A mixed bag...

It's a typical Bank Holiday Monday once again - cold, grey damp and breezy - so I'm left with updating the Blog once again. Well, you can't spend all your time in the pub,can you? It'll be a mixed bag of "news" today but, with very little going on, it will all be over before you know it and we can get back to important things... such as beer.

Just over a month ago we were pleased to see one of our Camellias finally come into flower, and were equally disappointed that the other had failed yet again. Well, ye of little faith, at last we have red flowers too! I just hope we don't have to wait another two-and-a-half years for the next ones!

At last, red Camellia flowers!

As I expected, April turned out to be a big let down for me and my cycling. A combination of all the wet weather and a weeks holiday meant I covered a total of just 313 miles, my worst mileage since last December. My mileage for the year (up to the end of April) now stands at 1,844 miles. At the end of March I was 246 miles ahead of last years figures, I'm now just over 40 miles behind! May needs to dry up and warm up, I need to knuckle down and up the mileage!

For a number of months I've been toying with the idea of treating myself to a GPS bike computer, the Garmin Edge 800 being the one that really took my fancy. But, and it was a big but, the price kept on turning me away from parting with my cash. Until last week that is. A special offer price from one of the big on-line cycling stores, that saved me around £90, was too much to resist and I took the plunge! Just two days later I was the owner of the all singing, all dancing Garmin 800.

So far I've used the Garmin for a couple of short rides, one of 30 miles and one of 26 miles, and everything is working a treat. I now have more information from my rides than I know what to do with... distance; speed; average speed; heart rate; max. heart rate; altitude; ascent and descent percentages; temperature. The list goes on. Then there is the mapping, route planning, GPS tracking and more. By the end of the summer (if we have one) I should just about have everything worked out! Maybe!

The Garmin Edge 800.

Once I've got a few more miles logged with the Garmin, and also used the route guidance on some unfamilliar roads, I'll post a full review on here.

Stats from this weekends rides were...

Saturday.

Total distance - 30 miles.

Total time - 1hr 45 mins.

Max speed - 25.6 mph.

Average speed - 17.1 mph.

Calories burnt - 1197.

Average heart rate - 155 bpm.

Max heart rate - 181 bpm.

Sunday.

Total distance - 26.36 miles.

Total time - 1hr 27mins.

Max speed - 27.8 mph.

Average speed - 18.1 mph.

Calories burnt - 1167.

Average heart rate - 168 bpm.

Max heart rate - 182 bpm.