Dead Batteries

When I strapped on the camera about to document my morning ride I quickly discovered that the AV500's battery was dead. It's my fault. Last night I had been testing out some of the AV500's other cool features, like being able to hold my entire audio library, so I had connected it to my computer and transfered all the songs over. I didn't disconnect it or shut it off when it was done and the battery ran out of juice. Oh well, we'll have to wait for another day.

In the meantime, I hooked up my phone/mp3 player to my bike's amplified speakers and began to ride. After about 5 minutes the sound coming out of the speakers became unbearable and I had to stop and shut them off. It appears that 4 AAA batteries only last about a week. The way that I've connected the speakers to the frame means I'm going to have to take off the whole unit to replace the batteries.

I can ride without music though, so I kept going. At about mile 6 the Edge 305 started beeping and I thought it seemed weird because I wasn't wearing the heart rate monitor and certainly wasn't traveling very fast. A small box popped on the screen and said "Battery Low". I hope I have enough wall outlets to charge all these things.

The good news is that I explored some side streets and found another way to get across the free way over to the office. Now I have a route that doesn't require riding with hardly any traffic. Nice!

Got The AV500

So, I got the Archos AV500 recorder in today and started to test it with the Archos helmet camera and was thoroughly disappointed. Upon plugging the Digital Mini-Cam into the AV500 it was immediately recognized and I could see an image on the unit ready to be recorded. This was going to be easy. The picture was fuzzy and out of focus, so I assumed it needed just a little more time to auto focus. Nope. I tried it inside and outside and everything was blurry and out of focus. Inspecting the camera closely revealed that there was no adjustment mechanism easily accessible to change the focus. So, I called Archos technical support and was informed that the camera had been discontinued. Weird, it had just come out. It appears that many people, according to various discussions online, had gotten the camera and had the same results as me. No wonder someone had returned it to us. I talked with our purchase manager and he informed me that yes, indeed, the camera had been discontinued.

Well, I was not about to let this be the end of my helmet-cam adventures, especially before I had even had any! So I contacted the nice folks at Viosport and discussed their line of cameras. They make some very nice equipment and have cable especially for the AV500. They are sending me a unit to test out. While at the Viosport website I came across a FAQ that offered many troubleshooting tips. One of them was how to adjust the camera if it was blurry or out of focus. Hmm, this sounded interesting. It said remove the end cap by unscrewing it. So, I took the Archos camera and twisted the end cap and it came right off. So far so good. Next it said to adjust the focus by rotating the lens until the image was clear. A look at the lens made it clear that it was threaded and could be rotated, but a small hex set screw was on the side preventing the lens assembly from turning. If only I had an allen wrench. Well I didn't.

A trip to Home Depot later found me with a complete set of allen wrenches of both the Standard and Metric sizes. It turns out a 1.5mm allen wrench fits nicely. After I loosened the set screw I was able to turn the lens assembly. I connect the camera to the AV500 so I could get some realtime feedback and started twisting. After twisting the lens out almost two complete turns the picture was sharp and clear. I carefully tightened the set screw and replaced the lens cover end cap. It looks like I have a working camera. So, for any of you that have bought the camera and couldn't get a clear image, you might as well try adjusting it before sending it back. I will test it tomorrow on my ride to work. It will be boring footage but should be sufficient to determine video quality.

Spinning The Wheels

When I was exercising daily on the elliptical I noticed that if I turned the resistance up as high as it would go and set the incline to its highest setting I could burn more calories in a given amount of time than with a lower setting. Setting the resistance meant that I did not have to go as fast to get the same workout. When my bicycle commute to work started to replace my elliptical time I took the same approach initially and would pedal using the highest gears. While I didn't have to pedal as fast, I did have to push harder to keep going. As I experimented with different pedaling speeds while remaining in the same high gears I noticed that by the time I got to work (or back) I always burned about the same amount of calories. I also noticed that my knees have started hurting some.

