Garmin Fenix 6X

 I am a sucker for fitness tracking despite the fact that it can feed into my hypochondriac tendencies.

Knowing my heart rate and stress level on a minute by minute basis is both interesting and terrifying. It is even more terrifying when I get a spurious elevated heart rate alarm. Usually, the alert is because I there is water on between the sensor and my arm or I am wearing the watch too loosely. OHR sensors are finicky buggers no matter how good they are reported to be.

Just before COVID closed down the world and stories of sudden pulse OX reading sending people into ERs never to return, Garmin released it new 6 line of the Fenix which included a built in pulse OX sensor as a standard feature. The line also has a bunch of other tweaks like a better screen, longer battery life, the new body battery metric, and a few other things.

If I am being totally honest, none of these were a good reason to upgrade from my trusty Fenix 3X. It still was getting solid battery life, had all the mapping features I needed, and did a great job at all of the basic stuff like step counting and route tracking.

It was a combination of pulse OX and a misguided sense that shopping therapy would ease the malaise of COVID spring that spurred my decision to upgrade. A large REI divided also helped.

The pulse OX feature also gave me pause. Would that information be helpful or just propel me into a spiral of fruitless doom checking and panic?

Since having the watch since April, I can say that the pulse OX feature is an interesting gimmick. I have mine set just to track it during sleep and if I want to do spot checks. It is not a medical grade pulse OX measurement and from many reviews it seems to be about 1-2% lower than a medical grade instrument. Like the OHR, the accuracy depends on a lot of factors including skin color, light conditions, movement, tightness of the watch band, movement, and sleeping positions.

What I have learned from it is that I probably don't have sleep apnea since my pulse OX reading is pretty steady over night with only a few occasional drops to the low 90s. I do occasionally check during the day, and it is reassuring to see that it is always 95% or better. I imagine that if I got reading in the 70-80% range I would worry, but I imagine I would know I was sick well before then.

Aside from the pulse OX feature, I do like the watch better than my old 3X. The UI is better designed and the bigger, brighter screen is nice on my aging eyes. Other nice, but not game changing, features are improved sleep tracking, the body battery, and the fact that I now get a VO2 max reading during walking activities.

I used to have to adjust wake and sleep times constantly with the 3X, but with the 6X I never need to bother. It is also cool to see how sleep stages, respiration rates, and pulse OX vary over the course of sleep. Again, more interesting that useful.

The body battery feature is a new composite metric that I don't fully understand. Basically, it is supposed to be a reflection of how much energy you have. It fluctuates based on stress (measured by HRV), heart rate, activity level, and a bunch of crazy math I will never understand. It seems relatively accurate in reflecting how I feel. Sometimes it seems low compared to how I feel until I try to go do something active. If the watch reading is low, I invariably bonk way sooner than I would have expected based on how I felt. Is this just me being susceptible to suggestion or a true reflection of my bodies energy reserves? I would love to believe that I am smart enough not to listed to a watch....

The VO2 max from walks is, according to Garmin, is not as reliable as the measure you would get from a run or a bike ride with power meters. Since I loathe running and refuse to spend the money on power meters, it is the reading I have. It was nice to watch the metric improve over the COVID summer when my only outlets for stress were long walks, longer bike rides, and the occasional shred through the local trails. Sadly, now that the COVID winter is settling in and opportunities for riding and walking have gone down, the metric is also trending downward.

The one really nice feature is Garmin Pay support. Being able to use the watch as a touch-less payment form has been great. Yes, I can use my phone as well. However, the watch is right on my wrist and doesn't require me to stare at the phone. Also, the watch is easier to wash and has almost no chance of being pressed against my face.

The Fenix is more expensive and way less sexy than an Apple Watch. The Fenix, unlike the Apple Watch, has multi-day battery life. With daily hour long bike rides, I was getting five days between charges. Now that I am not using the GPS as often I go more like 7 or eight days between charges.

The Fenix also connects to all the bike sensors I already own and feed all the data back into the Garmin ecosystem to which I am tied. There is also Apple Health integration, but it is not the best.

The Fenix is also, as far as I can tell, far more durable than an Apple Watch. I am not sure I would wear an Apple Watch sea kayaking or use it on a multi-day hike or expect an Apple Watch to survive a nasty mountain biking crash. The Fenix feels like it can take pretty much anything I can throw it at.

Am I happy with the purchase? I am not unhappy with the purchase. I could have stuck with my old Fenix until the battery gave out and been satisfied with it. The 6X is a nice, but not earth shattering, upgrade.

On the Water - Sea Kayaking Photographs

 A friend of mine, Jon Sharlin, who is a phenomenal photographer has just released a new book of live action photographs.

A number of shots have shown up on the RIC/KA Sea Kayaking site over the past few years.

