Comments on Edge 305 and Cycling in Moab
 

I went road cycling in Moab this last weekend, and had a ball. This is also the first time I have been able to get out on the road with my Garmin Edge 305 so I thought I would pass along my experience. I rode for parts of 3 days, 25 the first day (did not arrive until 1:30), 50 the next and 40 the third (very windy the 3rd day).

Moab is a great place to do some early season road riding! Even with the holiday, the traffic was not awful, and the drivers were 95% courteous, waiting until it was safe to pass before doing so. The roads are in OK condition, but this early in the season I was restricted to flattish roads, by my condition (lack thereof), my training cogset (12-22 9 speed I use on my trainer) and snow at higher elevations. The red rock is pretty, as is the Colorado River. Wind is nasty in the Canyons though, one minute a 30 mph tailwind, then a headwind.

The garmin 305 is awesome, but its software is not the greatest. Seems the best software is the Motionbased Lite, but I hate having to upload my data. Its easy to get obsessed about heart rate, average speed, elevation, % gradient and so on. I had to remind myself I am not "training" for anything, and to relax and enjoy the rides at whatever speed, pace and heart rate that felt comfortable.

All in All, I had a spectacular Holiday. BTW, Microsofts Steets and Trips software underestimated the distance by 65 miles, so it was a 800 miles drive instead of a 735 miles drive, each way! I feel guilty driving so far to cycle, and generally refuse to drive to any ride unless its a really special event.

As has mentioned before try SportTracks at http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ I think you will find it can do as much as MB and is donarware. I few of us here in 50+ use it as do some of the folks in the Road forum. Very good stuff.

Btw - the riding sounds nice, I have been out there in the past on the mtb in the summer and the heat was a bit much.

The trip sounds wonderful and thanks for the update on the Garmin. I have mine programmed with personal information but haven't had the chance to take it on a ride. Maybe this weekend.

Like you I generally don't drive long distances to ride unless it's a special event. I've drove to Virginia (700 miles) twice to ride the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and will be driving to Philadelphia (540 miles) again this year to do another Lance Armstrong Livestrong ride. But they're promising Lance will be there this year:) If you enjoyed the holiday you shouldn't feel one bit guilty.

Sweet, I'll be in Moab next week for the Skinny Tire Festival, getting stoked!

Hey, great to hear that this worked out for you.

Is your wife happy with the results?

I'm going to get to Moab ... someday.

Wife was happy. I would love to go to the skinny tire festival, but thats a little too soon. BTW I have the Sport Tracks software and it works well. It does not work well for my trainer time, but I just did the road rides from Moab and it works gret for that.

I'll be in Winter Park, CO in March and would really like to go on out to Moab or Fruita to ride for a couple of days. I rode a mountain bike rental in Las Vegas, Red Rocks area a couple of years ago in February during a business trip and it was amazing. Glad to hear you had a good time.