For a few months now I've been having a problem with the Garmin Training Center on my Mac where it would not download imported tracks to my Foreruner 305. Whenever I would select Download to Device from the Training Center the device would freeze and I'd have to do a soft reset. Everything else with the Training Center  continued to work, it would download my data.

On Friday I ran the web update and downloaded and installed a firmware update and also updated the Training Center to the latest version. After the update once I plugged in the Forerunner the Training Center would immediately crash. I managed to make it even worse!

After some googling I found some hints that all that might be needed is to do a complete reset of the Forerunner. Holding down the Mode key while powering on will bring up the Reset Confimation dialog. Once I confirmed that I did want to reset and all my data would be lost I was able to plug in and not get a crash. Plus I could send imported routes to the device.

I didn't lose any information really, all I had to reset was the display fields. I think in all I was back up within 10 minutes.

On Friday I had my bike fit with Alexis Sheehy at Bicycle Sport Shop. We started with a basic fit and if we needed to do a 3D fit we would cross that bridge when we came to it. She started off by getting my bike background and the type of riding I'm doing.

After plopping my bike on the trainer and spinning along she broke out the plumb. There wasn't any glaring problems with my fit. She did lower my seat a little bit and moved my seat back a little as well. Nothing too drastic. Her biggest recommendation was different pedals as well as working on my flexibility. I should work on the flexibility in my hamstrings and hip flexor.

I've been riding basic SPD pedals. The SPD pedals don't have much of a platform for your foot and with the lack of a platform my foot was not being supported properly. The thinking is the smaller pedals are forcing me to use more of an effort to stabilize my foot and thus putting stress on my knees. She put on Shimano 105 pedals and had me try them. On the trainer they felt decent. She suggested I give them a try over the weekend.

Friday evening I did a short 10 miles to test my knee and the pedals. Both were great. My knee didn't hurt at all and the pedals felt great. I could definitely feel the power transfer difference. When I kicked through or pulled through on my stroke it felt like I had more response.My next test ride was Saturday morning. I did 40 miles in Cedar Park on Parmer and 620. My goal for this ride was not speed, but to keep my cadence at 95+. For the entire ride I didn't shift to my big ring. I did average 96 rpms for the 2:21:55 ride. The pedals were great, I just might keep them. I'll poke around and compare the 105's to others. It seems the top of the line Dura Ace pedals are about the same, just lighter, not sure if it warrants the extra bucks.

Now for the bad news, my knee didn't hurt outright, I think I stopped before it went over the threshold of a minor annoyance to pain. As I was riding down 620 I could feel it fatiguing and knew if I kept it up that it would start to hurt. It's kind of hard to explain, it didn't hurt, but I could feel it. It was the prepain feeling and if I would have pushed more power it would have started to hurt.

My product review of the VholdR All-In-One Camera has been posted over at Ride-Strong.com. I know people that have ridden with me in the last couple of weeks have been asking about the camera so go check out the review.

Merry Christams! My pride and joy of presents is a new Garmin Forerunner 305.

 

I've had a chance to take it around the block and on a 10 mile ride yesterday. I really like it. Ok I love it. I wanted a heart rate monitor and the price at Costco.com ($179) was pretty good. Shop and catalog prices were $219. I wanted a wrist version so I could easily use it with the spin bike, mountain bike or with my road bike. It is pretty hefty for the wrist. I have not been able to get MapMyRide.com to interface with it yet. Looking at their forums others have run into the same dilemma, others have gotten it to work, but I haven't been successful yet with my Mac. Running it from a Mac could be the difference there.