Archive for Cycling
July 7, 2010 at 9:48 pm · Filed under Cycling, Equipment, Gadgets, Running, Swimming
Having abandoned treadmill running in favour of the great outdoors it wasn’t long before I began to bemoan the loss of my preferred running watch the Garmin Forerunner 305. I long for pretty maps to illustrate my outdoor running routes and spur me on to explore my surroundings and for that you need GPS.
Fortunately for me I am spoilt, and my good lady wife didn’t listen to my moans for long before coming home with a beautiful orange gift – the Garmin Forerunner 310XT.
The Forerunner 310XT has been the long awaited upgrade to the Forerunner 305. The Forerunner 405 (reviewed here) let us down with it’s silly bevel features that went haywire at the first hint of moisture, so the Forerunner 310XT marks a back to basics approach, stick with the tried, tested and much loved functionality of the 305 but add the long called for water resistance that should mark this as the triathletes choice.
Not of course that I can call myself a triathlete having done only one sprint event about 3 whole years ago. I am occasionally known to dabble in open water swimming though, or at least I have done twice, but I don’t think one should limit oneself, who knows when I may decide to pull on the wetsuit and explore the local waterways.
So the biggest change between the Forerunner 305 and the Forerunner 310XT is that Garmin have made the 310XT waterproof and therefore suitable for the swim. Having looked into the watches swim capabilities though I think I understand why Garmin took their time to introduce the feature and make a truly triathlon oriented GPS watch.
If you wear the watch on your wrist, as most people do, the watch will be plunged under water with each stroke reducing and possibly even removing its connection with the satellites and the stroke action will have the wrist unit moving forwards and back and effectively mapping out a greater distance than the rest of your body. The result is a very messy GPS trail and a wildly overestimated swim distance. A firmware release has added open-swim functionality to the Forerunner 310XT which averages out the missed points and gives a smoother GPS and distance closer to the truth but still not what you could call accurate.
DC Rainmaker has written an excellent review of the Forerunner 310XT as it performs in open water and compared the results with that of the Forerunner 305 worn underneath the swim cap.
I recommend you check out his analysis if you intend to use the watch for swimming or triathlon. The point I’ve taken away is that the 310XT really needs to be worn under your swim cap if you want to be able to trust the data and get a pretty map. It doesn’t show any improvements over the Forerunner 305 which you can shove in a sandwich bag and also pop under your swim cap but I suppose it does offer some peace of mind in case you drop it and it gets waterlogged.
Another major change is related to battery life. You can now run or swim or bike for around 20 hours vs the 10 hrs quoted for the 305. This is great news for endurance athletes or indeed anyone who can’t be bothered to charge the unit after each use. I have noticed a reduction in the data recording options though and wonder if this has gone someway to improving the battery life. With the 305 you could select the data recording option to every second or every 4 seconds with the “Smart Recording” option. With the 310XT the option has gone and now you only have smart recording. This isn’t really a problem for me although I do notice the charted data is a little less granular than it was in the 305 and it’s always nice to have the choice.
As with the Forerunner 405, the 310Xt is ANT enabled which means you get the automatic upload of workout data using the ANT stick and it means that the watch is compatible with assorted ANT devices such as cycle power meters. I don’t have one of these but I’m sure if you did, you’d be very happy with the enhancement. If you want to use the watch as your main cycle computer it is worth investing in the optional quick release kit, which is relatively cheap.
I’ve paired my unit with the ANT footpod that came with my Garmin FR60 but you could also pair it with the Adidas footpod that comes with the miCoach if you happen to have one. You can set the 310XT to use the footpod for distance measurements if you are running inside or on a treadmill or leave it set on GPS in which case the footpod will be used to measure cadence only.
I’ve been using mine mostly on the run and have noticed a few other improvements:
Physically the wrist unit is smaller and sleeker and is of course orange. It picks up GPS signals very quickly and seems to hold onto them, so despite running in wooded areas I haven’t noticed any spurious results on my map output. The unit is easier to use with less delving into menu systems required. For example if I want to switch from bike to run I just press and hold the mode button for about 3 seconds and it pops up the option to select the sport.
The multisport function has been improved as well. You can set up in advance the different stages of your race eg. Swim, T1, Bike 1, T2, Run and then when you press the lap button it automatically moves you into the next sport mode.
