do i buy a thing

you could have done a ride in that time amirite

I can just make routes in Garmin Connect and then send them to the device (this works - I've just tried it). So what on earth is the point of Basecamp???

To vex an frustrate the Garmin user

So today I rode exactly the same route, this time with the heart monitor on as well. The distance came out almost exactly the same (0.02 miles difference), but the total climbing was supposedly 456m yesterday and 474m today. That's quite a large discrepancy - how reliable is the altitude data? I have a minimum/maximum elevation of 3m/127m today and 16m/122m yesterday - obviously the land hasn't risen/fallen in the past 24 hours.

I've just been looking at various websites on how to calculate my maximum heart rate (and then use that to get different zones) and I've come across various different measurements that consistently give me 181-183 bpm. I deliberately chose a hilly route that took me up my club's hill climb course and I tried sprinting up the end of this (about 12% gradient) and my heart rate went up to 190bpm. Can you actually excede your 'maximum' or are these measurements just imprecise? This wasn't a one-off - on another hill (10% incline) I reached 185. I don't really know what to make of this. I also tried to do an interval of a minute or so at race pace on the flat - this got my bpm up to 178.

Info here: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/196402996. Split 3 is the hill climb and split 5 is the flat interval.

yep, GPS devices are not great at figuring out altitude

maybe because they use time differentials from different satellites to estimate position, and the horizontal distance between satellites is much larger than the vertical distance (all relative to you)

Your maximum heart rate is literally that: your maximum heart rate achieved. There is no formula that supersedes your physical results.

GPS altitude relies on so many factors: weather, wind, time of year*. The Garmin device provides a reasonable estimate... although Strava overlays their users' data with topography maps so they may be a bit more accurate.

*I once did a hilly ride in the middle of a storm and the altitude data showed almost a flat line.

800 should be better than the previous generation, It's go a barometer to make corrections but GPS is bad at altitude. Connect will attempt to correct but then you are at the mercy of baseman data.

See my recent log post a friend and I doing the same ride and him getting ~1250m and me getting ~1750m

Your maximum heart rate is literally that: your maximum heart rate achieved. There is no formula that supersedes your physical results.

I tried the same hill again today and really went for it, doing my second fastest time ever, and got a new maximum of 193 bpm. As bad as that made me feel, I reckon I've felt even worse a few times in races, so I suspect my maximum could be even higher than that. Apparently a better calculation is not to work out your maximum, but to work out what you average for a 30-minute all-out effort (e.g. time trial), but I've forgotten what you're supposed to do after finding that.

If you have a turbo trainer you can use the cadence sensor with an ANT+ USB stick and do the Trainerroad threshold test and this will give you you threshold heart rate.

I probably will not buy this, but I'm quite tempted by the Bikes Direct special on the Mercier Elle 3-spd laydeez bike. I've tried and tried to keep my old 3spd going but it's been in pieces for A YEAR and maybe it's time to let it go. And buy something RED that has never been scratched before.

Oh and a friend recently tried to buy a crappy 2-hand bike and the lowest prices at Recycle were in the $250 range! So for $400 you might as well??

Looks solid, go for it

yeah that looks pretty good to me. the rack looks a little dubious for durability, but you could replace that down the line easily if needed.

More Garmin questions:

1) I changed the settings so that it would automatically stop when I stopped moving and resume when I started moving again. This worked pretty well at first, but it seems to be getting worse - it has a tendency to turn off (and then almost immediately back on again) if I slow down for a junction but don't actually stop (i.e. drop from 20mph to 5mph and then accelerate away again). Worse still, it's started doing the same thing whenever I go up climbs, even if my speed is still quite reasonable (say 14mph). Any idea what's up with this?

2) Does there come a point where I should delete the rides which are stored on the device? I have no idea how much memory the device has and how much is taken up with the data from each ride.

1) This is odd, do you have the speed cadence sensor installed?

2) I've never deleted any rides

1) Yes

1 I usually don't use the speed/cadence sensor- I've not noticed that
2 deleting old rides greatly speeds up the varmint uploader utility

1) Hmm, speed/cadence normal solves problems with GPS signal crapping out. Check for a firmware update?

2) I did not know that and I should do it.

There is a firmware update available - if I get it, will it wipe my courses / settings ?

i sorta enjoy that autocorrect turns garmin into varmint

i don't think it will wipe them, but i'm not sure of that.

I tried moving the sensor closer to the spoke magnet and that seems to have eradicated the problem - it must have got moved when I stuck the bike on the back of the car.

I just officially ordered that Dutch-style 3-spd! First time ever for buying a new bike for myself so I am a little disbelieving that I put some numbers into a computer and someone delivers A WHOLE BIKE to my HOUSE. (Some assembly required obvs.)

Sneer patronizingly if you like but I am so looking forward to leisurely upright rides on wet fall & winter streets, with fenders and panniers and 3 whole speeds to choose from. And taking it on rides on various boardwalks without having my brain rattled in my skull.

Sneer patronizingly? Watch jealously imho

I like my sporty SS cross check right now, but once the weather turns I'm gonna want the full vicar. what kind is it again?

It's the cheapie at bikesdirect.com--this is to replace my latest 3-spd beater that I never did get the cranks out of. Wondering now if it's worth keeping it for parts or anything--the wheels and the hub are perfectly good, would sell or donate back to bike shop maybe?

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/images/ellecityimg/elle_city_peacock_600.jpg

But in red!

