Tuesday, July 13, 2004

45 miles and counting

Well so far since I started riding again in June I have racked up 45 miles as of tonight. Yesterday night I got a new schwinn bicycle computer to help me keep track and measure my progress. Believe it or not I got it at walmart for $10. Of course I have no idea where the bicycle computer I bought 10 years ago for $75 is, not that it did any thing more than the new one does. (In fact it didn't do as much as the new one does.) Now I know how fast I am going, how far I have traveled and how long I have been riding. It's really rather like having all the stuff from your car dashboard, as far as speedometer, odmeter and clock right on your handlebars. I have been keeping a log, making educated guess as to distance using mapquest and lenght of the ride and coming up with my average mph. (Actually Bikelog will do the calcuation for you.)

I think I have mentioned it before but there is a great application called Bikelog. It comes in Windows, PDA and Web Flavors with the most expensive (the Windows version) being only $12.95. It really is a bargin and it really makes it easy to keep track of your progress. Some of the other things it does are give you ways to schedule and keep track of up coming rides and bike maintenance as well as some really cool charts of your data.

The one on the left is my Calories burned versus watts produced. I thought this was a great view, because it helps you to see what a great workout you are getting and how much energy you are producing on each ride.

Also if you are kind of competative you can upload your data to the http://www.netcyclist.com website and see where you place. I am currently 32nd. Not that I'm counting.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sis:
The cyclysm begins. . . .

Russ said...

Well, at least I have more heart then the guy who does those commercials.