I’ve had a Garmin 800 since Christmas. It is kind of fun. But, I’m trying to decide if it adds to my enjoyment of the sport. I definitely like having a speedometer on my bicycle. I got one of the very first Avocet units before they became public for the masses. Since then, I’ve always ridden with something on my handlebars telling me my speed and distance.

The Garmin does more. It tells you how much climbing you’ve done, the current and average temperature and lots of other fun things. And when you get done with your ride, you can download the information and look at it at Strava, Garmin Connect, and probably other places I don’t know about. Garmin provides absolutely the worse user manuals for anything electronic I’ve ever owed. I don’t know if they expect you to go onto the internet to figure out their products, but they have completely missed the boat trying to provide any kind of usable information in the box.

There are a few problems doing all this. For one, it’s a hassle. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do all day and remembering to take the Garmin off my handlebars and plug it in to recharge it is something that hasn’t become habit yet. And the thing runs out of charge way too quickly. Max a couple days on one charge. I don’t know how many times I go out for a ride and the Garmin is out of juice.

Second, it’s a hassle. Plugging the Garmin in and downloading the information doesn’t take that long, but it is something that I have virtually no interest in. I did the ride, I know what I did. I could see how much I climbed and what my average speed was and everything else that it records when I was on the ride, so I don’t feel the need to go and look at it again.

Third, it is frustrating when the thing doesn’t turn off after the ride and your bike keeps moving. I’m probably missing something in Strava or Garmin Connect, but I don’t see a way to edit the rides to remove extra movement. Strava has this part of it’s deal that they compare your times and speeds to other people that have downloaded their rides. So there are all these segments that riders have created and everyone that rides that segment has his ride compared to others. The problem is that anytime anyone drives the segment with their bike on the car, with their Garmin on, it screws up the segment for everyone.

And when you don’t turn your Garmin completely off after the ride, with the auto start function on, your ride just continues. So then, something that I think might be mildly interesting at the end of the year, your total mileage for the year, is completely wrong. Strava needs a way to be able to erase the extra part of the ride that wasn’t riding. Like I said, maybe it’s there, but I just haven’t spent anytime looking for it. But, I’ve already miss a ton of rides because the Garmin wasn’t charged at the start, so my yearly number is just wrong from the start.

This all makes me wonder if I really want to get a power meter also? I am a numbers guy and I can see the many benefits to be able to download your power numbers, especially in races. But it all detracts from what I really enjoy about the sport, the simplicity of it. Racing bikes isn’t simple anymore. I’m not sure complicating it more is in my best interests.

A fun fact – The Oreo cookie is 100 years old today. Who would have thought?

This is the data from Sunday's Lago Vista race. I was wondering what that beeping was.

I have a box of these in my basement. It is probably all I really need.

Today is the cookie's 100th birthday.

I’ve entered 9 races this year. And I’ve paid a little over $425 entry fees. That is a little under $50 per race average. It seems to me that the entry fees for racing has escalated out of control.

The silliest entry fee is that of our National Championships. Bobby Lee told me what it was to enter Track Nationals, each event, and it was stupidly expensive, something like $75 a race. Back when I started, when I was a junior, we got paid a travel stipend to come race the Nationals if we were ranked in the top 10 of the country. No entry at all. And the stipend was pretty good, a couple hundred dollars. The entry later was something really small.

I’m not sure when the sport became bingo and the races are funded by the entries of the participates? It used to be funded by the sponsors and the local communities that wanted the event in their area. It amazes me when I only pay $36 for a race and I think that is a good deal.

I probably average around 80 race days a year now. So that would be close to $4000 in entries. That isn’t counting the $1000+ entry fee that many stage races are charging now for each team.

Everyone tells me that all these other sports, triathlons, running, ski races, etc. have much higher entries. But the difference here is the number of races that a bike racers attends. As a sport, we should want our riders to participate in as many events as he/or she can manage. That is one of the main ways for an athlete to excel and learn the sport. When each and every local event costs at least $25 to race at a minimum, that is over $50 for the weekend. That is too much for a college student, bike shop employee, etc. to be paying to learn how to race bikes. And that is what local events are mainly for, learning how to race bicycles.

I don’t really see a way to reverse this trend of escalating entries. It is the norm now. When something gets established, I’ve noticed it is nearly impossible to put it back on a correct course. I hate being so pessimistic here, but it is what it is.

Below is what the 2011 Junior Track Nationals Entry was. I don’t know how many events each rider competes in, but this isn’t something that we should allow. This isn’t a good way to develop the sport and encourage young riders to compete.

2011 Junior Track Nationals Entry Schedule

Entry Fees and Registration Timeline

May 10 — Registration opens. Cost per event: $60 for ages 10-14; $75 for ages 15-16; $45 for ages 17-18; $120 for the omnium

On-site registration will be available for $90 for ages 10-14; $105 for ages 15-16; $75 for ages 17-18; $175 for the omnium.

Maybe the local races should charge these guys $10-15 dollars to race the kids race. They could make a little extra cash doing that.