Nice job Clint. The site looks really great!

Yep, the new features work great. Now you can sort the challenges by several parameters, and even an old tubby mtn biker can find something to feel good about :p

Now if I can talk more people into entering ascents in their workouts. And drag more MTB'ers in there...

Some of us don't have the hardware to know how far we have climbed :D

But I like the country and Age features....on top of both my catergories:D

Overall I am slowly climbing the tables...going for a metric this afternoon So that will put me ahead of Debbie (outashape) for a wee while. Not bad considering how far behind I was.

What has happened to AZ cyclist? Name change or complete disappearance?

Looking good!
Brendon

Oh there is AZc posting replies... have you changed your AB name?

Brendon

One more new feature...

http://www.activebody.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=84

Have a great day,
Clint

Wicked...now I can REALLY see how far ahead Chris L is..... far out.... he has too much time and GOOD WEATHER on his hands!

Brendon

I am sorry Debbie but I decided I should add my commuting miles..... 4km a day adds up to 62Mi in 5 weeks! I only managed 84km today and not the intended 100, but it was at a pace of over 26kmh into and with horrible winds and killer climbs.... 3km in a 39x25!

Brendon

You and I obviously have different definitions of good weather. Personally, about the only time I've had good weather since returning from Tasmania was the 130km/h winds and torrential rain from a couple of weeks ago. People die in the heat I've dealt with at other times.

Hello outashape
I'm just a weekend rider wanting to be in better shape.

Jack

Just checking in with everyone... Hows the training going for everyone?

As for me I have a new Polar HR monitor (720i) coming in today and I'm excited to play around with the files... perhaps some day you will be able to upload files to Activebody! ;)

Since I'm not racing much this summer I'm going to focus my workouts on Zone 2 stuff in the hopes to try and lose some extra weight. Lets here from all of you... what are your goals for the summer?

Brendon, hope you enjoyed your moment of fame. I just "had" to add my miles from "Texas Hell Week" and I have to do my March century next week. I tried to do it in Texas, but I fell on some loose gravel and tore my thumb nail almost off. It is a good thing I keep duct tape with me. Kleenex and duck tape made a bandage so I could cycle 8 miles to an area to be picked up. Doc said I will loose the thumb nail within the week. Boy, was it painful when they tried to shove the root back under the cuticle. Then I had an alergic reaction to the pain killers, my face is swollen about 3 times the size of normal and the sun poisioning turned to dripping sores. Not a pretty site. Jack, I am a weekend warrior, and I mean warrior, also. Now if I can just make it to the top 5.

Training is going well here. A few mates and I are working towards the Santa Fe century in May. We had a few good rides together over the weekend, including one yesterday that was meant to just be a cruise. We decided to ride 25 miles at a pace that felt comfortable for all (i.e. could easily hold a conversation etc), and were aiming for a 17mph average. Ended up with a 20mph average, which I think is mostly attributable to being strict about riding in a paceline and always falling off the front when we felt tired to help maintain pace. Even picked up another rider who joined us about halfway through... :) Very encouraging stuff...

That would be awesome, Clint. I have a Polar 620i, and it's helped me a LOT, along with ActiveBody, to keep a record of my rides. I'd love to combine the two for my ride records.

I did 95% of a metric century in a group ride over the weekend, so I'm definitely getting ready for my first metric century in 5 weeks (Tour de SPCA - Pedal for Paws in the East Bay: Danville/Pleasanton/Livermore). I'm also planning on doing one or two more metrics this summer (the Sierra Century in June will be hotter with a lot more climbs than the Pedal for Paws), and possibly trying the Seattle-Portland double century as a two-day ride in July - if I have riding partners to do it with.

My original weight goal was to get down to 200 lbs. (I started this year at 215 lbs, and started biking seriously only after last Thanksgiving). I'm already down to 202 lbs, so I may have to re-set my goal eventually to something lower.

Clint - that's the HRM I bought recently and it's working great. The altitude feature is good, and the software is much better than I expected. It's still has a few bugs but even with the few oddities it's very impressive. Takes awhile to figure it out and get "used" to all it's functions but I really like mine.

As for my training it's still going well, but had to back off a little in the last couple weeks after a couple old nagging injuries have come back to haunt me. Feeling better now, for the last couple weeks I went back to a every other day training schedule. I had a race yesterday and the hip and knee feel okay so will probably slowly get back to more intense training...

I've looked into the file format of the HRM files while I'm waiting for the USPS guy to show up and it does not look all that tough to do. Let me play around and see what I can come up with.

My dream would be to have an option for people that have these HR monitors where they can upload a HRM file for a specific ride and based on which HRM model you have, it would fill in things like distance, date, time (H:M:S), and then upload HR data (which includes bpm, speed, altitude, and power) such that you can see 1 (or maybe more) graph(s) with your HR over time/distance on the details page of the ride. The "or More" part would maybe be a graph of altitude over time/distance and maybe power over time/distance.

I would like to note that I'm not getting anything from Polar to do this. In fact I gave a call to Polar in the fall of last year asking if they would offer some testing gear if I were to code this feature up. To make a long story short, Polar sales folks pretty much said no. Despite the lack of wanting to help, I went ahead and spent the money to get a monitor. Partly cause I wanted a new HRM, but also cause I think this feature can be found in many "pay-to-play" sites like activebody, but not free ones. I don't like that!

No promises though...

