Nice day for a ride
Dec 8, 2004The forecast predicted 60°F weather so I took a day off from worknto ride. I slept late only to be called from work at 9am and spend a couplenof hours logged in from home. It made for a late start.nnA few weeks ago I installed a bracket, [a RAM mount](http://www.ram-mount.com/)nsourced from [Cycoactive](http://www.cycoactive.com/), to hold thenGarmin Streetpilot III my father-in-law gave me when he bought a newnmodel. Last Sunday Inhad sorted out the mounting and GPS configuration on a short ride.nI still need to adjust the mount location so that it doesn’t interfere withnfolding back my bar map case when I fuel but nnGPS on a bike generally works. The best feature is that it lists thenapproaching intersection while displaying the map. Backed with thenconfidence of the map, I took roads I might never have tried; many ofnwhich proved to be very good. I also liked being able to verify thenreading of my speedometer, 3-5 mph optimistic below 60 mph, andnodometer, which was correct.nnSome features don’t work. The marking of locations is awkward and itntakes four button presses to take a mark and the return to the map.nThe short battery life is very short and it burned through six freshnAAA’s in less than five hours. There is nothing I can do about thenfirst but the second I can solve by running power off the bike.nnI still need to figure out how to export the marks and route on Linuxnor Mac OSX. Garmin’s USB card interface is not recognized by eithernand Garmin’s software only runs on Windows.nnThe outbound leg of the ride was great. I logged a fairly leisurelyn240 mile round-trip, crossing back and forth through the backroads ofnthe New York/Connecticut border. I need to incorporate Routes 37 andn39 into another ride. I stopped once for food in Kent and at AmenianUnion cut back into New York State toward Millerton before headingnhome.nnThe leg back was awful. The wind had picked up and I fought shiftingn35 mph gusts at speed all down the Taconic and Sawmill Parkways. I wasnblasted back and forth across my lane, frequently pushed off my linenin turns and a few made me wonder if I hadn’t stalled the engine withnthe way they slowed the bike. Reaching the West Side Highway at rushnhour was, if you can believe it, a relief.