New Year's Day Half-Metric

So how did you spend your New Year's Day? I got my 2006 off on the right foot (uh, pedal stroke) with a 50km bike ride. I had set myself a goal of riding in the Spin Cycle's New Year's Day Half-Metric for the sole reason that I knew if I didn't, I wouldn't spend anytime on the bike once I had completed the Ride for the Roses. Well, the psychological trick didn't work...today's ride was only my second time on a bike since I rode my first century back in late October.

I suffered miserably on the bike from lack of fitness while trying to keep up with riders who were much faster and fitter than I am presently. But, the weather was gorgeous for January 1st and it was a great chance to try out the new Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS (pictured at right) that Liz gave me for our 10th wedding anniversary (much cooler than the diamond anniversary band I gave her, in my opinion).

It's amazing the amount of data that you can get about your bike ride with this device...location, speed, distance, elevation, grade, heartrate, calories burned, etc. You can also configure interval training workouts and even have the GPS guide you home the way you came if you get lost!

Even more amazing is the offline data analysis you can do with the GPS data files using the web applications at MotionBased.com. If you click on the charts below, you can learn more than you ever needed to know about my bike ride. Probably the coolest feature of the MB site is that it allows you to share GPS data tracks with other riders and virtually race yourself or someone else who has ridden the same course previously.