How are you meant to record a PB?

TimC said:

How are you meant to record a PB when you don't have a computer
anymore?

pencil & paper?

post to usenet(archived) - umm, how do you do that without a computer?

On Mon, 23 May 2005 at 11:27 GMT, aeek (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

TimC said:

How are you meant to record a PB when you don't have a computer
anymore?

pencil & paper?

post to usenet(archived)

HAW HAW! I think I managed to thought of that.

Quoted message said:

umm, how do you do that without a computer?

Bike computer, silly.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Some witty text here,
can be any number of lines
long

TimC said:

How are you meant to record a PB when you don't have a computer
anymore? I was reading a project outline of one of my students (why
the hell does the university get an untrained monkey such as myself,
to dictate the future of other students?), and the phrase "raining
down" (something about doomsday) was mentioned. I thought "aha,
weather forecast says rain tonight". Checked the radar, and estimated
30 minutes, max. So I got changed, and left in a rush.

Screaming along, partially with the aid of a southerly, heart rate
stays consistently high (who knows how high). I may be hungry, but I
seem to have all the energy I want. Take off at the lights at
Warrigal and High St Rds, and head downhill, beating the masses of
cars coming down with me. A couple of cars manage to pass me, so
either I am doing 59 (by no means the fastest I have ever done down
there, but I am peddling smoothly, and am not bouncing around crazily
like I used to), or they are above the speed limit. Pull in behind
one of them to turn right at the bottom of the hill, forget just how
fast I am going around the corner and almost stack it, and then gun it
all the way home up the slight incline.

I didn't record the time when I left, but looking at the radar loop
and comparing it against my memory as I left says that I left at least
5 minutes after 7:30, and got home by 8:00. Anyway, I think that was
a PB (about 6-7 minutes quicker than average anyway), and it felt so
good.

The slight drizzle for the last 5km served both as a nice motivation
to go quicker to miss the front that was promising to come (something
has lied, there certainly doesn't seem to be much happening outside
yet), and as a way to cool me down a bit. Don't usually get the
motivation to go quite that quick for the entire commute home; looking
forward to the drizzle/showers/rain tomorrow night 🙂

Pretty tricky without a computer. I've calculated that I spend about 5
mins out of 50 mins stationary during my ride to work! I was quite
surprised when I worst worked it out. But as most (I think) bike
computers take into account when you're startionary, you can get a sort
of normalised time to use to compare. Extra rest, etc etc isn't taken
into account, but it's closer then just going by the wall clock.

Joel

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

I'm surgical with logging every ride... if the bike computer isn't working,
its either use the other bike or no ride.. every km has to count toward the
monthly goal..

cheers,
GPL
:128.663hrs on the bike this year so far:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

I'm surgical with logging every ride... if the bike computer isn't working,
its either use the other bike or no ride.. every km has to count toward the
monthly goal..

cheers,
GPL
:128.663hrs on the bike this year so far:

or you could ditch the bike computer altogether and go for a personal
gps ... i got a garmin forerunner and it rocks. you can then also use it
across multiple bikes and running. if you do xc you can navigate if
necessary with it and things like altitude are good info.

brett

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

Yeah the BC1600 does seem to do something strange when calculating avg
speed. I do a reset of distance and ride time simultaneously, then when
I get back the spreadsheet always reads lower, as you said. I have seen
Sigma computers on enough pro bikes to trust them though.

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed
to the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make
arrow point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a
last-ditch attempt to increase my average.

$40 is great price, I got mine for $45 and I've seen them other places
for $60 or more!

Daniel S said:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

Yeah the BC1600 does seem to do something strange when calculating avg
speed. I do a reset of distance and ride time simultaneously, then when
I get back the spreadsheet always reads lower, as you said. I have seen
Sigma computers on enough pro bikes to trust them though.

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed
to the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make
arrow point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a
last-ditch attempt to increase my average.

$40 is great price, I got mine for $45 and I've seen them other places
for $60 or more!