One thing that might help would be to send me some of your HRM files. Since I have (or will have) a 720i I'd be looking for data files from HRM I don't have. Also... if you have a Powertap or a cateye computer that exports data, send that along to me as well. Feel free to send it to clint@thayernet.com or admin@activebody.org

Is it me or did this interface change since I last posted???

I was gearing up with the warm weather then it snowed and we got a fresh coat of salt on the roads. I'm waiting (again) for a good rain before going out. Plan on riding three days a week, with my first and second centuries in June.

Ouch! Well I suppose you've really earned those miles -- go ahead and post them.

On a personal note, yesterday afternoon I clocked my 5,000th km for 2004 thus far. Now if I can just get around to logging it on the site!

Mmh..looks like ive got some catching up to do...im talking to you here outashape! ;)
I really cant believe so many people are already over 1000miles, its great to see so many people out cycling. Cheers everyone.

Well I got the polar 720i and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the hardware. It does take some time to get used to all the features and I don't think I have it all figured out yet. One of the things that I like at this point is that the wireless speed sensor that you typically put on the front fork can also be used on the back wheel and the watch still picks up the readings. This is huge for us WI folks that live on trainers for for 4 or 5 months a year. No longer do you have to wire up a second computer to the back wheel (I use the flight deck computer).

The data that comes out of this thing is amazing and I can't wait to offer the ability to upload the data to activebody. I really think it's going to be a great feature. I was working on it last night and I think I have about 50 to 60% of it figured out (and coded). Once I have something to test out I need one or 2 brave folks that have the 720i and maybe 1 person that has a different type of Polar HRM. Anyone? Mike?

Good to hear everyone is doing well... keep those miles up and stay healthy! As for me I'm fighting off my second cold in 5 weeks and I'm just tired of being sick! I suspect it's all the tours of the daycare places as we try to line something up for the little one that comes in Aug. In other news, we get our first ultrasound on Friday... I know it's not activebody news, but I thought I would share... thanks for reading.

-clint

Clint - I'm up for that, I don't use the power or cadence yet but I use all the other functions. I still haven't used the interval timers but plan to do that as well in the next couple weeks...

Sounds good... I'll let you know when I have something.

Mike,

Here is my first attempt to mimic the graphs of the Polar 720i HRM files. This is a HRM file of a ride I did on wed. I have a few little things to work out but I hope I can get those nailed down this weekend. (and no jokes about my un-fit heart!)

Example graph: http://www.activebody.org/test_polar.php

For others, this is a graph that maps out the heart rate and altitude of the Polar 720i heart rate monitor. I'm working on a solution that would allow users the ability to upload files which would then fill in data fields for you (date, time, distance, avg heart rate...) and also provide graphs like this for each ride. If you use a 720i or some other Polar HRM and would like to be a part of the beta test group for this feature, please let me know either in this forum or email. Duties would include using the feature and reporting back some of your thoughts/errors/joys beofre I release to the general public. When the feature goes public, only the 720i will be supported. Over time and as users send me example files of other Polar HRM I'll include those in the feature.

Thanks,
clint

Unfit heart? I wish I could still get my HR that high! :D Actually I don't, that would mean I would be much younger and they always told me that "Life starts at 40". They were right!

The graph looks good. I tinkered around with the Polar software a little and found that the .hrm files it stores for each exercise is text, you can open it in any text program and view it that way. I assume you are parsing this somehow to get your graph? I really like the idea, but it looks like a monumental task to get all the different monitor brands to work. I will be impressed if you can get it done. The biggest problem I see is that people will have different options turned on or off, for example, I use the cycle functions when on my mtn bike, but since I only have one bike kit when I ride road I use my other cycle computer for distance and only altitude and HR data with the Polar. Then when I upload my data from the HRM I enter my distance manually in the Polar software. This might make parsing difficult.

Anyway it sounds like fun, let me know if I can help. I know there are a few others here using the 720i because a couple different people here recommended it to me when I was trying to decide which model to buy. I can probably dig up a few people from other forums too if needed...

Mike

At this point... I've figured out the HRM file structure enough to be able to look for the different options (alt, speed, etc.) but I'm not getting into the lap stuff or the interval stuff. Just going to focus on one or tow goals at this point and see how it goes. Again, I'm only going to work with the 720i at first so that will limit things a great deal. Polar also offers a document that outlines the entire file so that made it pretty simple.

Send me some of your HRM files and I'll give my prelim code a good test. Send them to my email account: clint@thayernet.com

Later,
c

Hey all! Know I've been silent a good deal this year :P Been hard to get back on the bike after the winter. Nevertheless, the weather is clearing and the cycling juices are starting to flow again :) Here's hoping we put in some serious miles.

One question: I notice that Chris Lewthwaite already has 3300 miles for the year, but with no time and no AVS. This makes me wonder if it's a lump sum entered to show miles traveled in the past. Chris, if you're reading, are those 2004 miles or some from '03? If so, could you maybe enter a lump 2003 sum and a lump 2004 sum? There's a slightly competitive spirit on this "team" and if those males aren't all 2004, I think we all would appreciate a little tweaking. Now, if those ARE all 2004 miles, let me just say: YOU ARE A GOD AND I WANT TO BE LIKE YOU! :D

Enjoy the nice weather all. Let the games being :)

PS I'm responsible for Team BF. I kind of started the whole BikeForums team (or at least, when I dream, it was me :) ) but didn't have the obvious idea to name the team "Bike Forums" *smacks self on forehead* I will delete it as soon as I can get "Temp 1" (LOL) and "Andy Carpenter" on the Bike Forums team. Clint, maybe you could help out here...?