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  • Come enter the Ridemonkey Secret Santa!

    We're kicking off the 2024 Secret Santa! Exchange gifts with other monkeys - from beer and snacks, to bike gear, to custom machined holiday decorations and tools by our more talented members, there's something for everyone.

    Click here for details and to learn how to participate.

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
24,386
15,159
directly above the center of the earth
Got back late from the horse show. Busy day on less than six hours of sleep is gonna suck. Highlight of the weekend, Ruth moved up to Intermediate 2 which is the second most difficult level in her sport and decisively won all three tests. It was very cool to watch her succeed.
 

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,851
9,891
Crawlorado
:wave:

Snow on the way, and I'm just sitting at the kitchen table working. Going to be an easy day, minus the snow shoveling later.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,832
7,086
borcester rhymes
spent the last couple of evenings getting a computer built for the specific purpose of tracking training rides/playing videos. Formatted, installed win10, bought a wifi, ant, and BT dongle. Discovered that the wifi dongle is shit and that for reasons the ANT dongle doesn't work in that PC. Works everywhere else, but not there.

Dug out an old laptop that I dismissed as dead and got all that shit working...now I can track rides using goldencheetah and watch weird shit on HBO at the same time. Just have to figure out a good way to upload from GC to strava and replace the HDD with a SSD for moar fastness.

Otherwise, quiet weekend. Dry january is over so it's back off the wagon for me...hopefully I can keep the drinking days down as I feel a bit healthier after all this.
 
spent the last couple of evenings getting a computer built for the specific purpose of tracking training rides/playing videos. Formatted, installed win10, bought a wifi, ant, and BT dongle. Discovered that the wifi dongle is shit and that for reasons the ANT dongle doesn't work in that PC. Works everywhere else, but not there.

Dug out an old laptop that I dismissed as dead and got all that shit working...now I can track rides using goldencheetah and watch weird shit on HBO at the same time. Just have to figure out a good way to upload from GC to strava and replace the HDD with a SSD for moar fastness.

Otherwise, quiet weekend. Dry january is over so it's back off the wagon for me...hopefully I can keep the drinking days down as I feel a bit healthier after all this.
30 days dry...
 

stosh

Darth Bailer
Jul 20, 2001
22,248
408
NY
The nice thing about quarantine and working from home is now we have no excuse for not working on snow days..... :thumbsdown:
 

CrabJoe StretchPants

Reincarnated Crab Walking Head Spinning Bruce Dick
Nov 30, 2003
14,163
2,485
Groton, MA
Did my taxes the other day, nice refund coming.

The next day, the control board on our 2yo :fancy: washing machine appears to have crapped out. Replacement ordered, it's a race between delivery and dirty laundry piles. Fucking electronics.

The lord giveth, the lord taketh I suppose.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,815
27,031
media blackout
anyone with a garmin edge? as far as i can tell the only difference between the 530 and the 830 the touchscreen on the 830. is the touch screen worth it or no?
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,233
14,709
anyone with a garmin edge? as far as i can tell the only difference between the 530 and the 830 the touchscreen on the 830. is the touch screen worth it or no?
I have the 830, wife has the 530. The only difference is the touch screen which means panning the map, navigating menus, changing settings etc is a little more cumbersome.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,233
14,709
so you'd recommend the 830 over the 530? any issues using it with gloves?
If the gloves have the touch fingertip stuff, no real issues. But I could easily cope with the 530 and using buttons too.

 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,141
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
I think I'm at 34 days of no booze, started the Dry January thing a bit early, but have noticed no real changes except that my Kombucha consumption has gone through the roof. Never been a "drink to get drunk" kind of guy, but definitely drank a ton more during Covid than pretty much any other time in my life, to the point that my pallet changed significantly. So figured why not give it a go.

Yesterday's ride did a number on my legs, think I'll be a lazy sack of shit at work and accomplish nothing today.

anyone with a garmin edge? as far as i can tell the only difference between the 530 and the 830 the touchscreen on the 830. is the touch screen worth it or no?
My 510 is relatively ancient, so maybe the newer ones are better, but the touch screen is stupid, worthless, and stupidly worthless. I just use the buttons, but because the UI was designed around a touch screen, the buttons work a little clunky. FWIW I don't use maps for anything, I can see them being easier to use with a touch screen.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,815
27,031
media blackout
My 510 is relatively ancient, so maybe the newer ones are better, but the touch screen is stupid, worthless, and stupidly worthless. I just use the buttons, but because the UI was designed around a touch screen, the buttons work a little clunky. FWIW I don't use maps for anything, I can see them being easier to use with a touch screen.
wasn't the firmware notably different between the *10 models and the *30?

full disclosure: i get a $400 / year credit for exercise equipment & accessories through work, plus i also get a discount on garmin stuff. i'd like a new watch but the ones i'm looking at are well above the $400 limit even with the discount.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,832
7,086
borcester rhymes
so you'd recommend the 830 over the 530? any issues using it with gloves?
I found a few comments that suggested people did not like the touch screen and wanted to get back to physical buttons (ie trading an 830 for a 530). I think the 1030 offers real advantages in navigation, but the 530 is cheaper and just as functional as the 830.

