When I first started riding again back in 2002, I purchased a Trek Navigator 300, one of Trek's comfort series bikes. I wasn't sure what type of riding I would be doing, whether I would be mainly riding the roads or on trails, and this seemed to be a good compromise that would allow my to do either. I got the bike, a helmet, and a rack and pack for the back of the bike in order to carry a spare tube and patch kit.
After only a couple of months of riding I started adding to the list of what I felt was needed to go with the bike. I started using cycling clothing. It turns out that spandex is much better than t-shirts and shorts and gloves really do help. I went to clipless pedals instead of the platform pedals that came with the bike. I also replaced the so called comfort bars with a straight bar with extensions.
As the rides got up to 45 minutes or so, I started to want to keep track of how far I was going. So, I purchased my first bike computer, a very basic unit from Trek that attached a magnet to the front wheel with wires, and gave me speed and distance readouts. I though this was great, and started keeping a closer watch on how I was doing. I also started pushing myself a bit more. Competing with my previous rides in order to go just a bit faster and farther.
As the rides crept over the hour mark, I started to think of getting serious about tracking my progress. So, I purchased a basic heart rate monitor. I now had two devices on my bike's handlebars, one that gave me speed and distance, and the other for my heart rate BPM and activity zone. I kept all of this information in my head. I thought about using a spreadsheet, but that seemed a bit too much work.
Eventually, I got a second bike. It turned out I was doing all my riding on the roads, so I got an actual road bike, a 2005 Trek Pilot 2.1. With this, I went to a wireless computer. Still just a basic unit that gave my speed and distance. Then my heart rate monitor, a Polar F11 unit died. Luckily, I had purchased this at REI, a great place to shop, as they have the best return policy of any one. The warranty was close to up, but they still gave me the option of a replacement unit or a refund. I took the refund and used the money to upgrade to the Polar CS300 HRM. This added a unit to attach to the bike to keep track of speed as well as my heart rate. I could also save all of the data to the polar training center web site. I though this was great, an easy way to keep track of all my rides. With this, I didn't need to use the bike computer at all, so away it went.
Unfortunately, the Polar CS300 only lasted about 6 months before the data transfer stopped working. I was again grateful that I had purchased the unit from REI. Back it went for a refund.
I found a really good price on another Polar HRM, the SX725. It had all the functions of the CS300, but added a much better way to transfer data. I could not only send the ride data to the web, but also to training software on my laptop. It also kept track of temperature and elevation, with nice graphs to show all this data. I could even directly compare rides and run reports. All in all, I felt like I now had all the data I could possibly want. I was very happy using this for over two years.
Shortly after the two year mark, the battery started to go on the polar. I replaced the battery on the chest strap unit, but didn't feel up to replacing the supposedly non-user replaceable battery on the watch itself. So I sold it. As far as I know, it is still working well for its new owner.
My replacement was a Garmin Edge 605. No HRM, but speed, distance, elevation, and mapping. Data could be transferred to both the web and software on my laptop. The GPS mapping also allowed for rides to be loaded into the unit and followed. So, no more carrying cue sheets on some of the charity and group rides I was now going on. I have been using this for about a year and a half now, and it does everything I want, except that I have started to miss my heart rate readings.
So, back to REI. They just had a really good sale, and I had my rebates from last year to spend. I purchased the Garmin Forerunner 405CX. It does everything my Garmin Edge did except for the maps, but it adds a heart monitor, plus the ability to add a cadence sensor later if I feel that need. All in a watch format that I can also use when I go on runs during the winter.
If you want to see what all this data looks like, I have added links to my most recent rides to the right side of this blog.
See you on the road.
