Winter Motivation!

This summer has been written off to experience regarding time spent on the bike . However , now the winter is here and the chance to start afresh . I can now have a clean slate all over again and begin my training programme afresh .

That’s the beauty of this time of year , the chance to begin at the beginning and get in some good basetime on the bike . Wheather it be on or of road the sense of anticipation is palpabelle with bucket loads of enthusiasm coming into the shop everyday .

To help me along the way back to fitness and to add some more gadgets to the household I have a new winter bike on the road complete with the Garmin Edge 705 computer .

The bike :

25092008580

A Dolan Prefisso winter frame . 7005 aluminium with Carbon forks . As a special favour David McQuaid organised for it to be custom sprayed to match ouir worldwidecycles.com gear . Normally it is only the carbon frames which are custom sprayed . I built it up with the new Shimano 105 black groupset which looks pretty cool and feels like Dura ace . The wheels are Mavic Cosmic elites , a bit too good for the winter but sure I’ll use them as training wheels on the good bike next year .

The Garmin :

25092008586

The edge 705 is a really cool piece of equipment . Whilst it does give a colour GPS display the mapping is only so-so . It has all of the main roads but not many back roads pre-installed . There are shareware applications available to help this but that will be for future use . No , the main benefit that I see from the unit is having 7 easily readable display units there on the stem , along with the start point of referance being available if desired . Also there is a fantastic application for the 705 called Garmin connect . Here you can download each spin onto a website which plots your course on google maps along with showing all of your data in a very user friendly interface . There is also a goals function which allows the user to set specific goals for themselves and your progress is there on your ‘dashboars’ everytime you log on . Another usefull function of this is the ability to share data with a coach who could be at the other side of the world in a very easy to manage platform . See below for yesterdays spin ;

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/954075

So now , I have the bike , have the computer , now all I need is the time on the bike to complete the picture .

Barry

www.worldwidecycles.com

3 COMMENTS

  • Sean O'Mahony

    If the edge 705 is anything like the Forerunner 305 you can set it to do splits on time, KM or mile. Handy to make out where you were finding it hard/easy on a run or cycle. Enjoy the gadget!
    Sean

  • Darren

    Barry,

    you’ll never get lost again. The garmin will get you around the countryside and the bike will be seen from at least 500m, no sheep running across your path.

    If Alejandro Valverde can have a custom painted bike so can Barry Meehan. Well wear and im sure you’ll get an extra 5 kph out of it.

    I’ll probably get new mudguards.

    Darren..

  • Brian Carolan

    Barry – just came across your blog very recently and have to say its always interesting – nice bke by the way – enjoy the winter

    Brian

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked ( * ).