Third Thursday

[Dickie]

Thanks Kathy for another great night! Hope everyone got home before it rained…. started sprinkling when Justin and I left but made it home dry and warm… those porters certainly helped!

[Dickie]

I bet you had the thing installed up side down! BTW… did you sleep on the bar patio last night?

[Certifried]

@Dickie 33969 wrote:

I bet you had the thing installed up side down! BTW… did you sleep on the bar patio last night?

after 3 1/2 bottles of water to catch up for my earlier dehydration/cramping/near-death (ok, exaggeration), a pretzel from Kel, and a plate of wings, I was able to limp the 2 miles to Crystal City metro. I had a guide most of the way there, and promptly got a little lost when we parted ways lol. /dramaqueen

[ShawnoftheDread]

@Certifried 33987 wrote:

after 3 1/2 bottles of water to catch up for my earlier dehydration/cramping/near-death (ok, exaggeration), a pretzel from Kel, and a plate of wings, I was able to limp the 2 miles to Crystal City metro. I had a guide most of the way there, and promptly got a little lost when we parted ways lol. /dramaqueen

Sorry, man. As soon as we split I realized I could have ridden with you farther to the Metro and then taken Potomac back instead of the MVT. For some reason I was thinking the Garmin that had already gotten you lost would be a better guide than me.

[Steve]

Great time last night. I enjoyed getting to meet some of you. Thanks for setting it up Kathy.

[Certifried]

@ShawnoftheDread 33999 wrote:

Sorry, man. As soon as we split I realized I could have ridden with you farther to the Metro and then taken Potomac back instead of the MVT. For some reason I was thinking the Garmin that had already gotten you lost would be a better guide than me.

I was good up until the block of the Metro, so no worries. It was just a bitch to orient myself, I’ve actually used that Metro stop a few times. There was some construction around there, which disoriented me a bit. I was using my phone to nav to it, and Google has NEVER* let me down.

[Arlingtonrider]

It was great to see everyone, and nice to meet Steve, and Crystal and Chris? from the Friday Coffee Club too!

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Certifried 33967 wrote:

It wasn’t, but I’m not sure about some of the other settings. So I need to look in to those, like “route for time”, “route for distance”, etc. I just want to get there without being put on major road and get squashed. I know the route it had me on that I actually followed could not have been the best. Even Google cycling directions doesn’t take me down HWY 1 the entire way.

One of the main criticisms of the Edge 800 is that it’s terrible at dynamic routing…like, basically unusable for that purpose. I’ve not actually tried to let it route for me because of what I’ve read, so maybe the complaints are overblown, but it sounds like your experience confirms it. Google does an okay job, but I still prefer to look at the map and plan my route bases on the “bicycling” layer rather than trusting Google to choose the best route for me. Of course, using ridewithgps or GarminConnect to map and upload the route ahead of time is optimal.

[Certifried]

I’ve had great luck with it in the past, but no idea why it seems to have suddenly lost its mind. I tried to use it today to route me from Bethesda to College Park, and it had me going down the Beltway. So frustrating because that was a main consideration in the purchase. Google maps released its bicycle navigation the week after my purchase; a bluetooth 4 HR strap is available now (my Razr is BT 4); my Razr GPS is fantastic…. I really have no need for the Garmin 800 now (other than maybe its weatherproof characteristics). That’s a lot of money that I could’ve put towards plastic baggies to keep my phone dry. The phone works well through a plastic baggie too… yeah, frustrating.

[Tim Kelley]

@Certifried 34058 wrote:

I’ve had great luck with it in the past, but no idea why it seems to have suddenly lost its mind. I tried to use it today to route me from Bethesda to College Park, and it had me going down the Beltway. So frustrating because that was a main consideration in the purchase. Google maps released its bicycle navigation the week after my purchase; a bluetooth 4 HR strap is available now (my Razr is BT 4); my Razr GPS is fantastic…. I really have no need for the Garmin 800 now (other than maybe its weatherproof characteristics). That’s a lot of money that I could’ve put towards plastic baggies to keep my phone dry. The phone works well through a plastic baggie too… yeah, frustrating.

Your 800 has much better battery life and is Ant+, so if you ever decide to go for longer rides or get a power meter, it would have those advantages. Also, the built in barometer is much more accurate than the phone, if that kind of thing matters to you.

[Certifried]

@Tim Kelley 34060 wrote:

Your 800 has much better battery life and is Ant+, so if you ever decide to go for longer rides or get a power meter, it would have those advantages. Also, the built in barometer is much more accurate than the phone, if that kind of thing matters to you.

the 800 is also extremely durable, whereas my phone would get destroyed in any kind of a crash (knock on wood that doesn’t happen). The baggie over a phone is also a pain in the butt, it works OK until you throw full fingered gloves in to the mix. The garmin seems to do well with full fingered gloves. So, in the end, the garmin is definitely a better option. It just annoys me that I paid so much for it and the features I wanted most vs. a cell phone are unreliable.

[crysb]

@Arlingtonrider 34046 wrote:

It was great to see everyone, and nice to meet Steve, and Crystal and Chris? from the Friday Coffee Club too!

Nice to meet you too! I just made an account so I could join in the discussion here. Third Thursday happy hour was a great time. I bailed out on Metro on the way back because my lighting system isn’t up to nighttime trail riding. It’s more of a “be seen” not a “see the path” headlight. What were some of the lights you guys mentioned? I remember a couple very bright ones.

If anyone is on Twitter, my handle is @crysb (same as here).

[Arlingtonrider]

Welcome to the forum! I think the light we were talking about at happy hour was the ExposureLights Diablo, but there are a lot of other good ones too that are less expensive.

Check out some of the threads under the bikes and equipment part of the forum for more info on lights and how to use them. A few good tips have included not using them at too bright a level except when you need to, so as not to blind oncoming cyclists (especially important with some of the superbright lights) and using in flash mode in the city only – not on the trails. The Diablo is one of the superbright lights. I generally use the brightest setting only at dangerous intersections and on very dark trails when there are no oncoming cyclists.

[Dickie]

@crysb 34186 wrote:

What were some of the lights you guys mentioned? I remember a couple very bright ones.

First off… glad to have you on the forum and it was great meeting you the other night. I believe Kathy partly answered the question but I will add my two cents. I showed the group my new tail light made by Knog (http://www.knog.com.au/gear-blinder-lights/blinder-4v-pulse.phps). So far it has been fantastic, super bright, easy to attach and re-charges via USB… best rear light I have owned. I also showed the group my Cygolite Mitycross (http://www.cygolite.com/products/mitycross800.html) which I equally love. Hope that helps.

[Certifried]

Welcome to the forum!

Here’s a post with lots of links to lighting threads: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3055-Bikes-and-Gear-link-compendium

Greatest thing about this forum (besides all the great people, that is) is the massive amount of information from people with tons of experience. (they’re all happy to share their opinions too )

[Author]

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