But don't waste time getting the cadence counter for it. I think it's
the way the connections are made - mine died in a few months and I'm
pretty sure it's from some seepage into the cable insulation. The sensor
was fine, it was just the cable that fell apart inside it's shell, but
really, who wants to fix that every few months?

Tam

"Daniel S" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed to
the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make arrow
point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a last-ditch
attempt to increase my average.

That arrow is my worst enemy.. thank god most of my commute is in the dark..
although I still spend a fair amount of time hoping for a glimpse at
speed/distance/time/etc..

cheers,
GPL
:690.99kms 23.3hrs 29.66km/h avg this month... agghh the numbers...:

"Tamyka Bell" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

But don't waste time getting the cadence counter for it. I think it's
the way the connections are made - mine died in a few months and I'm
pretty sure it's from some seepage into the cable insulation. The sensor
was fine, it was just the cable that fell apart inside it's shell, but
really, who wants to fix that every few months?

Cadence comes with the $40 deal... mine has been fine for the last 4-5
months, only been in the rain once though.. The connections to the mount
itself are extremely solid due to the stem mounting I have it on.. that may
help?

cheers,
GPL
:about to convert to rear wheel trip computer.. gotta get numbers from the
trainer sessions:..

On Tue, 24 May 2005 15:19:16 +1000, Tamyka Bell <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Daniel S said:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

Yeah the BC1600 does seem to do something strange when calculating avg
speed. I do a reset of distance and ride time simultaneously, then when
I get back the spreadsheet always reads lower, as you said. I have seen
Sigma computers on enough pro bikes to trust them though.

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed
to the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make
arrow point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a
last-ditch attempt to increase my average.

$40 is great price, I got mine for $45 and I've seen them other places
for $60 or more!

But don't waste time getting the cadence counter for it. I think it's
the way the connections are made - mine died in a few months and I'm
pretty sure it's from some seepage into the cable insulation. The sensor
was fine, it was just the cable that fell apart inside it's shell, but
really, who wants to fix that every few months?

I got 3 years out of a cateye CD100 (australe) with cadence -
the cadence bit of it has become intermittant in the last
month or so. It just (45 mins ago!) clocked up 50,000km!

woot!

Who says Aluminium bikes don't last? Look at mine 🙂

Daniel S said:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1
ones, they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning..
BikePro.com.au have the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch
those models tho, they seem to use something other than time/distance
to calc average(?!)... it always overestimates compared to my
spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the MTB.. other than that I
cant fault it for the price.

Yeah the BC1600 does seem to do something strange when calculating avg
speed. I do a reset of distance and ride time simultaneously, then when
I get back the spreadsheet always reads lower, as you said. I have seen
Sigma computers on enough pro bikes to trust them though.

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed
to the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make
arrow point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a
last-ditch attempt to increase my average.

$40 is great price, I got mine for $45 and I've seen them other places
for $60 or more!

I've got the Sigma BC1200 (same except for no cadence option I think). I
originally went the wireless option, which lasted for one week before it
stopped working. Then I got it replaced and the replacement didn't work
out of the box! So I replaced this with the corded version. Yet to
install it (will do it tonight actually).

I'm also always trying to get my average up with every ride, which
normally involves putting in at the end. As the end of my ride is
through town, I have to watch my average speed drop away :-( It's very
demoralising.

Joel

spook said:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1
ones, they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning..
BikePro.com.au have the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch
those models tho, they seem to use something other than time/distance
to calc average(?!)... it always overestimates compared to my
spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the MTB.. other than that I
cant fault it for the price.

I'm surgical with logging every ride... if the bike computer isn't
working, its either use the other bike or no ride.. every km has to
count toward the monthly goal..

cheers,
GPL
:128.663hrs on the bike this year so far:

or you could ditch the bike computer altogether and go for a personal
gps ... i got a garmin forerunner and it rocks. you can then also use it
across multiple bikes and running. if you do xc you can navigate if
necessary with it and things like altitude are good info.

brett

I believe that the distance shown on a GPS is fairly inaccurate, thought
the speed is still accurage. It will track distance via straight lines,
so if you take long curves it starts to become inaccurate. This is why
for tracking buses they use the odometer reading from the bus instead of
the distance shown via GPS. I guess it's probably not a big deal though.
Lots of other pluses!

