Yippee! I'm free!

Quoted message said:

Subject: Yippee! I'm free!
From: [email hidden] (Tom Keats)
Date: 8/15/2004 7:07 PM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

Went for a ride up just for something to do. I was actually
heading toward the Harry Jerome Sports Centre in Burnaby, BC.
While I was grunting it up the Barnet Hwy I spotted a strange
sort of glint from among the roadside litter. I stopped and
had a closer look. It was a $20 bill, slightly faded from
the sunlight, but in otherwise good condition. I quickly
scooped it, and continued on for awhile until I thought:
"Waidaminnit!" So I doubled back and looked around for
more bills, but there weren't any.

Somewhere along the homebound leg, my cycloputer head fell
off without my noticing. Free at last! I'm saving the
Yanking Off Of The Wiring Harness for a little later, when
I can truly savour the experience. The $20 is /not/ going
toward a new computer.

Ya win some; ya lose some. Sometimes you can even win
by losing.

cheers,
Tom

uh...you never liked the bike computer?

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Fx199) said:

uh...you never liked the bike computer?

Not since I realized I had become addicted to it,
and had been scrupulously journalizing all my
rides -- numbers 'n all. Screw a bunch of numbers.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Quoted message said:

Subject: Re: Yippee! I'm free!
From: [email hidden] (Tom Keats)
Date: 8/15/2004 7:42 PM US Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Fx199) said:

uh...you never liked the bike computer?

Not since I realized I had become addicted to it,
and had been scrupulously journalizing all my
rides -- numbers 'n all. Screw a bunch of numbers.

cheers,
Tom

I just want to know mileage, and maybe a cadence readout and and speed. I won't
write anything down afterwards I promise ;-D. I was thinking Polar 520

Fx199 said:

I just want to know mileage, and maybe a cadence readout and and speed.
I won't
write anything down afterwards I promise ;-D. I was thinking Polar 520

I bought an S725 for myself and an S520 for a friend of mine, whom I
thought would do well to keep an eye on his heart rate. For what it's
worth, the S520 seems to offer pretty much everything the average cycling
enthusiast would require: heart, cadence, speed, distance, trip, etc. The
S150 doesn't offer cadence, and lacks a backlight, etc.

The S520 seems rock-solid and has the functionality that most require.
The S725 holds more files for recording data, and sports an altimeter and
thermometer for ambient temperature.

Haven't tried the PC-based software for either yet.

Glm said:

Fx199 said:

I just want to know mileage, and maybe a cadence readout and and
speed. I won't
write anything down afterwards I promise ;-D. I was thinking Polar 520

I bought an S725 for myself and an S520 for a friend of mine, whom I
thought would do well to keep an eye on his heart rate. For what it's
worth, the S520 seems to offer pretty much everything the average
cycling enthusiast would require: heart, cadence, speed, distance,
trip, etc. The S150 doesn't offer cadence, and lacks a backlight, etc.

The S520 seems rock-solid and has the functionality that most require.
The S725 holds more files for recording data, and sports an altimeter
and thermometer for ambient temperature.

Haven't tried the PC-based software for either yet.

Does anybody have recommendations? I would kind of like a speedometer
if only to see how fast I can go downhill. It felt like about 45 MPH
today, fast enough to make my eyes water, but I would like to get
some bragging rights. It seems like a heart rate monitor would want to
be another instrument so it could be used off the bike, hiking and
running in my case. Add a GPS to go with my cell phone and camera
and I would be set. Oh, and an inclinometer. I have been riding
all my life but never bought the neat electronic stuff.
Is that enough questions?
Bill Baka

--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Fx199) said:

I just want to know mileage, and maybe a cadence readout and and speed.

That's how I originally thought, too. But it occurred to me --
once I've got the numbers, I might as well keep 'em. Otherwise,
what's the point of having them? In the end, it's sort of like
keeping old TV Guides. Oh well. I got to write some SNOBOL4
and Perl data extraction programs, and some gnuplot scripts.

Quoted message said:

I won't
write anything down afterwards I promise ;-D.

Once you start, that's the thin edge of the wedge.

Quoted message said:

I was thinking Polar 520

Whatever tickles your fancy. I'm not disparaging
cyclocomputers for everybody. But I guess they're
just not for me.