As with the 405 you can change the pace of your Virtual Partner on the fly. Press the up or down for a second and then you can slow the little stick man down long enough for you to be able to overtake him. Perfect, but perhaps shouldn’t be used too often.
A number of features are common to both the 305 and 310XT but I’ve noticed improvements to the “Back to Start” and the alert features.
If you want alerts you can choose to have sound or vibration or both. The vibration is particularly strong and sends ripples up your arm to ensure you don’t miss your lap times or interval notifications.
The Back to Start feature is very useful if you run on unfamiliar routes. It effectively lays out a bread crumb trail for you to retrace your steps with. When I used it the other weekend, I was trying to get back to my car which was who knows where. I’d gone a little bit around the houses and didn’t want to literally retrace my steps so I ignored the first turn off and headed back to an earlier point in the route. I was impressed to note that the watch forgave me and soon started picking up its directional instructions, buzzing at me when it was time to left or right. I don’t remember this being a feature of the 305.
So here’s my assessment.
Pro’s and Con’s
Pros
1. Small, pretty and new
2. Waterproof
3. Longer battery life – 20 hrs vs 10 hrs
4. Better GPS reception
5. ANT enabled which allows for wireless syncing, footpod pairing and power sensor compatibility
6. Back to start routing available – Included with 305 but not 405
Cons
1. Not really a swim watch – it still needs to sit in the swim cap
2. A lot more expensive than the 305 which currently retails at amazon for less than £140: Garmin Forerunner 305 with Heart Rate Monitor
I’ve got a lot of pro’s there but then I like shiny new things and I didn’t have to pay for it. I have to say though that I am a bit disappointed about the swim functionality, I can see that it’s a tricky concept to engineer but I’m paying a lot for it over and above the price of the 305.
If you are a cyclist and want to use the power meter features then I think you would be happy with the 310XT, if you are a regular swimmer you may settle for the safety aspect of having a waterproof item even if you do have to wear it in your swim cap.
If you are a runner and don’t have need to record workouts in excess of 10 hours, I think you may want to take advantage of the reduction in price of the Forerunner 305 and spend the money you save on a swanky pair of Vibram Five Fingers or some such.
The Garmin Forerunner 310XT with Heart Rate Monitor currently retails at Amazon for just under £265.
Popularity: 1% [?]
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Tags: asics, Forerunner, Forerunner 310XT, gadget, Garmin, Garmin Forerunner, Garmin Forerunner 305, Garmin Forerunner 405, Garmin FR60, GPS, review, running gadget, Sporttracks, Swimming, Triathlon
June 28, 2010 at 9:03 pm · Filed under Apparel, Cycling, Equipment, Road
Everyone hates a cyclist, even it would seem, other cyclists.
I regularly pass between the various food levels in the transport chain but rarely get lower than when I drag out the push bike. Cycle commuting is a thankless task so its fortunate then that’s it such good fun.
I haven’t used my bike since I got the motorbike but my parking space at work is under threat so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out the cycle commute.
My route hooks up with the new CS7 cycle-superhighway that when complete will link Merton to the City and enable me to cycle much of my way along an extremely blue strip of paint work. I follow the same strip on my way in with the motorbike and it is busy, you can’t afford to veer off course by even a millimetre or you will plough through a swarm of cyclists who creep into gaps like hoards of stinging ants.
I took the Brompton in today and I’m afraid I did veer a little bit off course in places. I was buffeted by a speeding ambulance who pushed me slightly off kilter and into the path of an undertaking cyclist who dinged his bell at me provocatively until I apologised. In an attempt to cross 5 lanes of traffic near the treacherous Elephant & Castle I managed to piss off a van driver who wanted to mow me down – I could see my blood and guts reflected in his glaring eyeballs. It’s amazing how mad people can get when driving the few yards to the next red light.
Anyway, I survived it and it was a gloriously sunny day, a perfect day in fact for trying out the Polaroid sunglasses that have been sitting in my drawer for about 6 months.
I’d held back from trying these specs out as I was convinced I’d look like a particularly uncool variety of alien but once I was togged up in my biking finery I think they added the right air of determination and confidence for the task ahead.
