Garmin Edge 200 (Final Review)

Well this post has been a long time in the making. I wanted to give this product a fair amount of time before I wrote what I thought about it, but I didn't anticipate it being this long. I have noticed that's initial review of the Edge has been one of the most viewed posts on my blog and thanks to those of you that are returning to read my final review. ( the Garmin I used for my review was purchased by me.)

In my initial review I spoke on the mounting and functionality of the Edge 200. I want to dive a little deeper now. This was also my first GPS enabled device I had used for cycling. I have used standard cycling computers on the past and they just left me wanting more information about my rides and a better look at my accomplishments in the saddle, I.e elevation, calories burned. I found these things in the Garmin Edge 200. This device is perfect for the guy that goes out on the bike to have a good time and collect data to upload on strava or track their fitness with different trackers. Strava is good to compare your riding to a friends or just random folks that ride where you ride.

I thought I was completely content with just knowing my elevation, average speed, calories burned, but after riding with the Edge 200 for a season I wanted more information. I have become a little more curious about my fitness these days. That being said I now want to track my heart rate to get a better picture of how the rides are benefitting my body. I also want to track my cadence which brings me to the cons of the Edge 200 in my eyes. The Edge 200 does not have ant+ capability. There are many different sensors out there from gain to track your riding and they communicate with different devices through ant+. Another con to some could be the data cable. Many Garmin devices now can upload to your computer wirelessly. This model does not do that. It never really bothered me too much because it must be plugged up to charge. Now there are some pros as well. I really like the style and ease of use of this unit. It is very easy to scroll through your information during your ride. Another pro would have to be the price. It is a fairly inexpensive unit. I believe it still retails for around $150. Some of the more advanced cycling computers out there are close to that minus the GPS capability.

With all that being said the Garmin Edge 200 is perfect for the average cyclist. It is all enough to through in your pocket too for the occasional runner as well. I used mine for runs many times. The Edge 200
Would be a great gift for any cyclist that is not concerned with tracking heart rate and cadence. Although I will end by saying that I didn't have any care to track those things either until I bought this product and started using it. The Edge 200 gives you just enough information but it left me wanting to know more.





I want to take this opportunity to say that I have a slightly used Garmin Edge 200 for sale. I have used it for a season but it is in great condition. I comes with all the original packing that I can find as well as two mounting brackets for the bars. Also the data cable too, can't forget that. I am wanting to get $85 obo for it. You can email me or just leave a comment if interested. Thanks for checking this out! Will consider shipping the product within the continental US. Free shipping on full price offer.

"Take A Kid Mountain Biking"

This past weekend I was out helping EP/BC with their first ever "Take A Kid Mountain Biking" event down at Poor House Farm Park. This was an event sponsored by the bike shop but also largely sponsored by Specialized Bicycle Company and IMBA.(International Mountain Bicycling Association) The main purpose of this event is to spread the word about mountain biking and introduce this great sport to the children as well as their parents.

Trail Tools

Down at Poor House Farm there are a few trails cut throughout the Frisbee golf course in behind the fishing pond. These trails have not really been managed really well or taken care of so they are overgrown and not really that well known. I have ridden there a few times in the past and had not gone back due to poor marking and the confusion of the trails mixed with the course. I also have gotten flats every time I have ridden there, including this event but i can pinpoint my mistake this time. The trails are not kept up and ridden much so the trails hold a lot of hazards for your tires. With the success of this event I am hoping this will change. On Friday, myself and Brian Weber, the owner of EP/BC met up at the park and walked out about 1/2 mile of singletrack for the kids to ride the next day. Once we got the course marked out which included some existing singletrack as well as some new that we had to cut, the trail maintenance begun. After we had worked at the trails for a little over an hour a few more helpers showed up to help us finish. All in all we had about 2 hours into cutting in and cleaning up 1/2 of singletrack. After a few pre-ride laps around out beginner and intermediate courses we were set for the event the following day.

Singletrack out of the Intermediate Course

I showed up at the event right at the start. I was running a little behind but that's okay. Once I got out of my truck I saw the first 3 kids heading out with their father to ride our trail. that was neat to see. There was a pretty decent turnout for a Saturday considering all the things that go on in our area. I was pleased to see that we had a good mix or ages as well as young boys and girls. I had the pleasure to ride the course over and over kind of keeping an eye out and helping kids along the way. I think our beginner course was a little easy for some of them but I know they all found parts of the intermediate course to be challenging. I also rode with a young boy that wanted to try the intermediate course with me and he had a blast! He left wanting to do more and try different stuff and that is awesome! I think we may have hooked a few more mountain bikers in our area this weekend. With that being said many of the parents and kids were asking us when we are going to be building more trails. That is probably the second best thing that came of this weekend. Poor House Farm Park has potential to be a good spot to ride we just need volunteers that are willing to put in the time. I for one cannot wait to see the progress that is made at the park in the near future.

If you are reading this and want to help you can either drop me a message or stop in to EP/BC and sign-up and there will be organized work days in the future. Again thanks for reading this and I hope that many others will venture out in the woods and discover this awesome sport I love so much!

Part of the climb on Intermediate Course

Start of the decent on Intermediate Course

Looking up to the rock garden on Intermediate Course

Start of Beginner Course

Little obstacle and zig zag to finish

"Ride Your Way Lean"

Well it has been a while since I have written a post. A lot has happened in my life in my absence from the blog. The most important of those being the birth of my second child, Lincoln. It was another awesome experience for our family. I have also been pretty busy training for the Tough Mudder coming up in just a week and a half. All that and a few other things has made it hard to sit down and write. There has been a few topics I have been outing back to write about and this was at the top.
I have started a new cycling program strait out of the book, "Ride Your Way Lean" Selene Yeager (see picture below)  . I have noticed that I had put on a few pounds while on baby leave without the consistent running or biking that I had been doing. It was time to renew my subscription to "Bicycling" magazine and I recieved this book as my gift. It's funny, I subscribed on my Nook but they sent a paper copy book to me as a gift. I dove into this book immediately. I found it very interesting and the author added many success stories along the way to help keep you motivated. It really didn't take me long to decide to do one of the cycling plans laid out in this book.
There ate many different plans laid out in the book but I decided to go big or go home. I started the 30-50 pound weight loss plan right out of the gate. (See picture below) I had some pretty good success in the foray week of the program, I am only in week two now. The first week I logged over 80 miles and seven plus hours of saddle time. That is more riding in a week then I have done in a long time. I have been taking advantage of my gym time at work to ride so that really helps, then I try for one good rode on the weekends. It's hard with having little ones but my wife rocks so I am able to squeeze a ride in here and there.
I would suggest this book to anyone really but even for experienced cyclists this is a good read. I also like that there is no meal plan to go along with this, just some suggestions of meals and types of foods to help one achieve their goal.
"Ride Your Way Lean" - Selene Yeager