Actually, I've got an identical Cateye Astrale head
that I found on the road a few years ago. I'll just
have to resist using that one, too.

Now I can start thinking about getting a camera.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Tom Keats)

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Actually, I've got an identical Cateye Astrale head
that I found on the road a few years ago. I'll just
have to resist using that one, too.

Allow me to help you keep off that slippery slope, Tom. Email me and I'll send
you my address so you can mail that tool of the devil to me.

Helpfully yours,
Bob Hunt

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Hunrobe) said:

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Tom Keats)

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Actually, I've got an identical Cateye Astrale head
that I found on the road a few years ago. I'll just
have to resist using that one, too.

Allow me to help you keep off that slippery slope, Tom. Email me and I'll send
you my address so you can mail that tool of the devil to me.

Helpfully yours,
Bob Hunt

Heh :-) I think I'll just keep it as a reminder
of my former sinful ways.

I'm keeping the manual, too.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Sun, 15 Aug 2004 23:10:49 -0700, <[email hidden]>,

(Tom Keats) said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Hunrobe) said:

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Tom Keats)

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Actually, I've got an identical Cateye Astrale head
that I found on the road a few years ago. I'll just
have to resist using that one, too.

Allow me to help you keep off that slippery slope, Tom. Email me and I'll send
you my address so you can mail that tool of the devil to me.

Helpfully yours,
Bob Hunt

Heh :-) I think I'll just keep it as a reminder
of my former sinful ways.

I'm keeping the manual, too.

You're welcome to my pile of manuals, three harnesses and four empty
boxes.
--
zk

Bill Baka said:

Does anybody have recommendations? I would kind of like a speedometer
if only to see how fast I can go downhill. It felt like about 45 MPH
today, fast enough to make my eyes water, but I would like to get
some bragging rights. It seems like a heart rate monitor would want to
be another instrument so it could be used off the bike, hiking and
running in my case. Add a GPS to go with my cell phone and camera
and I would be set. Oh, and an inclinometer. I have been riding
all my life but never bought the neat electronic stuff.
Is that enough questions?
Bill Baka

Seems like you are clear what is required. S725 would fit the bill, IMHO.

Tom Keats said:

(Fx199) said:

uh...you never liked the bike computer?

Not since I realized I had become addicted to it,
and had been scrupulously journalizing all my
rides -- numbers 'n all. Screw a bunch of numbers.

Hey, thanks for helping me out. My cycle computer gave up the ghost last
fall and I hadn't bothered to replace it. Now I know why, and have decided
to quit saying "I gotta get a new one."

Austin
--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please!
There are no X characters in my address

In article <[email hidden]>,

AustinMN said:

Tom Keats said:

(Fx199) said:

uh...you never liked the bike computer?

Not since I realized I had become addicted to it,
and had been scrupulously journalizing all my
rides -- numbers 'n all. Screw a bunch of numbers.

Hey, thanks for helping me out. My cycle computer gave up the ghost last
fall and I hadn't bothered to replace it. Now I know why, and have decided
to quit saying "I gotta get a new one."

Well, today was my first cycloputer-free day in a long time.
And I've gotta admit, there was some withdrawal. But it's
not too bad, actually. Rather liberating.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

In article <[email hidden]>,

Zoot Katz said:

You're welcome to my pile of manuals, three harnesses and four empty
boxes.

Thanx, but I've already got more than enough of that kind
of stuff. However, if you've got a spare old Olympus Stylus
camera (or a pair of size 10 steel-toed boots) ...

In re: bike computers:
I have difficulty with things associated with the word:
'harness' being connected with bicycles. It just seems
so incongruous, and detracting from the freedom that
bicycles offer. I've never heard of computers on
canoes. Maybe there is such a thing, but I'd prefer
not to hear about it. Blinders, y'know <Big F'ing Grin>

Wires look ugly against bike frames anyways.
Probably even worse on canoes.

klahowya,
Tom

--
-- Screw a bunch of numbers.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've never heard of computers on
canoes.

Well, I dunno about canoes, but I saw a kayak speedometer / odometer the
other day when I was scoring a blem graphite paddle for half-price.

