time I was completely by myself as far as I could see.

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The data and consistency coming off the ride was/is looking promising – though I’ve passed the data to a gaggle of folks to look at.  Rest assured, when the time is right I will update relevant reviews.

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(The ride was actually split into two chunks, this being the second chunk)

Upon completion of the ride, the usual antics of getting my bike up to our apartment via our small elevator.  To be fair though, I’ve gotten really good at it.  And for the most part I can have an error-free operation, which is always positive.  Though, the little old lady a few floors up always gives me the stink-eye.  But, she does that just about every day.

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After dropping off the bike and a quick shower I headed over to the CupCakery.  Today was the first of a few days of doing interviews with prospective employees.  Exciting times here in the bakery as we start to expand (within our current location).

It’s funny, I do phone screens and in-person interviews on a very frequent basis for work (in IT) – and have been doing them for probably close to 10 years in that capacity.  However, doing them for a bakery is really an entirely different ball game.  I can’t exactly ask someone to describe the purpose and minimum number of network interface cards needed for a specific virtualization cluster type.  So I keep it simple: Do you like Nutella?

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Actually, The Girl asked most of the questions (let’s be honest, my handwriting is nowhere near that nice above).  But, I still had a few questions and worked through them during the interviews.  And in fact, many of the same tenants that I apply to questioning of candidates within my work apply here.  At the end of the day, one can teach skills (technical or baking) to someone eager to learn.  But we can’t teach attitude, drive, or simply friendliness.

Later on that night The Girl and I would head out for a run.  This was the point where we wish we had the ability to run earlier in the day when it was still sorta sunny out.  As noted below, the weather was downright miserable.  The little weather thing in Garmin Connect showed 46*F and 17MPH of wind.  I’d say that 17MPH was only the sustained winds, and not the gusts.  The gusts were horrendous.  Also,  the temperature seems optimistic.

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Regrettably I had decided against taking my camera.  Which is a shame because had I taken my camera it would have made this post far more humorous.  Sorta like watching those foolish reporters on the Weather Channel out in the storms with wind gusts.

We had a small pile of 1-mile repeats to knock out, and we’d do them in loops around the Bastille area – where we usually do running repeats at night (I prefer doing them elsewhere during the day, but at night the parks all close up, so this is one of the few un-interrupted places available to us).

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At this point we’re down to just a few weeks left until the April 7th Paris Marathon.  On the bright side, while the conditions weren’t exactly ideal that night, in general they are trending towards slightly better.  So hopefully that continues.  Plus, it’s currently light out till ~7:30PM, so by time we get daylight savings in another two weeks – it’ll be light out till closing in on 8:45-9:00PM.  Which, is pretty sweet!

Speaking of random sweetness, I stumbled upon this little train while walking to the grocery store on Sunday.  It’s funny, living here for some 8-9 months and I’ve never seen it before.  I’m always discovering new things…

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And with new things comes the new ‘Fitness’ Special-K look-alike I found at said grocery store.  In fact, upon reflection I’m not even sure this is Special-K at all.  Though, I did pick up a box and it turned out pretty good.  It’s apparently what happens when the chocolate version of Special-K gets its flakes and chocolate pieces melted together into chocolate flakes.  I thought I’d share.

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Last but not least on the weekend radar was getting a slew of final photos for the Timex Run Trainer 2.0 review.

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And, in doing so – I even had use for including a bubble level.  Woot!

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With that, I’m just about to board my flight to the one city on this planet that is probably hurting like no other this morning: Dublin, Ireland.  Just a quick 30 hour turnaround trip.

Well, assuming this plane shows up at all I suppose.  Perhaps the pilots had a rough night as well….

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Thanks for reading!  Have a great week ahead!

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25 Comments

  1. Tristan
    March 18, 2013 at 4:05 am #1

    I guessed you missed out on Milan-San Remo this weekend? Cause then you wouldn’t complain so much about the cold during your bike ride… ^^
    link to standaard.be

    Reply
  2. Karel Brockhoven
    March 18, 2013 at 4:11 am #3

    Nestlé Fitness has been stores for ages in Europe ;-) It’s idd a Special K lookalike, but i like it better (don’t know why).

    Reply
  3. Mark A.
    March 18, 2013 at 4:38 am #4

    Hey Ray….I’m curious. In all of your reviews, you always mention how you send the product back when you’re done with the review…so does that mean you bought all of the watches you show in your comparison shots that are on the rolling pin?

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 18, 2013 at 10:19 am #5

      Hi Mark-

      Yup, indeed, I re-buy all of them at retail. That’s one of the big reasons I appreciate the support folks provide through purchases with Clever Training and Amazon links.

      In the last couple months, Clever Training has also helped on the re-purchase front as well.

      Thanks!