While on a popular bike forum yesterday I came across a discussion about the most efficient cadence. For those that don't know, cadence is the rate at which you pedal or the rpm of the crankshaft. I was surprised to learn that the most efficient cadence (being described as the most power per stroke) is between 80 and 100 rpms. Wow! A rough count of my normal cadence is definitely below 60 and probably more like 50. Another thing I read is that due to the position of a recumbent riders legs, "spinning" is an important technique to learn and is essential for climbing hills. This was especially interesting to me since I should be getting my new recumbent trike on Friday.

So I decided that today I would start to train my legs to spin the pedals a lot faster than I had been. I realized quickly that the only way to spin faster was to start in a lower gear. I found my middle front sprocket and 6th rear sprocket to be a very good starting place. In this gear I can easily start from a standstill and climb small grades without any difficulty. I was able to get up to about 18mph before I would start to "spin out", or reach the point when it was just too easy to pedal and felt like I was just pedaling air. I decided at this point to shift to the 7th rear sprocket, which at that speed felt fairly easy. I found that the faster I pedaled the easier it became and I could sustain about 22mph pretty good. On both my to-work and from-work trip I averaged almost 4mph faster than my normal speed and it felt easier than pounding on the high gears the whole time.

Longer Ride

The sun came out early this morning and most of the house was up by 6am. Instead of hanging around the house and eating breakfast, I decided to leave early and explore new routes to work. Since I had already found all the direct paths to the office I decided to head east into Payson. I climbed steadily uphill into the town center and then went north. I followed the main route that connects Payson, Salem and Spanish Fork. It has some nice rolling hills and nothing too steep. Once I got into Spanish Fork I took a right into the residential area and rode through some of the older neighborhoods. By the time I got to work I had gone 14 miles and had burned 1000 calories.

One thing I am starting to notice about this area is how cruddy the bike lines are. Most areas don't even have bike lines, and when they do they are filled with all sorts of debris. Yesterday as I was riding home I swerved to avoid a pile of broken glass and almost ran over half a pair of discarded scissors. It's almost like the sweepers come and sweep all the dirt of the road and into the bike lanes. I had never thought about it before while driving, but now that I'm on a bike and especially since I've already had one blowout, I pay much more attention to the garbage in the road.

Mini Camera

When UPS came to the office today I saw that someone had returned a Digital Mini-Cam accessory for the Archos AV500. I wouldn't have noticed it except for the picture on the box of a guy in a bicycle helmet with a borg-like attachment attached to the side. I asked why it was returned and was told that the customer simply hadn't been happy with the quality. I decided that this would be the perfect type of product for me to review. It comes with an adjustable headband that holds the camera and an inline remote control that lets you record just by pressing a button. I think there is a microphone somewhere too.

We sell lots of the Archos AV500 units and accessories but I have never actually used one. I think it could be cool for filming bike trails and such. I'll be getting a 100GB AV500 unit in for me to test with the camera in a couple days. I'll check it out and if I like it I'll even post some video clips. Another cool thing about this AV500 is that it can hold tons of videos and pictures. I may even mount it to my trike and hook it up as my sound system instead of the cell phone.

The River Road

I left at 8am this morning on my bike and expected to make it there much quicker than normal due to the recent modifications. What I didn't expect was a constant fight against the wind slowing me down. Also, I wasn't able to go as comfortable as I'd like because I had to strap my laptop to the handlebars and my knee kept hitting it. I'm going to have to find a better place to carry it now that my trunk is gone. I don't think I'll put the trunk back on anytime soon though. With it gone I was able to move my seat back about 3 inches. This makes the ride much more comfortable and puts less weight on my hands.

Since I was going slower I decided that instead of timing myself I'd explore a new road. Right before I get to the overpass there is a road to the left called River Road. So I hung a left and followed it around. It's fairly short and not as cool as a road by that name should be, but it does have its own entry into Spanish Fork which does not require going up and over the freeway. I think this will be my new favorite route.

It looks like it might rain today. I saw it raining on the mountains and it was overcast the whole way in.