Had a little doomaflidgit that hooked on to the skeg, then wires ran up to a
little readout thing.

Don't know how speed through the water is transduced.

Quoted message said:

Don't know how speed through the water is transduced.

A little paddlewheel like any other water speedometer I would imagine

Quoted message said:

[email hidden]

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Wires look ugly against bike frames anyways.

If you don't want to drill holes in your frame- I sure didn't- you could do
what I did on my road bike. Since the cadence pickup had to be there anyway, I
bought a rear mount wiring harness and put both pickups on the chainstays. A
few dabs of epoxy secured the wires to the *inside* of the chainstay, up the
underside of the downtube, and up the front of the headtube where the brake and
shifter cables hide it quite nicely. Except for a few inches of wiring at the
stem it looks like a completely wireless setup.
Or one could just chuck the computer altogether like you have and save all that
fastidiousness for something really important. Like cleaning the tire
sidewalls, polishing all the chrome bits, and waxing the carbon fiber ones.
(Yeah, I admit it... I tend to obsess. <g> )

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Tom Keats said:

Well, today was my first cycloputer-free day in a long time.
And I've gotta admit, there was some withdrawal. But it's
not too bad, actually. Rather liberating.

Maybe we need a 12 step group for recovering cycloputer addicts.

Austin
--
I'm pedaling as fast as I durn well please!
There are no X characters in my address

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Fx199) said:

uh...you never liked the bike computer?

Not since I realized I had become addicted to it,
and had been scrupulously journalizing all my
rides -- numbers 'n all. Screw a bunch of numbers.

It's one of those interesting situations, where you make something that
isn't a cage into one.

I have a bike computer. When I changed my tire on RSVP, I guess I knocked
the magnet, and for the last 3/4s of the ride I didn't have it working. My
husband nagged me: "Why don't you stop and fix it?". Well, the question is,
why bother? It's nice to have, but it isn't essential.

It's now a couple of weeks past the event, and I still haven't jiggled it
properly into place. It would have been nice to have on the kids' ride I
led, because I'd like to lead a ride at the advertised pace. But I just let
the kids set the pace, and didn't worry about it too much.

When it's working, I like to see what my approximate weekly mileage is. I
usually reset it Monday morning on the ride to work. In the winter, I'd like
to average 75 miles; in the summer, about 125, outside of events. So, if
it's Thursday morning, and it's the winter, and it says I've only done 45
miles so far that week, I'll be more likely to make the effort to ride all
the way in to the office, rather than wimping out and putting the bike on
the bus. But if it's more or less, or it's raining pretty hard and I'd
rather hang it up on the bus rack, it's no big.

It's certainly not my thing to write down all these numbers, anyway. It
doesn't have to be your thing, either. You can have a bike computer, and not
have to be a slave to it.

And I'll end this post with a story my friend told me from her vacation:

Quoted message said:

8 year old kid: (looking at Lynne's bike) What's that?

Lynne: That's the bike computer.

Kid: Ooh, a bike computer?

Lynne: Yeah, it shows how fast I'm going, how far I've gone, stuff like
that.

Kid: (disappointed) Oh, I thought it was for the internet.

Other cyclist present: (chokes on beer)

:-)

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Hunrobe) said:

Quoted message said:

[email hidden]

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Wires look ugly against bike frames anyways.

If you don't want to drill holes in your frame- I sure didn't- you could do
what I did on my road bike. Since the cadence pickup had to be there anyway, I
bought a rear mount wiring harness and put both pickups on the chainstays. A
few dabs of epoxy secured the wires to the *inside* of the chainstay, up the
underside of the downtube, and up the front of the headtube where the brake and
shifter cables hide it quite nicely. Except for a few inches of wiring at the
stem it looks like a completely wireless setup.

I especially like that it gets around having to use
hideous zip ties.

Quoted message said:

Or one could just chuck the computer altogether like you have and save all that
fastidiousness for something really important. Like cleaning the tire
sidewalls, polishing all the chrome bits, and waxing the carbon fiber ones.
(Yeah, I admit it... I tend to obsess. <g> )

Acch! I'm already stuck with 2-conductor lamp cord running from my
rear wheel generator to front headlight. I gotta get me a hub
generator, and a front wheel built around it.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca