Fogerson
Former Resident Nerd
Hey gang,
When I walked my kiddies up to the bus stop this AM, it was so nice I decided to play hooky and take a ride up at Mahlon. It was 42 degrees before 8 AM, so I couldn't resist. This is very much unlike me...guess working from my house is starting to mess with my work ethic. Oh well...
Having my brand spankin' new Garmin 605 in hand, I downloaded a ride the Goat Herder's Horde did last fall (I think). The Garmin has a cool little feature called "Virtual Partner" where you can actually race against the course downloaded. I figured, hey, this particular ride was tagged as a A pace ride and I'm not gonna' be able to keep up, but I can at least see how far I'm off from you yahoos. After all I have been working my ass off in the gym, spin classes, and rides over the winter (when possible).
So, how did it go? The loop is about 12 miles long through MD and the Weldon WMA. I wasn't really paying too much attention to the Virtual Partner 'cause I was pre-occupied with riding (a good thing). With much surprise, and chagrin, at about 8 miles into it my little Garmin started laughing at me 'cause my virtual partner had finished the course. Laughable.
Okay, this wasn't really a surprise. But by doing this I've learned some things this morning:
Cheers.
Tim
When I walked my kiddies up to the bus stop this AM, it was so nice I decided to play hooky and take a ride up at Mahlon. It was 42 degrees before 8 AM, so I couldn't resist. This is very much unlike me...guess working from my house is starting to mess with my work ethic. Oh well...
Having my brand spankin' new Garmin 605 in hand, I downloaded a ride the Goat Herder's Horde did last fall (I think). The Garmin has a cool little feature called "Virtual Partner" where you can actually race against the course downloaded. I figured, hey, this particular ride was tagged as a A pace ride and I'm not gonna' be able to keep up, but I can at least see how far I'm off from you yahoos. After all I have been working my ass off in the gym, spin classes, and rides over the winter (when possible).
So, how did it go? The loop is about 12 miles long through MD and the Weldon WMA. I wasn't really paying too much attention to the Virtual Partner 'cause I was pre-occupied with riding (a good thing). With much surprise, and chagrin, at about 8 miles into it my little Garmin started laughing at me 'cause my virtual partner had finished the course. Laughable.
Okay, this wasn't really a surprise. But by doing this I've learned some things this morning:
- The Garmin 605 if a freakin' cool little tool. If you're learning an area, like I am learning my way around MD, you can download rides folks have done and the little Garmin will display a nice little navigation map to follow.
- It also helps gauge where you are compared to other yahoos on MTBNJ, without going out and getting dropped in the first mile. So, when so and so says it is an A pace ride, you can run against A pace rides that have been done. Or B pace. Or etc. In other words, it'll help you figure out what group rides you're ready for.
- My technical climbing SUCKS. Looking at the data from the Goat Herder ride and my own, it is painfully clear that is where I lost a ton of time. Of course, this didn't surprise me either 'cause I found myself walking a bit more than I should. After 13 years off the bike and never really having to deal with rocks in my previous experience (Oregon/Minnesota), this is clearly an area I have to work on.
- Spinning didn't seem to do sh!t. Okay, maybe that isn't fair. I rode last weekend with a friend that I rode with a bit last fall. He rode sporadically over the winter. I did spend a lot of time waiting for him. I sure don't feel any stronger, though. At best I think the spinning helped keep me from loosing what conditioning I gained last fall when I started riding again. A little disappointing considering the amount of effort I put into it. OTOH, I didn't have a cyclometer or anything on my bike last fall, so maybe I'm just going faster. Oh well, I'm pretty sure it didn't hurt, but there is clearly no substitute for real saddle time.
- My UGI over the winter was worth it. Love my Formula "The Ones", they work SO much better than the BB7's they replace. The Revelation 426, Monarch 4.2, and 5.5 rockers on the 5-spot are also cool. I don't even have them 100% dialed yet, but I was jammin' on descents though the rocks and barely noticed the rocks. 'Probably the only reason I was past mile 5 before the Virtual Partner started laughing at me.
Cheers.
Tim