      Reply
  4. ismo
    March 18, 2013 at 4:50 am #6

    When in Dublin, remember to visit the brothers Brim to get the latest status of their power meter. I am almost literally holding my breath for it.

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 18, 2013 at 10:15 am #7

      We were actually just talking last night and this morning. Nothing new to share at the moment (since my last post in December).

      Reply
  5. Stephen Murphy
    March 18, 2013 at 5:09 am #8

    Weathers not a huge lot better here in Dublin Ray. Rain-forecast for most of the day after a beautiful Saturday (which I spent in all day watching rugby) slaps forehead

    Reply
  6. Daniel Piñeiro
    March 18, 2013 at 8:29 am #10

    Can you talk a little more about that ANT+ bridge?
    Price? Availability? …

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 18, 2013 at 1:16 pm #11

      Hmm, I’m not entirely sure on price and availability to be honest. I’ll find out. It’s mostly being used within the ANT+ development world today, as well as uses around large group sessions (i.e. spin classes with 50 people in them).

      Lots of cool applications, but not as much for the normal end consumer. More for business/development/etc…

      Reply
  7. Wawan Setiawan
    March 18, 2013 at 11:22 am #12

    Hi Ray or everyone else here,
    Is it convenient to put the bike computer such in the 3rd picture here or let’s say the Wahoo’s RFLKT on the aerobar as shown in the 3rd picture?(link to dcrainmaker.com) Because we would normally put our hands and arms on those aerobars and I usually feel the bike computer will make it inconvenient.
    Or is it just for testing purpose and inconvenient to put those in race or real ride?
    I have a P3 and since the handle bar is wider, it is not easy to put computer bike there. And if I put it on the stem, I wouldn’t be able to see the data when ‘m in aero position.

    Thk for any reply here.

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 18, 2013 at 1:12 pm #13

      No, where the two Edge’s are wasn’t good for aero position, but I wasn’t worried about that in this ride. I was more focused on being able to instantly look at both units in one glance and see the power and how close it was.

      The middle unit though is my preferred location for units (that’s the Bar Fly TT I’m using).

      Reply
  8. Marc Diede
    March 18, 2013 at 11:23 am #14

    Hey Ray, can’t wait to read your review of the Timex Run Trainer 2.0.
    When do you plan to post a review for the o’synce navi2coach ?

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 18, 2013 at 1:13 pm #15

      Best I can tell, the navi2Coach will be there next unit I review after the TRT 2.0. Goal is the TRT this week, and the Navi2Coach before the Paris Marathon. Getting outdoor ride time has been difficult lately, and the Navi2Coach requires a lot of that.

      Reply
  9. Andi
    March 18, 2013 at 12:32 pm #16

    Man, I love your website, your blogs and reviews and everything! I ask myself how can you do all this stuff? He must have a secret that his days have like 36hrs or so… man you are kind of obsessed (in a positive way, absolutely).

    Keep on going – we all need you!

    Andi from Hamburg

    Reply
  10. Adam Lewis
    March 18, 2013 at 2:01 pm #17

    If I zoom right in to a sticky note on your cycling computers I can see Stages scribbled on one of them! Are you re-testing after a fw update?

    Reply
  11. Coach Dion
    March 19, 2013 at 12:50 am #19

    I love the fact that your bike has 3 computers on it, and are you wearing any of the other GPS toys on your arm? When I was looking for an update to my old 205, I had the use of a friends GPS and it was fun running with the two of them. I now have the 310, and for fun I sometimes use both on a run.

    Reply
  12. Jerome
    March 19, 2013 at 4:56 am #20

    Hey Ray,

    You can also put your tools behind the saddle like this => link to bit.ly
    Okay, it’s not so easy to instantly look :) :)

    Reply
  13. Alan
    March 19, 2013 at 2:53 pm #21

    The last picture in this post, the empty boarding ramp, looks like it includes the Concord SST in the background. Is that a sculpture, or is the picture kind of old?

    Reply
    • Thor R
      March 19, 2013 at 4:41 pm #22

      Well spotted, that is the Concord SST! It’s on permanent display, nicely posed, at CDG airport. It can be seen from the road as well as the taxiways and a few gates.

      Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 19, 2013 at 4:42 pm #23

      Neither actually. It’s the real thing. Air France stuck one of their Concorde’s up on some stilts at the airport as sorta a permanent display. It’s actually lit from inside as well, so at night it looks like any other plane.

      Reply
  14. ifor
    March 19, 2013 at 6:34 pm #24

    I get to see a Concord on my comute here in Bristol every day. One was retied here. There was a lot of attention the day it made it’s final flight in most of the city was out to see it. All very sad really from a technological point of view we are going backwards…

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      March 20, 2013 at 4:17 am #25

      I make it a habit to only live in places that former Concordes are on display (Seattle – Museum of Flight), Washington DC (Air and Space Museum), Paris (CDG airport).

      Reply