I was foiled again this morning — by my Garmin.

Since I got it about six weeks ago, I haven\’t been able to figure out how to program the display screen. I want to see what my heart rate is as I ride; and I also want to see which zone I\’m in. The bike shop, unfortunately, couldn\’t do all that much to help me.

Night before last I somehow programmed a workout into the Garmin; and the usual data screen didn\’t show up for over six miles. That foiled my in-ride tracking!

Last night I finally came to my senses, and hunted up an online video. I followed the steps presented for programming my Garmin, hitting the Pause button as needed; and I thought I had finally succeeded.

Wrong. I think my problem now is that I\’ve somehow programmed several screens. During this morning\’s ride, all I saw were distance and time. You could say that I was foiled again. Now I\’ve got to figure out how to delete those unwanted programs!

I certainly need to figure out how to get my heart rate zones into that Garmin. This morning\’s ride data showed 19+ minutes in my maximum zone; and I don\’t see how that can possibly be correct. I don\’t think spent more than a few minutes total in Zone 5.

The \”calories burned\” figures that I get seem a bit too high; another possible wrinkle to iron out. Are we really better off for all this technology? As at least one source has commented, maybe athletes were better off when they relied on RPE. This kept them more in tune with what they were feeling; and how their bodies were doing.

But I\’m spoiled! Adjusting to RPE alone would take some doing.