Satellites of love

The countdown to the GranFondo is on. Only three more Saturdays to go.

With almost 2100 kms in my legs since June 1, I’m pretty confident I’m good for the 120 km ride to Whistler. So my thoughts are already turning to my pre-ride routine for that week; how much will I ride in the days preceeding, when will I go pick up my GranFondo package, how will I get down to the start, what will I eat for dinner the night before?

As Katie has been training for her marathon, and I for the GranFondo, we’ve discovered a couple of pasta-oriented dinners that seem to really work for us if consumed the night before our athletic endeavors. A favorite is rosemary chicken on the bbq, with a side of pasta basted with olive oil, parmesan and garlic, and a Greek salad.

Carbo loading for rides.

It’s simple, quick to make, easy on our bellies, provides us with a good carb hit for the next day, and it reminds us of our holiday last year in Italy.

One thing I do know about the ride, is that I’ll be able to report the exact distance, total elevation gained and lost, the temperature at various points, my speed at any point, even the number of calories I expended. That’s all thanks to my new Garmin Edge 500 GPS bike computer.

My patience with the wireless Sigma, and its old school magnet pickup, finally wore thin. I was losing the signal from the wheel sensor for hundreds of meters at a time. The magnet was constantly clicking against the pickup, The stem mount was cracked.

So I indulged my digital data desires with the new Garmin.

Looking for the satellites of love.

For a numbers junkie like me, its wealth of ride information is like crack cocaine. And being able to download each ride into the computer to get a full breakdown of data is seriously addictive. Heck, I can even find out the temperature at various points of the day along the way!

Already I’ve become enamored with the little tone it makes when the auto pause engages as I stop at an intersection, and then restarts when I’m rolling again. And my worries that the satellite connection would drop as I rode under a canopy of trees, or even just a canopy, have so far proven unfounded. I’ll give that a more substantial test when I mount the Garmin to my mountain bike; oh yeah, the unit comes with two mounting kits, so its easy to swap between bikes!