I have the 530 and I find the plethora of buttons a little confusing, but the more I get used to it, the better it gets. I really like it and use it on my road and MTB.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,832
7,086
borcester rhymes
wasn't the firmware notably different between the *10 models and the *30?

full disclosure: i get a $400 / year credit for exercise equipment & accessories through work, plus i also get a discount on garmin stuff. i'd like a new watch but the ones i'm looking at are well above the $400 limit even with the discount.
530 plus a HR sensor or additional mounts for multiple bikes.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,141
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
wasn't the firmware notably different between the *10 models and the *30?

full disclosure: i get a $400 / year credit for exercise equipment & accessories through work, plus i also get a discount on garmin stuff. i'd like a new watch but the ones i'm looking at are well above the $400 limit even with the discount.
No doubt the firmware is different, but I'm not sure it would change too much for me TBH. Turn it on, press start, ride, press stop, save. Better sensitivity on the screen may help, but really, buttons are just fine. Depending on how you use your GPS my opinion may or may not be relevant though, since I know they can do a bunch of stuff that I never have reason to do, like navigation.

Now that you mention watches, I'm going to say you definitely shouldn't listen to me when it comes to Garmin tech, still wearing a Fenix 3, not even the HR, the old Fenix 3. Both of my Garmin products are ancient, my opinion is probably irrelevant.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,815
27,031
media blackout
I found a few comments that suggested people did not like the touch screen and wanted to get back to physical buttons (ie trading an 830 for a 530). I think the 1030 offers real advantages in navigation, but the 530 is cheaper and just as functional as the 830.

I have the 530 and I find the plethora of buttons a little confusing, but the more I get used to it, the better it gets. I really like it and use it on my road and MTB.
530 plus a HR sensor or additional mounts for multiple bikes.
i already have the sensor bundle, but the speed / cadence sensors i have now are dedicated to my trainer bike. and it looks like the heart rate one i have is the older version?

did you get the bundle with the remote? that looks.... unnecessary.
 

CrabJoe StretchPants

Reincarnated Crab Walking Head Spinning Bruce Dick
Nov 30, 2003
14,163
2,485
Groton, MA
Man... how does this even happen? I'm pretty sure we're going to owe many thousands of dollars, just like every year since 2016. :panic:
I've got a refund every year I've been doing taxes since I was 22 or so. Been bigger since mortgages and kids were a factor. $11k this year.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,832
7,086
borcester rhymes
i already have the sensor bundle, but the speed / cadence sensors i have now are dedicated to my trainer bike. and it looks like the heart rate one i have is the older version?

did you get the bundle with the remote? that looks.... unnecessary.
No- I struggled to find a deal on one online so I just went LBS and went barebones. The MTB bundle is stupid- you don't really need a start stop remote as the unit has GPS and will auto start-stop when you start moving. Strava (sorry) will record the time over the segment. Wouldn't mind the bumper/guard but I ride like a fairy so I'm not that worried.

I bought a couple of cheap sensors off of Amazon (Coospo HR, magene cadence) and they have been virtually flawless. Saved $20 each off of the brand name stuff and the data is good. ANT and bluetooth, both. Came out to like $350 total vs. 400 for the garmin bundle with the unnecessary speed sensor (unless you're on a trainer).
 

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,851
9,891
Crawlorado
I've got a refund every year I've been doing taxes since I was 22 or so. Been bigger since mortgages and kids were a factor. $11k this year.
$11K. Sweet Jeebus.

I've gotta do my taxes. Have 0 idea of what we might owe/get back for this past year. Flat out no idea. Just need to receive all my paperwork.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,796
5,627
Ottawa, Canada
Just got the green light from my wife to order a canoe. Going to get this bad boy:
1612203769494.png


It's a beast at 76lbs, but it's made of T-Formex (formerly Royalex), and should allow us to hit any of the numerous rivers around here, as well as do flatwater trips.

I've been dreaming of river trips since before I had kids, and they seem keen to give it a try. If this works out, I can see us camping regularly this summer. If not every weekend, almost every weekend anyways!

There's a bunch of rivers like this within 3 hours driving from us:

including this one:
(if I'm not mistaken, @mykel is familiar with Algonquin and its environs... any tips and recommendations would happily be welcomed)

(edited to change video... last Algonquin one was too... sexist. I felt bad)
 
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CrabJoe StretchPants

Reincarnated Crab Walking Head Spinning Bruce Dick
Nov 30, 2003
14,163
2,485
Groton, MA
$11K. Sweet Jeebus.

I've gotta do my taxes. Have 0 idea of what we might owe/get back for this past year. Flat out no idea. Just need to receive all my paperwork.
Benefit of filing as HOH, writing off mortgage interest and claiming both kids as dependents. Seeing as we're not legally married and can't file as such, that's how we've agreed to do it until if/when we legally get married. Upside of me paying for all our health/life insurance, both college funds and 1/2 all the bills/mortgage I suppose.