I swear I exercised, even though there's no data to support it.

Remember how it used to be, years ago when you would just jump on your bike and go for a ride or throw on a pair of shoes, spend 10 seconds stretching your calves and then head out for a run?

I think it was 2000 or maybe even 2001 when I started keeping track of my rides.  Simple stuff like date, morning weight, description, distance, and average speed was all I was able to track with the bike speedometers of the day.  I don't even feel right calling them computers.

In '03 I probably got a wireless bike computer.  No longer were cables run up and down the frame of the bike.  The data was the same.  Maybe at this point a Vetta HR100 tracked heart rate data as well as allowed user input of different training zones.  I added Max, average, and recovery HR to the sheet.  There were no designated workouts but I could probably compare rides a little better.  I went up 9 mile hill with an average HR of 165 and went 2 minutes faster than last time.

Finally in '05 I got a Garmin 301.  I was one of the first people with one.  It was amazing!  GPS!  Now routes could be downloaded to the computer.  Spreadsheets were no longer needed.  All that was necessary was to plug the device into a computer and everything that I did that day was captured for all eternity.  Some websites even allowed uploads of the info for the world to see.  This was especially cool for my trip to the 2006 Tour de France.

One of the most useful features of the 301 is the ability to design a workout on a computer and then download it to the device.  The device was also multisport which was a big plus.  As my Ironman training began in the Fall of 2006 I can honestly say that I would not have been as successful if I would have been required to remember my run and bike workouts.  It was very easy though to program the device and after inputing a run workout like:

1.  15 minutes HR level 1
2.  100 yard HR level 3
3.  1 minute HR level 1
4.  Repeat steps 2 - 3 3 more times
5.  7 minutes HR 163 - 167 bpm
6.  3 minutes HR level 1
7.  Repeat steps 5 - 7 3 more times
8.  7 minutes HR level 1

As you can see, intensity could be programmed in terms of heart rate levels, beats per minute, or even pace or miles per hour.  Interval length could be time, distance, or even when a certain HR was reached.

In the next 3 years no one will use HR data on a bike.  It will all be about power meters and watts but for now that technology is still pretty expensive to all but the pros and wannabe pros.

So what is really funny about this, is Friday I lost my HR monitor in my car.  I think it fell under my seat but I need to clean the whole car out to find it.

My Saturday ride looked like this:  Rode for about 3 hours and went about 50 miles and had a good time.