installing the Garmin Edge, the Joy way

My new gadget came today! My first thought as I took it out of the box was--"OMG, it's huge!" The second was, "no way this is going to fit on my stem." Third: "hee, that sounds kinda dirty." Yeah, I'm twelve years old.

Aaanyway, I half-assed the quick-start instructions by skipping immediately to step 3--turning it on and configuring the basics. After telling it that I speak English, I live in the Central time zone, I would love for it to observe DST (hopefully, it knows to start that in March now), and that I have both HR and cadence sensors, I turned it off and did step 1: charge the battery.

After watching TV for a while, I decided to go home* and mount it on the bike. First, I removed the zip-ties and cabling for the Cateye (RIP, Cateye, you served me well...until you QUIT). Then I tried to decide where to put the Garmin mount. There wasn't really much deciding to be done, since I was right about it being too long for my stem. I did give it a valiant effort, though, tried several different mount angles (hee)...it just wasn't happening. So I gave in and put it on my handlebar, even though from a distance it probably looks like I've strapped my cell phone on there. I'm hoping that I'll end up with a longer stem on the Orbea or that the bike shop guys have a better idea, because it's a butt-ugly setup right now. It'll do the job till September, though, and that's really all I should be concerned with. Or so I tell myself, even though I'd kind of rather just carry the thing in my pocket. Maybe I'll get used to it.

With the receiver mounted, I set to work on the sensor and magnets. I knew I had to be careful with these, so I actually read the instructions before touching any of the parts (I know, right?). Then I loosely mounted the sensor like The Book told me to, and started in with the magnets.

Well. Almost immediately, I ripped the sticky rubber back completely off the cadence magnet, while correcting an overconfident initial placement. Of course, try as I might, I couldn't get the sticky piece to go back on the magnet, so I had to attach it to the crank arm solely by zip-tie. Satisfied with the position (the little red light came on the sensor when I turned the pedal, which is what The Book said it would do), I moved on to the spoke magnet. After some sliding and screwing and copious swearing, I finally got it positioned correctly (the green light blinked when it passed, per The Book). Then I decided to get fancy and make both of them work at the same time. Oy...it was like plate-spinning for a while there. Any adjustment I made to one magnet made the other one lose contact. Slide the spoke magnet a nanometer--green light! Tilt the sensor out a little--red light! Readjust the speed sensor arm--green light! Eventually, I did get the perfect combination, and had the led all flickering like a Christmas tree. Tightened all the zip ties, rechecked the sensor response, and lo, there was much rejoicing.

Now all that was left was to test all the parts together. I put the (gigantic, cellphone-esque) Edge into the handlebar mount, and got on the bike. Pressed start, started pedaling, and hey--I was getting speed data! But where was the cadence? Got off and checked that the red light was still coming on. It was. I consulted the book. It very (un)helpfully gave me an overview of cadence training, but offered no insight as to how to make it show up on the display. I was on my own. I tried a "restart scan" option for the cadence sensor--nothing. I rebooted the Edge. Nothing. I did note that both the cadence and the heart rate sensors had little icons with flashing Xs over them at the top of the display, which I'm guessing means that it can't find them. So I tried a rescan again, then I tried another reboot, then I put the head about 3mm away from the cadence sensor and rebooted again. Still unsuccessful. After yet another rescan (accompanied by a long, loud stream of profanities) didn't do the job, I gave up. I hooked it up to the wall charger and left it to charge the battery overnight. If it still doesn't register cadence in the morning, it's off to the bike store for a professional look-see. Hell, maybe while they're at it, they'll find a less ugly way to mount it.

*since I used Rob's credit card for checkout (totally with his consent beforehand, despite what some of you may have heard elsewhere...there was a little bit of a misunderstanding re: paypal checkout), it shipped to his house. Which...should probably update y'all on the status of the marriage, since I've been quiet about that since the separation. That's a whole 'nother post, though, and nothing's really set in stone anyway. For now, let's just say that on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is "divorced" and 10 is "happily married", we're at about a 5 and climbing. Slowly.

(Delurking to say that I'm so happy about the five and climbing. Good luck.)