I'm on my 4th free (to me) bike, for pete's sake, I can buy ONE new.

enh, i'd donate back. not-new bike parts are incredibly devalued, esp old ones from beaters (even if they're in good shape). trying to sell some old hubs/wheels to a shop would be like selling old CDs---yeah, you'll get SOME money, but not much. better to give to a friend/community workshop or something

OR do as so many other bike nerds do: HOARD THEM

also that is a v cuet bike!

now all u need is a handlebar bag for a pack of smokes and a budweiser tally

Yeah I mean it would just be a crime to toss a working 3-spd hub and stuff but I don't have room to store wheels or any srs parts! I'll ask who wants it.

I actually have a dumb "shopping bag"-style pannier that my parents bought me without realizing it can only be clipped onto a rack WHICH I DID NOT HAVE so I've never used it. Perhaps will use now, should be perfect for beer and take-out.

yay, laurel!

So I'm vaguely toying with the idea of commuting to work again. It's hardly worth it as my workplace is only a mile from my flat, but now that I have to drop off / pick up my daughter from school it could save me a few valuable minutes. Possibly. Probably not, actually, by the time I've locked up the bike and got changed, but I suppose it'll mean a bit more cycling. Anyway - I used to do this about 5 years ago when I had a heavy hybrid commuter bike thing with chainguard and stuff and I just wore my work clothes and rode in them. But that's not really possible now as I only have proper road bikes with no chainguard (and so would inevitably get oil over my trousers in next to no time). However, it would be completely crazy if I got fully lycra-ed up to ride a mile to work: I'd spend far more time getting changed at either end than I would on actually riding. So I was thinking I could try to get some commuter-friendly cycling trousers, maybe like this:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/altura-metro-cycling-trousers/
That way I wouldn't have to prance around in lycra tights at my daughter's school and could quickly get changed into proper (non oily) trousers when I arrived at work. Does this sound like a plan? Any trouser advice?

i ride 14 miles into work in my trousers- unless im wearing a good suit that day, then i'll wear gym shorts or wind pants. i use a slap on cuff holder to keep my trousers out of the chain. srsly it's no big deal man.

even now one-handed, i ride a mile each way to the rail station in my work clothes.

i do not ride home in my work trousers- always wind pants or street shorts. the ride home is longer due to very gradual 400 ft elev gain.

I've been doing one or two days a week into work, but I always have to wear a 2-pc outfit (ie not a dress) and take a clean shirt w me because SWEATY.

Some transatlantic translation issues here:

wind pants = had to google this, are they basically tracksuit bottoms?
a slap on cuff holder = cycle clips?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SvBr0MN8xxE/S1lqD4iOaCI/AAAAAAAAHhY/7MfjXNqdlmc/s400/cycle-clips-flo.png
I've got some of them somewhere, I think. I'm still pretty sure I could manage to get oil on my clothes. Maybe I should just wear a pair of old jeans.

yeah i mean we're talking < 5 minutes here, right? football shorts in the summer, old jeans in the winter.

yeah, wind pants = tracky bottoms ime. not pants for farting in, although the better wind pants do allow that.

Guys I see going to work in work clothes usu just roll up the right leg?

yeah, but unless you are scrupulous that eventually leads to dirty cuffs, at least on the inside

Re: 'pants' meaning 'trousers', when I was 9 we had a stand-in teacher from Newfoundland, Canada for a few weeks for some reason. He told the class that we had to do a play in assembly about the original colonists meeting the native americans (or whatever he called them in those days). He told me I was to be the leader of the latter group and that in the interests of authenticity that meant I couldn't wear any pants. I've been mentally scarred for life by the terror that order sent through me. I'm not sure how long it took before I found out he meant trousers.

wind pants perform same basic function as tracksuit bottom, but tracksuit bottoms are often soft and not wind resistant. i insist on my wind pants being lightweight unlined shell- otherwise i get too warm. ankle zips and at least one zip pocket are good. on cold windy days i will sometimes put these over my tights for xc skate skiing, or use just for warm up.

yeah cycle clips is same idea. i used to use velcro reflective fabric cuff straps, but the slap on things are like those kids bracelets--

http://media.performancebike.com/images/performance/products/medium/10-0649-NCL-FRONT.jpg

so, pants is like underwear in uk? i almost always wear pants then, highly recommended no matter how you get to work.

Yeah, these are pants:
http://www.bedazzledbedmats.com/images/TH_Web_MENS_Y_FRONTS.jpg
So basically a pair of them (made of wind resistant fabric) and some luminous yellow handcuffs round my ankles and I should be fine.

to normals in cars, that's basically the same as lycra u know

i started doing the basic lycra thing when i started to ride to work again, primarily due to the sweat, but once i had some base fitness after a few weeks i just went back to regular clothes. eventually i refined it to regular clothes plus a wool baselayer and a pair of the rapha trousers that i got during a sale. this was for a three and a bit mile commute. i ended up getting rid of the trouser clips i was using and just giving the leg a good roll-up, meant less stuff to remember.

i now avoid all this by not having a job, haw.

wife wants a new bike for commuting, canal path riding & maybe longer weekend rides up to 30 miles

looking at cross bikes. what's the best value on the market rn? genesis are nice but do feel you pay a premium for the styling

wish she'd go for a road bike and get the entry level canyon (£730 for full 105/apex) but no deal

couldn't justify buying a bike for me, so i finally replaced mrs. hunt3r's. giant avail in crabon. geometry for women (actually for everyone) has come a long way. so so much easier to fit.

once she gets it, i get to make sad eyes when i look at it, and start asking "do i buy a thing?"