The sunglasses come in a very well padded case that holds 3 replaceable lenses, orange for low light conditions, clear for almost everyday in the UK and these shades for the unaccustomed sunny days. They clip on and off the frame very easily but they are held firmly and I have no doubt that you could bounce down a rocky mountainside without fear of dislodging a lens.
They’ve also got a pair of rubber thingammies that hook behind the ears to ensure a firm grip of your head. It’s not firm really but they do keep the glasses in place and they would be perfect for running.
I’ve never run in sunglasses before but I’m aging fast and can’t afford any extra wrinkles caused by screwing up my eyes to avoid the glare. I’ll take these out on my next run, although I’ll probably have to clip in the orange lenses as I have a tendency to run long after sundown nowadays.
The ride back home seemed considerably more relaxed but then I was in such pain from the symmetrical buttock blisters caused by the monstrous Brooks saddle that I could barely pedal for more than 15 seconds in every 60. If you’re content to stay behind the pack, the ride can be a little less stressful.
Popularity: 1% [?]
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Tags: Brompton, Brooks saddle, commuting, polaroid sunglasses, review
June 27, 2009 at 3:44 pm · Filed under Cycling, Event
As promised earlier, here’s the route map for the London to Brighton 2009 Bike Ride, courtesy of RunSaturday.
I’ve also added the speed splits from Sporttracks just to illustrate how painfully slow the process was. I’ve currently got my log set up to show running and jogging paces but its quite interesting to see that I was walking for at least 7 miles of the ride and barely jogging for another 4 miles.
Go early is my recommendation!
And here’s the GPS elevation, its bound to be slightly inaccurate but it gives you a feel for the route.
You can click on both images to enlarge.
Popularity: 13% [?]
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Tags: bike ride, Cycling, GPS, London to Brighton, runsaturday, Sporttracks
June 22, 2009 at 11:50 pm · Filed under Cycling, Event
Call that a bike ride….?
At one point I thought we were actually going to be walking all the way to Brighton.
Experienced L2B’ers had warned me to start the event early but I’m too lazy to get up for a 6am start. I may have had a leisurely 8:30am kick off but I very quickly regretted it. We just never seemed to get going. We crawled through Tooting and Mitcham and out towards the M25 and 3 hours and 20 mins later the garmin beeped to tell me we had just about escaped London.
3 hours and 20 minutes with a bike and we’d only travelled 19 miles and what’s more we were walking already.
The very first sign of an incline and the whole pedal pumping mass ground to a complete standstill. There was no room to weave in and out so everyone one from lycra clad mountain goats to mums on old shoppers had to dismount and walk.
Given the rather lame nature of the incline it was disheartening to say the least. I’m the worlds slowest runner but yesterday I barely managed to cycle above my half marathon pace.
I think there were something like 4 or 5 hillocks marked on the route map and all were fairly inconsequential except for the final horror – Ditchling Beacon.
The crowds must have thinned at some point because I did manage to get back on the bike and for a few brief miles I actually felt the wind in my face and enjoyed the freedom of a crazy hell for leather descent.
The route, which I’ll illustrate when I’ve got it uploaded, had the potential to be a really enjoyable jaunt into Brighton. Apart from the few little bumps that I’ve already belittled it felt like a 54 mile descent to the sea. There was a heck of a lot of high speed freewheeling to be done but I suppose sharing country lanes with 27,000 other cyclists was never going to feel much better than getting stuck behind a convoy of caravans on a bank holiday exodus from Bridlington.
Ditcling Beacon arrived eventually and the one time I hoped for a blockade of walkers, so I could just excuse myself from the trouble of attempting the ascent, they all appeared to have adopted the “walkers to the left” etiquette. There was a clearish path up and I had to attempt it. I didn’t get too far up though before I lost my rhythm bobbing in and out of bailing bikers and I joined them. It was a tough long walk up so I can only imagine it was a challenging ride.
From this vantage point I could see the sea and Dave said he could smell the pier. I thought he said, “Can you smell the beer?” and I actually thought I could. It gave me a little burst of joy and I blasted my way down onto the slip road into the town and didn’t rest until I found myself with beer and chips in hand.
Damn fine chips they were too.
The t-shirt can be viewed on the events page.
Popularity: 14% [?]
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Tags: bike ride, charity, Cycling, Event, Garmin, L2B, London to Brighton
September 30, 2008 at 2:28 pm · Filed under Cycling, Event, Road
I am such a social cretin before an event and watching the city boys arrive at the coach station in their pin striped suits and titanium s-bar bikes didn’t go anyway towards making me feel at home.
