cycling clothes

in different activities there is a specific set of apperal. you can wear anything you want but sometimes its recommended. like in basketball you see players wear baggy shorts and tops. hardcore runners wear the short shorts and tight top. but for me when i go running i like to wear something thats not too tight and not too loose. the average cyclist usually wears the spandex style shorts with padding in the crotch area to provide a comfortable ride and a zippered jersey to cool down. at first i thought that the whole looked dorky. after purchasing my fox jersey from REI i found out that cycling clothes definitely function the way it should. they wick the sweat away and make the ride more comfortable... for zippered jerseys... when you feel a bit hot and sweaty i can just zip it down alittle and cool down...

you can pretty much wear anything but wearing jeans increases the chances that youll get the pant leg stuck in the chain. i also picked up some fox mountain bike shorts, which are a bit looser and have the padding and a sleeveless performance jersey for those summer rides. cycling clothes can really be expensive, so its good to wait till they go on sale.

silverstand ride to coronado.

today i went out to silver strand. the last time i cycled on silver stand was when i was a kid with my dad. he had his large blue bike with the baby seat and i had my brothers silver bicycle. that was a long time ago... with its scenic view and flat terrain it seem like a nice ride. i mapped it out on the google pedometer and its a 12 mile bicycle ride, round trip. i've ridden about 10 miles before. so completing this ride will be the longest ride so far. i set aside all my gear to prepare myself for this ride the day before. so i was pretty much set. i used my hydration pack for this ride. i made sure the tires were all aired up to 100 psi and crammed the bicycle in the back seat of the corolla.

when i got there i noticed that there was a lane for each direction of traffic... which was pretty cool. there were all sorts of riders. a lot of them were the road bicycle type people with there jerseys and spandex shorts. it was fairly hot and having sun screen was a must. the strand seemed a bit long but since it didn't have any inclines or hills it was fairly easy ride.

i had a great time on this ride and plan on riding more in the future. the only that was buggig me was my handle bar. my handle has a chrome like finish and it reflected the sun in my eyes on some occasions. good times!

Garmin Stats

Distance- 14.68
Time - 1 hour and 7 mins
Avg Pace - 4 mins and 36 sec per mile
Avg Speed - 13 MPH
Avg Cadence - 85 rpm

4 weeks of having my bike

so its been about 4 weeks since i've owned my bicycle... everything has been great so fa except for one thing. i've been hearing some weird rattling sound when i shift to the highest gear in the rear. i think my need its chain cleaned out or lubed. i've ridden my bicycle all over the place and think its time to advantage of the free tune up provided by UC Cyclery. i just set up my appointment next friday before noon and will be getting my bicycle back that same day! hopefully everything will be good so i can attend several events!

garmin 305: first look

this morning i went on a brief bicycle ride with my new electronic gadget for my bike, the garmin 305. i had everything set up... it kept track of the duration of my ride, my speed, the direction i was going, calories, and the distance... this thing is amazing. here are some stats from my short morning ride

total calories: 201
total time: 23: 39
average cadence speed: 77 rpm
average speed: 11.3 mph
and my max speed was 18.4 mph

aint that cool? in addition to that it kept track of me on the gps. it mapped my little route and everything which looked accurate to me. i saved the course in my course history so i can see if i can match it later on.

i still have to read up on the instructions but from what ive read and features ive used so far, im one happy cyclist!

garmin 305!

i've been searching around for the best cycling computer for my needs... ive read tons of reviews from cateye, vdo, sigma computers... every computer has there positive and negative reviews. but when i read a negative review it overshadows all the good reviews... its hard to actually judge a product that i haven't used before and just base my decision on people's reviews. at first i wanted to go with the vdo computer... it was on sale at performance bicycle. but i looked at it and wasn't really impressed by the apperance. can't judge a book by its cover. so i looked into the sigma cadence computer. they had it at rei. i've read a lot of positive reviews about this unit and was about to purchase it... but in the end i found the garmin edge 305. it's about 2x as much as the other computers but the user interface looks visually appealing. the unit looks fairly large but its okay. luckily i received it as a birthday gift. today ill be stopping by REI and get the computer installed so i can start having fun! now i gotta find out how to get there.