I tried riding with a GPS in the webbing on the side of my backpack when
I started. Can't see it as you ride, and you cut out half of the sky,
but it seemed to work OK. Lost signal in town (and under cover when
riding through botanic gardens).

Joel

Tamyka Bell said:

Daniel S said:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

Yeah the BC1600 does seem to do something strange when calculating avg
speed. I do a reset of distance and ride time simultaneously, then when
I get back the spreadsheet always reads lower, as you said. I have seen
Sigma computers on enough pro bikes to trust them though.

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed
to the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make
arrow point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a
last-ditch attempt to increase my average.

$40 is great price, I got mine for $45 and I've seen them other places
for $60 or more!

But don't waste time getting the cadence counter for it. I think it's
the way the connections are made - mine died in a few months and I'm
pretty sure it's from some seepage into the cable insulation. The sensor
was fine, it was just the cable that fell apart inside it's shell, but
really, who wants to fix that every few months?

Tam

Reed switches are used in the sensor and they are just a simple switch.
If the cable or sensor buggers up there's no reason why you can't solder
or connect a sensor from another bike computer. The cadence sensors are
exactly the same. Also the sensors aren't polarised so it doesn't matter
if you get the wires back to front. Most failures are due to the plated
contacts on the computer handlebar mount, the plating wears off and
exposes the metal underneath which will quickly develop a thin layer of
rust. Cleaning it can fix it temporarily but the problem won't go away.
The best ones are the ones where the wires connect straight into the
computer, (no contacts, no problem.)

Marty

GPLama said:

"Daniel S" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed to
the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make arrow
point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a last-ditch
attempt to increase my average.

That arrow is my worst enemy.. thank god most of my commute is in the dark..
although I still spend a fair amount of time hoping for a glimpse at
speed/distance/time/etc..

cheers,
GPL
:690.99kms 23.3hrs 29.66km/h avg this month... agghh the numbers...:

GPL, you're not alone. This is the reason my night rides are slower
than my day rides. I'm a speedo watcher, always trying to get that
average speed up to the next 0.1km/h. Mainly to make the graphs look
pretty 🙄

494.9kms 15hr39min 31.57km/h this month (sad isn't it..)

--
Brett"It's all about the stats"S

GPLama said:

"Tamyka Bell" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

But don't waste time getting the cadence counter for it. I think it's
the way the connections are made - mine died in a few months and I'm
pretty sure it's from some seepage into the cable insulation. The sensor
was fine, it was just the cable that fell apart inside it's shell, but
really, who wants to fix that every few months?

Cadence comes with the $40 deal... mine has been fine for the last 4-5
months, only been in the rain once though.. The connections to the mount
itself are extremely solid due to the stem mounting I have it on.. that may
help?

The connections were solid enough but not sealed well enough, from what
I can gather, the cadence kit when I bought it was an add-on and $40 for
the lot is a good deal. Mine only lasted about 6 months, but then, it
was on my wet-weather bike.

Tam

Marty said:

Tamyka Bell said:

Daniel S said:

GPLama wrote:

>Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1 ones,
>they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning.. BikePro.com.au have
>the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch those models tho, they seem to
>use something other than time/distance to calc average(?!)... it always
>overestimates compared to my spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the
>MTB.. other than that I cant fault it for the price.

Yeah the BC1600 does seem to do something strange when calculating avg
speed. I do a reset of distance and ride time simultaneously, then when
I get back the spreadsheet always reads lower, as you said. I have seen
Sigma computers on enough pro bikes to trust them though.