I cheered up a bit on arrival at Blenheim when friendly faces appeared out of the crowd and I was reassured that Emma’s Dave hadn’t abandoned me to do the race on my own. Shame Trinny and Susannah weren’t there though; they would have been able to advise me that the short and dumpy tie style wasn’t going to do much for my physique. They might also have mentioned that a thick woollen jacket wasn’t the best sporting wear for the hottest day of the year.
I had received tie training lessons some months ago, in a pub and even through the Stella haze I could remember some of the specifics of the double Nelson knot. Or maybe it wasn’t a Nelson, that sounds like a wrestling move and that was another night and a completely different sort of pub. Anyway, my tie, it ended up in some form of quadruple knotting affair which may even have been stylish if only I were tall and lanky.
So with the race about to start we’d had to lay out our bikes in the folded position, on numbered markers. I was going in the first wave, with Dave two waves and 4 minutes behind me. With the horn sounded we ran to the Bromptons, unfolded, pushed to the track and then set off.
I can’t believe that I’ve gone to so much trouble, practically having my gps surgically embedded in my wrist, and yet “forgot” to set the flippin thing off for the race. Now you are just going to have to take my word for it when I say it was HILLY. Big, long hills!
I may have mentioned before that I don’t do hills, not uphills anyway, but with Dave a mere 4 minutes behind me I didn’t have a lot of choice and had to keep pushing. When I finished the first 6.5km loop I came really close to throwing up on the corner, I thought it would be a slip hazard though and with Dave still behind me it could be seen as unsporting.
One of the guys in my wave had a video camera on his helmet and captured some of the beauty of the course. I was breathing so hard, sweating gallons and concentrating too much on the waves of nausea that I didn’t notice my surroundings.
It’s a bit noisy so I suggest you turn the volume right down, but before you get bored, pull the slider across to 4 minutes and wait for me to appear like a bat out of hell. He managed to capture almost a full minute of my backside flying down the hill with my coat tails flapping in an aerodynamic fashion.
I crossed the line in front of Dave but the gap could be measured by Brompton lengths rather than minutes but we both looked rather worse for wear.
The results are just in:
Lap 1 15:48
Lap 2 16:57
Total for the 13km 32:45 (Dave’s time was 30:26)
In terms of positions I’m 268/364 overall or 21/44 for the women. So I’m actually in the top 50% for a sport! It beats swimming.
Popularity: 28% [?]
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Tags: Brompton, Brompton World Championships, folding bike, GPS, Stella, Swimming, tie
August 3, 2008 at 11:56 pm · Filed under Cycling, Running
Running and therefore blogging seems to have turned into quite a struggle recently. I get to the 2k point and feel as though I can’t go any further. My body feels like lumpen clay but I think my battle is as much mental as physical. Running can be a tough nut to crack sometimes.
With only 9 weeks to go before the Great North Run, I can’t afford to be struggling with 2k runs, I need to take a grip of this thing. I set out this morning on a 6k route, started whining at 2k but pushed on to the final turn off point where I managed to persuade myself to take the extended option which brought me home after 8k. A small battle won, and one that must be built on over the next few weeks.
There’s plenty of inspiration around at the moment, Speedracer has just completed her first Ironman distance tri at Vineman after months of badass training, and Rosie Swale-Pope features in this months Runners World after completing her run around the world (well she hasn’t quite completed it yet but is back on British soil after running for almost 5 years). These are people who know how to tame the quitting demons!
While I may not be running very much I’m certainly getting in plenty of cycle practice on the Brompton – I’ve got to get some speed training under my belt as I now have competition at the Brompton World Champs, Emma’s Dave has thrown down the gauntlet and must be beaten.
I’m still struggling with that saddle though. It’s beautiful and all but it’s a weapon of torture. I have it from good authority that it will weather in time, moulding itself to my own personal contours, thereby morphing into the most comfortable saddle in the world. In the meantime it is leaving me with day long pins and needles – most disconcerting.
I had an appointment with the ortho surgeon last week about my dodgy back issue and I was grilled about possible neurological complications. One of the questions put to me was “Have you experienced numbness or pins and needles in the saddle area?” Well, what could I say?
