Daily Grind

All the photos and route data in this blog entry come from the new Sony Xperia Arc smartphone!

Woke up this morning to pouring rain and zero motivation to go out and train. It turns out however that the normal Spring weather pattern - where it is bright and clear in the morning and storm clouds build up in the afternoon  - is currently in reverse. Both yesterday and today it cleared up and warmed up nicely by early afternoon and so I was lured out on the bike eventually. 

The following is a trial 3D panoramic photo from the spot where I stop to relax before the final descent home to Aime. Bourg St Maurice is on the left looking towards the valley - with the view passing though Les Arcs, Peisey, Les Coches, La Plagne, Macot and then out of sight down the valley is Moutiers.

Earlier on I'd climbed up to Peisey Vallandry which is the highest village visible on the left of centre of the photo below. The white peak to the right is the Bellecote - North Face.

Despite working out yesterday evening my legs were still up for a good hard 3hr workout and I was surprised to find that on the second climb up from Bourg everything was still good. Last year I remember trying that and finding my legs to be complete mush. Experimenting with the Endomondo app on the Sony Android phone it was really interesting to listen to the audio feedback cutting in over the music on each kilometre split. This is surprisingly motivating and so each time there is a slow kilometre it makes you aware so you change something to pick the pace up again. This will definitely become a permanent feature of my training from now on. I also wanted to use the headset mic button to control the app but sort of botched that up. The advantage is that you can leave the phone in your pocket and control Endomondo with the mic button just below your chin. One long push pauses the timer and a short one gives a status update with heart rate etc. Bottom line is that you don't need to stare at anything on your handlebars which is pretty useful. The new Sony ear-buds stay in place pretty well too. I've removed the auto-pause from the Endomondo because it was misbehaving a little and prefer this easy manual control. Still not sure if it will export fully correctly over to the Sporttracks analysis software (didn't include auto pauses on other workouts!) but I'll find out soon. The app is not ideal yet as it doesn't give real time altitude data - but I'm sure it will have that soon. For the moment I'll use both the old Garmin and the Android phone until a full transition can be made.

Found that the new Decathlon full carbon racing shoes are 70g lighter (the pair) so that's a bonus - especially as the feet are spinning quite fast at times and extra weight there is not welcome. The ratchet buckle is great and the fit is narrower - a really big difference from the mid range shoe I'd been using - much more direct control and feedback. So glad to have waited until this appeared in the shops because I have needed a second pair of shoes for some time now as when they get drenched in the rain it takes a couple of days to dry them normally. You need two pairs if training regularly but there was no way I could accept paying between 200 and 250 Euros for a cycling shoe. Carbon is cheap not expensive so that standard price is a rip off. Thanks again Decathlon!