I love the little spinning wheel that shows when it has detected you are
moving/stationary and the little arrows that compare your current speed
to the current average.... although I do get this obsessive "must make
arrow point upwards!" thing going towards the end of every ride in a
last-ditch attempt to increase my average.

$40 is great price, I got mine for $45 and I've seen them other places
for $60 or more!

But don't waste time getting the cadence counter for it. I think it's
the way the connections are made - mine died in a few months and I'm
pretty sure it's from some seepage into the cable insulation. The sensor
was fine, it was just the cable that fell apart inside it's shell, but
really, who wants to fix that every few months?

Tam

Reed switches are used in the sensor and they are just a simple switch.
If the cable or sensor buggers up there's no reason why you can't solder
or connect a sensor from another bike computer. The cadence sensors are
exactly the same. Also the sensors aren't polarised so it doesn't matter
if you get the wires back to front. Most failures are due to the plated
contacts on the computer handlebar mount, the plating wears off and
exposes the metal underneath which will quickly develop a thin layer of
rust. Cleaning it can fix it temporarily but the problem won't go away.
The best ones are the ones where the wires connect straight into the
computer, (no contacts, no problem.)

Marty

It was, 100% absolutely definitely, fscked up cable. The sensors were
fine, and functional, reed switch working. The computer is fine, it's
all good. There was no rust, the contact was fine. When I pulled the
cable out, bits of it crumbled. Cut the cable, reconnected it, hey
presto, the whole thing works again. So I just need to rewire it. And
eleccy tape the [censored] out of it. But I'm too lazy. Also I'm not going to
buy another computer. I run three steps per second or faster, no need to
check a watch for that. This equals a cadence of 90 on my bike. Once you
learn to count a second, you don't need a cadence counter!

Tam

Tamyka Bell said:

I run three steps per second or
faster, no need to check a watch for that. This equals
a cadence of 90 on my bike. Once you learn to count
a second, you don't need a cadence counter!

Ask Carl...
some of us struggle with that!! 🙂

hippy

hippy said:

Tamyka Bell said:

I run three steps per second or
faster, no need to check a watch for that. This equals
a cadence of 90 on my bike. Once you learn to count
a second, you don't need a cadence counter!

Ask Carl...
some of us struggle with that!! 🙂

hippy

--
hippy

Repeat after me:
one, two, three.
one, two, three.

:P

Jolly said:

spook said:

GPLama said:

Time to get a bike computer.. steer clear of the [censored] Smith 3-in-1
ones, they don't detect when the wheel has stopped spinning..
BikePro.com.au have the Sigma BC1600 with cadence for $40.. watch
those models tho, they seem to use something other than time/distance
to calc average(?!)... it always overestimates compared to my
spreadsheet and the BC800 model I run on the MTB.. other than that I
cant fault it for the price.

I'm surgical with logging every ride... if the bike computer isn't
working, its either use the other bike or no ride.. every km has to
count toward the monthly goal..

cheers,
GPL
:128.663hrs on the bike this year so far:

or you could ditch the bike computer altogether and go for a personal
gps ... i got a garmin forerunner and it rocks. you can then also use it
across multiple bikes and running. if you do xc you can navigate if
necessary with it and things like altitude are good info.

brett

I believe that the distance shown on a GPS is fairly inaccurate, thought
the speed is still accurage. It will track distance via straight lines,
so if you take long curves it starts to become inaccurate. This is why
for tracking buses they use the odometer reading from the bus instead of
the distance shown via GPS. I guess it's probably not a big deal though.
Lots of other pluses!

I tried riding with a GPS in the webbing on the side of my backpack when
I started. Can't see it as you ride, and you cut out half of the sky,
but it seemed to work OK. Lost signal in town (and under cover when
riding through botanic gardens).

Joel

I used a Forerunner a few times and hated it, especially when I lived
near the city and it'd drop out for half my run. I wouldn't mind a
proper GPS unit though, few more waypoints, etc... for when I'm off
running through the bush paying attention to nothing and usually getting
lost in the forest. Considering a foretrex.

Tam