Saga Continues

A bit of proper training today with a very nice spin done out on the bike. Sitting here looking out the window at the raining falling down, I am quite glad that I got the session done this morning before the weather came in.

Once again I didn't have a set session for this morning, so I set out with the intention of meeting a guy from work for an easy spin around the river. The ride referred to the as the 'River Loop' in Perth is a touch over 40km and is probably one of the most popular in town. It is a lovely circuit taking in a lot of the Swan River, a bit of the beach etc. Lots of good quiet roads and also very pretty.

We got through the loop and he was done, he hasn't been on the bike for a while and so was feeling it a bit. It was such a nice morning though that I really felt like doing a little bit more. With that in mind I thought I would ride with him towards his house. That got me part of the way around the River Loop and by the time we parted ways I figured I might as well just keep on going. It was good, it let me crank up the intensity a little bit and let me use the S5 properly for a while. It also meant that I got back home feeling like I had had a decent session.

My power meter saga continues today. Yesterday I got a new pedal pod for my Vectors, problem solved, or so I thought. I got home yesterday afternoon to find that in fact both of my pedal pods seemed to have the same problem. I am not certain that the problem with the power meter lies with the pods, and if it is I am not particularly happy to be having the issue. Seems like a bit of a weakness in the design if you ask me. I am certainly planning on raising the issue with Garmin to see if it is covered by the warranty. Unfortunately that doesn't help me now, I sort of need this equipment by Monday. I will head into Churchill Cycles later today and see if replacing the other pedal pod does the trick. If it does then I will go with that to get me back on the road and then chase down the warranty issues later next week. If I end up getting a replacement pod on warranty then I will keep it as a spare. From my experience so far having a spare is not a bad idea.

I am certainly very happy having a power meter. It hasn't been a revelation to my cycling, but it has made a big difference. The two biggest improvements in my cycling have come through getting a good trainer (Wahoo Kickr) and getting a power meter. And I am fairly happy with the Vectors, on the whole they work as intended. I have had a number of issues with them though, if I end up buying a new pedal pod today it will be the third one I have bought in about 15 months. At $100 each that is not an ongoing cost that I am happy with. It certainly seems to me like an area of the design that is overly vulnerable, particularly if you change the pedals between bikes a lot, which I do (that being one of the main reasons why I went with Vectors). I noticed that the pod I got yesterday has changed in design significantly to the ones that I got with the original Vectors. The design has even changed from the pod that I got back in December. To the engineer in me that indicates that perhaps Garmin knows their design is a little bit vulnerable too. Certainly I wouldn't usually go to the trouble of redesigning something for no reason at all.

As well as go for a ride and write the next chapter in my power meter saga, I was hoping to get down to the Saturday afternoon Swim Smooth session today, however, as things currently stand I suspect I am not going to get there. Partly because it just isn't fitting in with the day. Sometimes 1:00pm can be an awkward time to fit into the day. Also partly because the bruising on my shoulder is still a little sore. Pretty sure I could swim with it, but if I am looking for excuses to make myself feel better then it is certainly a convenient one. I might try and get myself down to the pool tomorrow afternoon instead. We shall see.

One more day of self directed training and then it is back into on to a program proper. Looking forward to it.