My First Blowout

For lunch I had 4 leftover chicken mole tacos, so if I wanted dinner I was going to have to earn some extra calories. I decided a bike ride was in order, but only after I made some modifications. After weighing my bike this morning I decided that 55lbs is just too heavy for a bike. It was time to remove the ZAP drive. I figured I'd also remove the trunk and the extra bike computer (although it only weighs a few ounces). When I was all done I weighed the bike and it only weighed 36lbs -- almost 19lbs less!!!



After I made these modifications I decided to take it out for a ride. I decided I'd test out the new Shimano MT40 bike shoes at the same time. This bike doesn't have clipless pedals, but I didn't have any problems using the shoes with it. I figured that I'd ride out 10 miles and then head back for a 20 mile loop. As I got going the bike felt totally different. It responded much better and I was much faster. Instead of my normal 13-15mph, I was easily doing 17-21mph with the same effort. The shoes make a huge difference as well. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but its like they focus the power of my legs into the pedals more efficiently. I could feel different muscles being used. I'm sure that once I get my clipless pedals it will be even better.

Anyway, about 4 miles out I made a turn and heard a loud hissing from the front tire. Then I got hit with some of the fix-a-flat slime that was oozing all over the place. I wasn't very excited about this, but I had just installed a pump on the bike and had a patch kit. When I got off the bike I saw that the ooze was coming out of the side of the valve stem. It looks like the tube had twisted and kinked the stem causing it to rupture at the base. Basically, I was stuck. I started walking home. A look at the Edge 305 told me that it would take me one hour to get there walking 4mph. After about 10 minutes of walking I started to slow down though. Bike shoes are not meant to be walked in for very long distances. The rigidity that makes them so good for the bike makes them lousy for walking. Fortunately, a friendly neighbor pulled up alongside and took me and my bike home.

I didn't have any spare tubes so me and Harold went to walmart to pick one up. They had some filled with Slime, so I picked up two. After 15 minutes I had the new tube installed and decided to go back out. I still needed to earn about a 1000 more calories for dinner, so I decided to tow Harold in the trailer. Now, Harold weighs about 100lbs, plus the weight of the trailer -- it was not as much fun as my pre-blowout ride. After 6 miles I decided to head back to drop him off.


I had gone a total of 12 miles so far, but I wanted to log 20 today, so I head out by myself again for a final ride. Once again, the bike felt light, responsive and fast. I felt tired and thirsty at this point, but decided to push it. It's all flat out on the main Benjamin road grid, so there's no hills to help me out. I got it up to 27.2 mph and held it at over 25 mph for about 2 minutes. After that I felt like I was dying, so I decided to head home. When I finished my final ride I had done about 7.4 miles with an average of 19 mph. If losing just 20 lbs off the bike makes this much of a difference I can't wait to see what it feels like once I've lost another 50 lbs off of my body!

After all my riding I've earned 1200 calories, and just in time for dinner too. Boy am I hungry! By the way, did I mention that I tried my new blue jersey. I'm not sure what I think of it yet.

Heavy Metal

I followed a post in one of the biking forums the other day where everyone was talking about how much their bikes weigh. Most people posted that their bikes weigh about the 20lb mark with one guy posting that his was a very heavy 35lbs. I decided to weigh mine today. The best way I figured to do it was by using our digital bathroom scale, hold the bike and then subtract my weight. Well, it turns out my bike weighs 54.2lbs. Add all the resistance from the wobbly front wheel and it makes sence that I'm losing weight faster than the calorie calculators tell me. The Edge 305 bike computer does ask for the bike's weight and I had initially put in 35lbs (as I assumed that was the right guess for a "heavy" bike), but I'll adjust the weight input and see if it makes any difference in the calorie adjustments.

I'm not sure that there is much I can do about making the bike any lighter. I could remove the trunk from the back of the seatpost, but then I wouldn't have a good place to store my computer or spare clothes while riding. I guess the obvious answer is to remove the ZAP motor and the battery tray. I'm sure that would get rid of at least 10lbs. If I do remove it I'll have to add it to another bike at the same time. Hmm, maybe Sonia's trike could use a motor!