I obviously answered incorrectly as I ended up flat on my back having my bits and pieces tickled with a feather! When a guy came into the cubicle with a gloved hand and a protruding finger, I leapt off the couch and backed out pointing at my Brooks saddle and begging for mercy. I avoided the internal interrogation but still have to go and have an MRI – it would be much cheaper to invest in a gel saddle cover.
Popularity: 18% [?]
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Tags: back, Brompton, folding bike, GNR
July 17, 2008 at 8:56 pm · Filed under Bikes, Cycling, Equipment
I have just entered the Brompton World Championship race to be held at Blenheim Palace.
Catch that, a world bloody championship!
Anyway, rules state I must wear a suit jacket, collared shirt and a tie.
I don’t have a tie – disaster!
Anybody got a spare tie that would complement my delightful bike and wouldn’t be impaired by a gallon of sweat?
Popularity: 21% [?]
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Tags: bike, Brompton, folding bike, WBC08
July 4, 2008 at 8:16 am · Filed under Bikes, Commuting, Cycling, Equipment, Road
Here’s a quick pictorial introduction to the new bike recruit.
The Brompton is squeezing alongside the other two bikes and trying to carve out a niche for itself.
So far it’s doing very well and I’m beginning to worry about what I’ll do with the other two.
I wonder if I could have a go at a sprint tri with it? It certainly needs to have a go at some sort of challenge event just to cement it’s street cred.
A marvel of British engineering.
Here it is in transition mode – notice the sweet pea holder built into the Brompton bag – how useful is that?
Just to continue the bike porn theme, here it is in full glory.
I’ll just finish by plugging the WizzBike – the best bike shop I’ve come across so far. Superb service, it’s based in Brentford but well worth the trip if you are interested in Bromptons, folders or Pashleys.
Popularity: 27% [?]
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Tags: bike, Brompton, Brookes saddle, folding bike
July 11, 2007 at 7:23 am · Filed under Cycling, Event
The tour came to London this weekend and I was lucky enough to be on the marshalling team for Sunday’s Stage 1 from London to Canterbury, not that I felt particularly lucky when my alarm went off at 4.45am.
I was shipped out to Woolwich, not one of the more delightful spots of the route but it was downstream of Greenwich which means that the cyclists were in the midst of the race proper as they passed by unlike the Depart fictif played out through central London.
Being a marshall was a good wheeze, I was showered with loads of tour goodies – t-shirt, medal and baseball cap, and was ferried out to one of the best viewing spots available. The crowd were so well behaved I didn’t even have any marshalling type activity to do, which left me a bit of time to play with my new phone and catch a video of the proceedings. Unfortunately I was holding the phone the wrong way round and haven’t fathomed out how to rotate it so you’ll have to flip your monitors over if you want to see this in its full glory.
The roads were closed from 5am which gave the early morning runners the opportunity of running their own private London marathon route. Where supporters were already lining the streets the runners got a few rallying calls of Allez allez.
Popularity: 16% [?]
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Tags: t-shirt
May 27, 2007 at 8:11 am · Filed under Cycling, Event, Road, Running
I tried to capture the essence of todays stampede but I just ended up getting in the way and the movie ends as the camera gets knocked out of my hands. Don’t you just hate home movies anyway?
After the run (that I didn’t do – again), I went off on the bike in search of hills.
Looks like I found one.
I just stopped halfway up to let those lot catch up and took the opportunity to take in the views – not my breath, in case you were wondering.
I’m not a fan of hills but I’ll definately be back again, as just round the corner from here is the bestest ever cake shop. My eyes were bulging out of their sockets at the massive, sweet, treacley delights on offer. Certainly worth the effort and the bonus prize is finally a route that warrants the terrain feature in google earth.
My homicidal GPS thingumy didn’t let me down either, before I knew it, the blinkin thing had directed me onto the slip road of the M25. I had to hit my max speed of the day, 36mph, trying to get myself back on course, which in this case meant the middle of a particularly hairy dual carriageway, before the huge truck barrelling along behind me, forced me to reach even greater speeds. I didn’t enjoy that one bit, shame I didn’t have my heart rate monitor on as I’m sure it would have recorded a new panic induced max.
Total distance: 75km (46.6 miles)
Popularity: 23% [?]
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Tags: BPTT, GPS
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