March 16: Week 6 wrapup
The level’s gone up again, and in addition to the extra core workout I’m now supposed to run to and/or from spin classes. This means the gym trip is no longer a short obeisance, but a complex ritual. It goes like this: start at 6, hail bus, sacrifice all to the stationary bicycle, supplication and genuflection and abasement for 20 minutes, run like you‘re excommunicated ... then get civilized and breakfasted and show up at work sometime after 10 feeling virtuous and superior and somewhat worn out.
There were two other workouts but describing more than one episode of ritual self-harm would be oversharing, I think.
In addition to the workouts, the phone mount has arrived. And it’s amazing! I will explain.
For navigation, I mainly rely on Komoot’s audio directions. These are often perfectly fine, but it’ll regularly throw something deliberately misleading at you: like “slight left onto cyclepath” when “go straight” is more accurate. “U-turn onto road” came up twice last trip, and despite having found my way onwards I still don’t know what it wanted me to do. Also, the maps include singletrack paths, so occasionally it’ll say “next right” and it’s not clear if it means you to follow a cattle track through the forest or freewheel a hundred meters to the crossroad.
So I regularly need a quick map check. On previous trips I would carry the phone in my pocket, which means having to pull over and stop. I’ve been looking for a way to mount my cellphone on the handlebars, so I can check the route without slowing down.
The two big names for this are SP Connect and Quadlock. They’re both pretty similar; they offer a quick-release handlebar mount for your phone. Quadlock is Australian company which started life with a Kickstarter campaign. Conversely, SP Connect is a product of a multinational based in Vienna and has no indie cred whatsoever.
After dredging through tons of reviews to find which one is better, the answer is: Youtube video reviews often make recommendations on such minor features that they look like they’re sponsored, even if they aren’t. Also, the two products are about the same.
So I bought the cheapest: SP Connect. And unlike that cursed waterbottle mount, this thing is actually good! It attaches to the bike with a neat little handscrew so it can be tightened. (This shouldn’t be something to get excited about, but that waterbottle episode has left me with really low expectations.) Was able to get it mounted in a few minutes flat, took it for the weekend ride and it’s been so solid I haven’t had to adjust it since.
And I’m now able to check the route without stopping! Unfortunately it’s cold and I’m still wearing warm gloves, so this is not the fast and frictionless process I had in mind. But once I’m in the Spanish heat, I’m sure it will be.
