Worked out at the gym yesterday morning, doing a bunch of explosive-power exercises that my trainer put together for me. In the afternoon, I was prepping for my 4-hour ride and was just about ready to leave when I ran into the postman, carrying a package from Amazon…my Garmin Edge 305 GPS-enabled cyclometer! So, of course, nothing would do but to charge it and wire it up to my bike immediately, before setting out. It took about an hour to get it fully wired up (it would have been quicker if I’d known what I was doing), which was probably just as well since it gave the battery more time to charge. Then I took off for Mt. Hamilton.
Mt. Hamilton was harder this time, not too surprising after having worked myself to exhaustion in the morning. I rode steadily up in Zone 2, with relatively few problems besides a sore butt (from all that climbing) and tired quads near the end. I did take an energy gel about one hour from the top. It was cool at the bottom and absolutely freezing at the top – the descent was a bear because despite arm and leg warmers and a windbreaker vest, I was still freezing and losing sensation in my chilled fingers. Next time I bring full-fingered gloves!
The only other pain (literally) was getting a sore lower back on the descent – not used to being in a crouched position for half an hour at a time. Must work on core exercises!
Ah, but my new toy. 🙂 The Garmin 305 with heart rate monitor and cadence add-ons is a really cool toy – aside from the obvious functions (speed, distance, heart rate, cadence, average speed, etc.) it also does elevation, grade, total elevation, exact GPS coordinates, tracking/backtracking your route, and other bells and whistles that I haven’t yet discovered. It also saves all your ride data for later computer analysis.
The only trouble I had with it was that initially, it was giving me elevation and grade readings that were completely bogus – 2550 ft of climbing at an elevation of 1185 (after a gentle but steady climb), and a grade that averaged 25%! I reset it, switched out the display to read elevation and total climb, eliminating the grade display, and suddenly it was working properly. I’m not sure if it was a glitch with the initial hour or two of running, an area-specific glitch with the base of Mt. Hamilton, or whether it’s a bug in the software – I intend to check it out again next time I’m at Mt. Hamilton. Which should be pretty soon, given my training schedule.
Anyway, I have not yet set up the computer stuff for the Garmin, so that’s on the slate for today, together with a 1.5 hour ride, probably a nice gentle ride like the Portola Loop. Then I get to play with my new toy some more. 🙂
Mt. Hamilton: 3:09 to the top, 19.2 miles. 4:30 total.