Let the Training Begin

Finally spring is here. The Sunday ride was awesome. Today was my day to focus on my riding. There is riding to ride and riding as training. Today I'm training. At Christmas, during a trip to Chicago, I visit the Garmin store - mistake (not according to Garmin). I was in awe of the wonderful technology that allows us to map everything and to use those map to lead us anywhere and everywhere. And now.....to help us train. Garmin has developed a GPS, Heart monitor, speedometer et al. that can help the serious athlete train. But wait, I'm not a serious athlete! Nooooo, but I am a "gadget girl". And the more precise the better. So 30 minutes later I walked out of the Garmin store and down Michigan Avenue proudly holding my Garmin bag with my new GPA "watch" for bicyclist, runners, triathletes, and probably much more. So, today was my day to focus on the benefits of this new Garmin. Today I decided to ride less and focus on my cadence and keeping it consistent. This Garmin can record information and transfer it to my computer and let me "study" my training data. My daily job lets me work with data and now I can take that passion and transfer it to my "hobby". So after a shorter 15 mile ride over 45 minutes I downloaded my "data" and looked at my cadence. Sure enough - it was much more steady than my first ride. I loved the little gadget as it keep me focused on my goal because rather than guess at whether or not I accomplished my goal a graph would pop up on my computer after my ride and I would see it, as recorded. I'm looking forward to this bicycling season.