It's official: I'm a geek

Were not my geekhood already assured and well-known, the recent acquisition of a new gadget would cement the status. I’m speaking of the Garmin Edge 305, an insanely complex and configurable GPS-based cycling computer that allows the user to dissect, fold, mutilate, spindle, slice, dice and julienne a dizzying array of data in a staggering variety of ways.

Not only does it include the regular stuff like distance, time, speed and heart rate, but the 305 also includes GPS mapping, GPS and barometric elevation profiling and the ability to overlay courses on Google maps. It also allows you to download other people’s routes and race against their pace via a virtual on-screen partner. The virtual partner can also be based on your own previous rides or a computer generated pace setter.

The whole package can be integrated with included software and an on-line companion site called Motion Based which allows others to see (if you wish) your workouts and download them as well. I’m pretty sure you can also play Atari 2600 games, toast bread and do a bunch of other stuff I haven’t yet discovered.

Thankfully, the GPS tracking is much more reliable than it’s been on similar devices in the past. I had a Timex GPS setup a couple years ago and its performance under tree cover was so awful, I returned it within a week. The Garmin uses SiRF GPS chipset technology which thus far has proved much more reliable.

In any event, I’ll be going to the hardware store to get more tape for my glasses at lunch, but if you wanna check out my rides, see the window below or click here for the 'dashboard' on this ride or hit the “My Training Log” permalink to the right.



*Currently the system is a bit more compatible with Windows, but it will eventually be fully Mac compatible as well.