Rolling With It

Today's route, created thanks to G-Maps Pedometer and the
Gmaps to GPX hack tool.

You know what they say about things happening in threes. Yesterday I had to replace my shifter, a pricey repair, and then today my trusty Garmin Edge 205 suffered from some strange form of digital arrhythmia. Finally, when I arrived at Myers Rd., where I have clocked 50 mph twice this season, I was most annoyed to discover that the perfectly smooth surface had been covered with a generous covering of gravel, making it impassible until the chip seal process is completed. Not that these are real issues or anything, it's just that I  love rituals and routines, so contending with surprises kind of messes with my cycling game plan. Nonetheless, I had a really strong ride today on my familiar King Ferry/Ledyard/Genoa/Lansing loop with delightful cooler temperatures and gusty winds and rain, foreshadowing the changing seasons. Too bad I didn't get the exact ride data, but I had enough info to suggest that it was a personal best on this route. Lately I've been racking up the miles in hopes of hitting the 4,000 mile mark during the AIDS Ride for Life next weekend, and it's looking like it will come to pass. 

The Garmin Edge 205. Could it really be discontinued?

The Garmin problem was odd and completely unexpected. I've been using the Edge 205 on every ride since getting my road bike with no technical problems, and then this morning I couldn't get it to power up. Fortunately I found the instructions online on resetting it, and it was working perfectly fine until King Ferry, when the speedo stopped responding and was stuck at a set speed. None of the buttons worked, and after repeatedly attempting to reboot, I finally got it working again. The device worked perfectly fine from Ledyard to Ithaca, but when I tried to stop it, once again no button responded and all data was lost after a forced reboot. It seems to be working fine right now, but it will take a few uneventful uses before I trust this pricey but very valued device. I'm so data-obsessed that I can't imagine riding without a GPS unit!

I'm wincing as I read through this post. Whatever happened to just riding without fancy gear or accessories? I remember when I stopped using a cyclocomputer on my touring bike and how liberating it was, but now it's very hard to imagine riding without the GPS data, which keeps me focused on improving performance on every ride, not to mention the cool mapping and metrics analysis aspects. I guess I'm just a data obsessed and fairly entrenched, but I guess that there are worse addictions.