Comparing Data With Garmin Training Center

Yesterday was the 2010 AIDS Ride for Life century, and it was probably the best day I ever spent in the saddle. I'm savoring my memories and am waiting a few days for more photos before I post a complete report. In the meantime, I'm posting one photo of me at the finish at Cass Park with no explanations, other than to say that I'm not the guy in front. That's Hank and...wait, I told you I'm not sharing my report right now, so instead, I'll just string you along with some data analysis.

Not too long ago, Garmin came out with version 3 of its Garmin Training Center software, which I use to import data from my Garmin Edge, retrieve data, and export to the TCX format for subsequent import into RideWithGPS. Anyway, without getting too technical, I've been really appreciating a new feature of the Garmin Training Center software. Since I habitually take the same training routes frequently, now the software allows me to compare data from one ride to another to see where my speed increased or decreased along the route. This is very helpful when you're trying to improve your performance, since you can really pinpoint parts of the ride where you want to improve.

Here's what a comparison looks like. This is my latest workout/commute up Remington, Sunset, Oakcrest and Triphammer, then down Asbury to East Shore Drive. Notice that the elevation profile is virtually identical (discrepancies are caused by GPS margin of error), while the speeds in different sectors are clearly different. The blue line represents today's ride, while the red line represents my ride on September 8th. First of all, today I was .3 mph faster than on 9/8. I'm guessing that after a fantastic century followed by a relaxing rest day, I'm riding stronger. Also, you'll notice that my speeds on the East Shore Drive flats today were somewhat slower than on 9/8, and this is partly due to a generous tailwind last week that wasn't there today.

So there you have it—data analysis got even more fun. If I had a Garmin with heartrate, that would be even cooler. I still can't justify the the price, however.

Improved Roundabout Commute

Day one of the revised roundabout commute, a.k.a. morning training ride. I had been taking Cascadilla Park Rd., the prettiest street in Ithaca, then up through the cemetery  and through the Cornell campus to Pleasant Grove, then to Community Corners, Hanshaw to Warren, then down Dart, Oakcrest, and finally Remington to the high school, but there were two problems with this route:

1. The climb through campus after the climb up Cascadilla was just a bit more than I wanted to tackle first thing.
2. There's significant traffic on campus that slow me down.

So as you can see by the map, I altered my route and avoided campus altogether. The ride through Cayuga Heights is much more chill, the climbs are more humanely distributed, and the overall distance and vertical ascent are almost identical. 

Looking forward to the Tuesday night competitive ride and the Hollenbeck's Spring Classic Road Race is only two weeks away! Hopefully I can ride the course on a training ride next weekend.

Stats:

Distance: 9.97 miles

Avg. speed: 18.1 mph

Vertical ascent: 764 ft.

Commuting Season Begins in Earnest

Spring has truly sprung, after a trying few days of cold, rain and fog. Today was therefore the perfect day to begin my circuitous bike commute, followed by a longer after-school ride, which is what I did regularly last spring and in the fall.

The day started off on the chilly side, 38 degrees to be precise. You warm up quickly when you climb up Cascadilla Place and up through the Cornell campus to Warren Rd. The only bother with this ride is the campus traffic and poor road conditions in the Northeast.

After school was blissful, a jacket free day in the upper-50s with sunshine and a north wind. Today I took 34 to Lansing, then back via Gulf Rd., which has a very steep and short uphill connecting back to Conlon Rd., a nice little add-on ascent before the long downhill along East Shore (34B). Best avg. speed of the season thus far, 19.8 mph, so all of the cross-training and indoor cycling seems to be paying off.

Today on my morning route, I passed a fellow teacher and district colleague on her bike (with trailer in tow), heading in the other direction toward her school on the hill. I rarely get the chance to chat with her because she's always on the move! Then, on my way back up the hill for my afternoon ride, I passed her yet again on her way back down the hill. I loved the symmetry of our encounters. I so admire and respect this teacher for her great work in the classroom, and also for her incredible athleticism. She is both a very competitive nordic skier and super-strong cyclist and runner, and quite the inspiration.

Today I received the bad news that a friend and colleague was injured in a car accident yesterday in Lansing. He was driving at 55 when someone not very far ahead of him pulled out of an intersection or a driveway, giving him next to no time to react. He ended up in the ditch, beaten and battered, with a totalled car. My thoughts are with him and his family, and I'm so thankful that he wasn't hurt worse. While I have no information about what led the other driver to make their unsafe turn, I can't think about the shocking statistics about distracted driving and texting while driving. A study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more at risk of a crash or near-crash event than non-distracted driving. Also, the average teen sends close to 3,000 text messages a month, and many of those messages have been sent or received while driving. These are particularly scary things to think about for us cyclists. No matter how safe we ride, we are at the mercy of drivers. I just hope that chronic cellphone users realize that no text is worth a human life.

Random photo time...it was bath night for the boys and for the bike!

The Season That Never Ends

It was a bit too chilly for my before-work circuitous commute/workout, a 10-mile climb up through Cornell and Community Corners to the airport and back down again. The weather forecast was promising, however. It was 35 degrees when I headed off to school, but it was 60 degrees when I left work! Indian summer days like this are magical, and it the gloomiest of late winter days, it's really hard to imagine that days like this even exist.

I managed to get a 15 mile ride in, my favorite quick loop up to Terpening Corners via Remington, Oakcrest and Triphammer and down Rt. 34, the best descent close to downtown. What a gift! It was also my first ride with my Polar heartrate cyclocomputer. I don't know yet where I really should be, but I averaged 150 bpm for a 42 minute ride.

Four Days Off and Feeling Good

It's a good day. I've been sick for over a week, and off the bike (including indoor rides on the trainer) for four days now. This time of year you have to sneak the rides in whenever you can since you never know when the season will be over, and in spite of the fact that I'm not 100% recovered from an annoying, lingering cold, I decided to do my roundabout commute to work today.

My workplace is less than 1 mile away on completely flat roads, but since last spring I have been exploring increasingly long and convoluted ways of getting to work. My latest and favorite route has me heading up Cascadilla Park Rd. (see picture—this is my favorite Ithaca street, and it makes me think of the Italian Alps), a short, steep and absolutely beautiful road alongside the Cascadilla gorge, then through the Cornell campus, across the campus Fall Creek bridge, then up to Triphammer, past Community Corners to Warren Rd., and then over to the airport, down Dart, past the mall, down Oakcrest to Cayuga Heights Rd., and finally down Sunset and Remington to Lake Ave. and finally the high school. Phew! It's a 10 mile ride with over 800 ft. of vertical climbing, most of it in the first 2 miles. It's a great way to start the work day, and I was already reconciled to the notion that I had already taken this route for the last time of the season.

This morning I discovered that four days out of the saddle can really refresh you and make you somehow feel stronger. I have know idea how this works, but it certainly did in this case. My body is still in recovery mode and I only got 5 hours of sleep last night, yet I felt so good on this ride. I'm puzzled but very grateful for this phenomena.

Since February I have lost 33 pounds without having weight loss as a primary goal. I'm pretty happy about this, since I never thought I could lose this much weight over a number of years, let alone 9 months. I have used Wii Fit almost every day since February, and I think that the weigh-in is a critical factor contributing to this weight loss, as is some changes in my diet and (of course) lots of cycling up steep hills from March until now. At this point, I don't have strong feelings about losing more weight. My primary goals are becoming an even stronger rider and not gaining back any significant weight over the winter months. More than anything, I want to end the outdoor cycling season strong and keep the momentum going for the much less fun indoor cycling season.