Accessorize, Accessorize, Accessorize - Garmin Forerunner 205

How many times have you received a Christmas gift that you never use or forget who gave it to you? Or worse yet, taken it to the Goodwill a week later (not that I’ve ever done this) . One of the greatest gifts ever was my Garmin Forerunner 205 satellite watch. Kent gave it to me a couple of years ago. I use it all the time! It’s great for training runs and biking. I’ve even been known to take it skiing. You can plan, analyze and store all the important information from your workouts. I upload my run and ride data to MotionBased.com, it provides in-depth analysis of my activity, online mapping and route sharing, it’s very cool. Garmin has a newer version, the Forerunner 405 that looks pretty cool - it would make a great birthday (12/4) or Christmas gift - hint, hint. The 405 looks much more like a regular watch. I like it!

This morning I rode my bike to the office. Between the cost of gas and wanting to get more cross training in I’ve been trying to commute by bike a couple of time per week. I have a Trek 6700. This is not my actual bike but same model.

This map is the route that I take, downloaded from my Garmin. It’s a great ride of 23.7 miles. This morning I was riding a little slower than usual – I did some hill training on my long run on Sunday and was a little tired! The first 16 miles is paved bike trail along the Green River (yes, it’s where all the bodies were dumped by the Green River Killer but he’s in jail now) and the last 8 miles in on surface streets to downtown Seattle. Thanks God the County has a great bus system and that all the busses have bike racks. I ride to work and then take the bus home in the evening. I get a great workout in the morning and still manage to get home on time! I have always ridden bikes but it is only recently that I have been using it as a way to commute to work. I’ve finally gotten the routine down – the first couple of rides did not go so smooth – first day out I was pulled over by the police. He asked me if I knew why I was pulled over – my sarcastic response of - "speeding?" did not go over well but thankfully he did not give me a ticket. He took pity on me for having ridden 23+ miles, and that my ass was killing me and he let me off with a warning. The second trip, I got all the way to the office before I realized that my pack had fallen off the bike rack somewhere between work and home. I had to turn around and ride 23.7 miles home looking for my pack which I never found. Thank God my wallet was not in there. Not to be dissuaded – I’ve continued to ride.

The title of this posting was inspired by a quote from one of my favorite movies – "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize". There is nothing greater than being involved in a new activity and going to REI to get all "necessary" accessories! It’s a great place – I was just there tonight to get a new headlight for my bike. It’s getting darker in the morning already! Let me know if you know who where the quote came from. I’d love to hear from you!

Later - Jim