Thursday, May 14, 2009

Who knows where the time goes?



"Who knows where the time goes?" asked Judy Collins from my dad's record player when I was a kid (the first time). With my new bike toy - the Garmin 705 GPS/bike computer - I have a bit of an answer to that question, at least for a ride. I still can't figure out a decent way to navigate with the damn thing, but I love all the data I get when I'm done.

In the plot of time vs. distance, the vertical segments show where time passed but distance did not - i.e., where I was stopped. On the pre-ride, we previewed the Farmer control (and used the outhouses), but without any support there, we had to stop for water at the bottom of McNeil Canyon at Beebe Park. Next, a nice sit-down lunch in Pateros. With no manned control near Twisp on the pre-ride we stopped at the store in Carlton on the way up the Methow and regrouped. Stops at the Omak and Grand Coulee controls were augmented with a brief stop at the store in Nespelem and one at the (heated!) bathrooms at the Dry Falls overlook. Total time off the bike - 2 hours, 40 minutes.

The line shows slow pace as steeper slope (more time, less distance) and fast pace as shallower slope (more distance, less time). The correlation to the overlaid elevation chart is unsurprising - to me or to anyone that's seen me climb.

7 comments:

eldiente206 said...

The real question is how did you keep it charged for that long?

-D

Robert H said...

When it is all said and done, that is a pretty steady pace Mark... especially when you consider the luxury of a sit down meal.

Mark said...

I used one of these. The only trick is that you have to find a "charge-only" USB cable to connect this to the Garmin. If you use a full cable, the Garmin thinks it's connected to a computer and the display blanks.

I hooked it up and turned it on after about 14 hours or so. The Garmin ran fine for the rest of the ride. I also forgot to turn the Garmin off after the ride until the next morning. It wasn't recording then, but it was on.

One additional issue: the auto-off functionality for the Garmin's backlight is lost, because it thinks it's plugged in. So I turned the backlight off completely (set brightness to zero setting) and used my helmet light to see the Garmin.

Mark said...

Robert - Thanks. Damn right. It was an "R80" pace (barely), so Jan would be proud of me (maybe).

Lois Springsteen said...

Fun chart! Now you just need the SLC+ Power Tap and you'll have even more data. Keeping battery power is always a challenge; I use a similar method. I haven't figured out how to effectively use mine for navigation either.

Vincent Muoneke said...

Looking back.
I should have taken more recovery time as you suggested on the Columbia River Road.
You live, You learn.

Thanx again

Vinni

MG said...

Brilliant graphic of your ride, Mark!!! Really brought the ride to life for me. "Sitting on the guardrail won't help." I loved it.