The most important thing... Over £800 raised for the British Heart Foundation!!!

So finally the day was over and the only remaining thing (apart from this write up) was to total the money that we raised for the British Heart Foundation. I am pleased to let you know that we have raised £835.00 and there are still some donations to be collected. A big thank you to Navman who contributed £500 of this total and of course everyone who supported us.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 18:31:45 UTC

I got to use the Garmin Edge 305 and the Garmin Forerunner 305 and the Globalsat GH-601 :))

I used the Garmin Edge 305 and the Garmin Forerunner 305. The Edge was mounted on the bike and the Forerunner was strapped to my left wrist. This was the first time I used the Forerunner and I was surprised how comfortable and light it was. Once again I forgot to hit the start button after a rest stop so I missed some of the recorded data.

The analysis for the Edge indicated that I cycled 63 miles with a top speed of 31.7 MPH, I just couldn’t find that extra 0.3 MPH! My average heart rate was 132bpm and cadence was 46rpm. I have 3 applications that I use to analyse the Garmin data: Garmin Training Center, Motion Based and Memory-Map.

The Garmin Training Center and Motion Based gave me the most information about my performance, including a breakdown of my effort by Laps (taken every mile) and the heart rate zones that I was cycling in. This can be linked to a map and you can use a cursor to see the precise figures at any point in the ride. Motion Based also has the ability to export the data into a number of different formats, including Google Earth.


Click for the full sized Garmin Training Center image...

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 18:29:46 UTC

Chris had the GlobalSat GH-601.

The GlobalSat GV-601 has limited analysis but does enable the data to be retrieved from the device and displayed in a simple application on the PC. This showed that Chris took 6 hours 49 minutes over 50.7 miles at an average speed of 7.44MPH. The GH-601 was not started at the beginning of the ride and was left running during the rest breaks so the average speed is the average over the whole of the bike ride rather than just the moving average.

One of the neat things about the GH-601 is the interface to Google Earth. With a click of the mouse your tracklog is transferred to Google Earth and you can see exactly where you have been.


Click for the full sized Google Earth image...

Click here to download the Google Earth KML data file from the GlobalSat GH-601.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 18:22:36 UTC

The Navman Sport Tool X300

The Navman Sport Tool X300 has no analysis application and the only available data is readable on the device itself. It showed total time moving (4 Hours 46 mins), total distance (63 miles) some lap data, average speed (13.1 MPH) and Maximum speed (66MPH). I suspect that the maximum speed was a blip. Terry really didn’t hit that speed.

Terry found the Navman to be a good and accurate replacement for his bike computer, but he did have some issues with the strap coming loose. We discovered later that the retaining loop on the strap had not been fitted correctly.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 17:51:43 UTC

57 Miles in 7 hours. Taking it easy.

As the day went on we had a wide variety of weather conditions ranging from bright sunshine to a fine misty rain. The rain was gratefully received as it was cooling but not soaking. We had a few pit stops on the way. One of our team members insisted on eating at each stop as well as having a cup of tea, and a short rest…

At one of the stops I was given a ticket by one of the events “official” Bike Wardens. After a gruelling interrogation I was given a ticket for “Having too much technology…” I tried to explain that it was my job, but I didn’t get anywhere with that.

After about 7 hours since the start and 4 and a half hours cycling we arrived at Priory Park in Southend, where we all received medals and some well deserved refreshments. Interestingly the nearest pub was over half a mile away up yet another hill… After all this I still cycled the extra 7 miles home, all into a strong head wind. This was the most tiring part of the ride.

Once home the analysis of the ride started. This is the interesting part. When I looked at some of the data I realised that on one occasion I had stopped the timer at a rest stop and not restarted it when we set off again.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 17:50:11 UTC

Loaded down with GPS equipment. What else would you expect?

As we prepared to pedal we switched the GPS receivers on. I had 4 on me, almost as bad as my car!!!

The GPS systems worked really well. I predominantly used the Garmin Edge 305, Terry had the Navman Sport Tool X300, whilst Chris used the GlobalSat GH-601. At our first stop I had to reconfigure Chris’s Globalsat 601 to metric as he couldn’t make sense of 24,000 feet. 7.4Km was more understandable. I like imperial measurements and was thrilled to spend 15 minutes cycling with a club rider at speeds of 23 to 27MPH. I had to slow and wait for the other guys after a while though.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 17:48:35 UTC

Ready... Steady... Puncture!!!

There were over 3000 entrants in the bike ride, all of whom descended on Victoria Park in London between the hours of 7am and 10am. There were all sorts of bikes there from fold up town bikes to the 70s Choppers, and the more practical MTB and road bikes. Obviously we couldn’t all start at the same time so there was an organised starter. We were fortunate to be seen off by the Queen. Well if you squinted and covered your ears you could almost imagine it was the queen.

Just as we approached the start line we encountered out first incident. I got a puncture!! Fortunately I had come prepared and had a spare inner tube which was quickly installed. We eventually started at about 8:30am in a batch of 30 or so cyclists.

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 17:46:58 UTC

Getting the Team together and heading for the start line

At 7:30 I arrived at Stratford station. The train was laden with bikes and riders, and must have been the busiest train of the day. On arrival in London it was still over 1.5 miles to ride to the start.

The PocketGPSWorld team was Mike Barrett, Terry Clark, Paul Fellows, Chris Nowak and Simon Maskell. Together we represented a wide range of cyclists with different disciplines and fitness levels. Paul and Simon both run cycle classes in my local Virgin Gym.

The biggest challenge was getting the whole team together. This didn’t actually happen as the two fast lads wanted to put in good times and get back to watch the World Cup final. They left before the rest of us managed to meet up. Thankfully we have mobile phones otherwise it would have been impossible to find each other.

I handed out the GPS equipment. We had a couple of GlobalSat GH-601s, A Navman SportTool X300, a couple of Garmin Edge 305s with heart rate monitors and cadence sensors, and a Garmin Forerunner 305. Oh and also I had my Garmin 60cx with GB Topo mapping just in case we got lost…

Article by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 14 @ 17:45:04 UTC

5:50AM The day of the ride and it is raining.

Yes, there really is time in the morning before 8:00 and I am up and getting ready for the London to Southend bike ride right now.

Of course the British weather can be trusted to be bad and it is raining, the forecast is for clearing skies with scattered showers though. Fortunately the heatwave has broken and it a pleasant 16C at the moment rising to 22C during the day. Perfect temperatures for cycling.

We are leaving to catch the train to London for a 7:45AM start. See you on the route somewhere...

Article by Mike Barrett on Sunday, July 09 @ 06:48:33 UTC

Navman donate £500 to the British Heart Foundation

Navman are not only our sponsors for the monthly members competition but they are also sponsoring the PocketGPSWorld.com team in the London to Southend Charity Bike Ride on the 9th of July.

Navman have sponsored us for £500 which will go to the British Heart Foundation charity.

Thank you Navman!

Article by Mike Barrett on Tuesday, July 04 @ 09:17:00 UTC