Colnago EPQ Campagnolo Record 11 |
Even now, as I write this, the tour from Cairo to Capetown is in Ethiopia. I follow blogs kept by a few of its riders and imagine myself in their place. It's much harder than my cruise across the US this summer so I'll have to be lighter and stronger. I'll also have to get a job to pay for it and a new bike and plane fare and various overhead costs. I'll also have to do it before committment papers can be drawn up. Now that I'm 60 years old, I think about doing one big thing each year while I still can.
My wife gave me the best bike computer in the world for my birthday last month. It's a Garmin Edge 810 bundle. I had some trouble with the heart rate monitor and finally figured out that I have too much hair on my chest for a good connection. Electrode gel is impossible to find around here so I tried some ultrasound gel on the assurance by the sales person that the two gels were the same thing. They're not --- as I pointed out before I bought it. Ultrasound gel is meant to match acoustic impedances and electrode gel is meant to conduct electricity. Even so, it helps enough for a Bluetooth connection with the computer but I will still buy some electrode gel. A reliable connection means shaving two patches of skin for the electrodes as well as using gel. Today I got around to installing the cadence and speed sensors; both work fine with no problems.
I'd like to continue this blog on my trip and that means a computer. Ultrabooks are nice and I've been doing a little window shopping. If I were posting the Garmin data of my last ride, it would look like this: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/274700796 . I wonder how to post a summary with a dynamic map.
I've seen slideshows of pictures and I wonder how to do that, too. There are only 16 weeks until I head east from the Oregon coast.
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