If you are interested check it out at: https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1881997?__r=635

It was so bad it was good?

 I have missed paddling.

The last few months something has always gotten in the way. Some times the thing in the way was just inertia to be honest. COVID travel restrictions and anxiety keep me close to home and the only real paddling options are flat, not so clean water. It is hard to get up the energy to pack up the kayak when you know that a good portion of your time will be tied up in getting the gear packed and unpacked and repacked and unpacked and when the most exciting thing you'll see is duck and the most challenging obstacle is going to be a frustrating wind that is blowing at just the wrong angle.

Taking one of the bikes out is an easier option.

This morning I decided I was going to get in the kayak. I packed up the truck, dug out some paddling clothes, and drove over to the local boat launch figuring that this late in the season it would pretty quiet. It was packed. I found one spot that could accommodate the truck and I almost lost it while getting the kayak off the roof. The parking space barely had enough room for me to open the doors; the kayak had to come off before I parked.

While sitting on the back of the truck putting on my water shoes, I felt a nice pain shoot from hip across my lower back. I could walk mostly straight, and bend over if I took my time. I decided that if I could pack up the kayak and get into it, I was OK to paddle on some flat water...

As I settled the kayak into the water, I spotted a sign mentioning dangerous algae blooms. The water didn't smell, there were no visible signs of algae, and a lot of other people on the water. I wasn't going in the water. I cautiously ignored the sign and set off.

My plan was to do a little warm up paddle and then practice boat control for a while. I wanted to work on figure eights, bow and stern rudders, and some lateral movement.

Once I was in the kayak, my back felt good. I could get decent rotation without pain while doing a quick forward stroke. As I loosened up and started working on the control strokes it continued to feel good.

All in all I was feeling pretty good and having a good time. The reverse figure eights took a little time to get sorted out. I needed to play around with the edges to figure out which ones worked best, but once I got it even those felt good. I know the Aires is a cheat when it comes to making maneuvering look impressive, but it does take some skill to get it to do the right things at the right time.

After playing around with the turns, I started working on latter movements with draw strokes. Things started off great. Then I started upping the ante and putting more edge on the boat during skulling draws and experimenting with which edge worked best.

Next thing I know I'm upside down in murky water and don't have my paddle in rolling position. Instead of talking the time to settle myself, get into position, and just do the roll, I panicked and pulled the loop. I'm now floating in cold water about a 50-75 yds from shore with nobody to do an assisted rescue. Without taking the time to think about what gear I have on hand (a paddle float and a pump sitting in my cockpit), I just start swimming and dragging the kayak towards land... Then I realize how cold I am and remember the toxic algae warning...

I finally got close enough to shore so I could stand, empty the cockpit, and get back in the kayak.

Fortunately, the air was warmer than the water. Once back in the kayak I started to warm back up as I made a bee line for the boat ramp.

Unfortunately, the waiting line for the ramp was three power boats and a couple of SUPs long.

I couldn't just float around waiting for the line to clear, so I went back to practicing. It was the only way to stay warm. My back had started to tighten back up, but things still went pretty well. Overall, I was pretty happy with how I did.

I only took about 20 minutes for the ramp to clear enough to allow me to get off the water. Dusk was closing in and the temperature was dropping.

I am glad that I had invested in Hullivators because it made getting the kayak loaded much faster. OK the Hullivators were the only reason I could even get the kayak on the truck. There was no way my back was going to put up with lifting a kayak much further than waist height.

I am also glad that I spent the extra money on a tree row truck. It made changing into dry, warm clothes much easier. The parking lot was way to open and busy to change outside and my back was not going to do the contortions required for changing in a normal sized car.

It was possibly one of the worst days paddling I have ever had. Nearly freezing in toxic water because I couldn't keep my wits about me was not a proud moment.

Yet, it was a day that I got to paddle. That has a magical way of making me feel better....

We Got a COVID Puppy

After much searching, we got a miniature Australian Labordoodle named Ziggy.

He is very cute and very rambunctious. He should be a fun addition to the family.

The ocean, the road, and the trail

 The other day as I was slogging up one of the many hills around my house on my road bike I began pondering why I do this to myself.... I like road biking despite the monotony and the pain, but why?

My default thought pattern in these deep philosophical moments is to try to relate my question to kayaking.

I like road biking because it is like kayaking - long stretches of time time where your body is doing mostly monotonous motions without really thinking too much about it.

But that is not really true. There is plenty of thinking and presence that goes into kayaking. One must always be scanning the ocean, feeling the water move, and being ready for surprises.

For the most part road biking is pretty thoughtless. Sure you need to adjust for hills and watch out for pot holes. However, shifting becomes pretty automatic and the roads I ride are pretty good. It is really just time for zoning out while legs spin.

Then I thought kayaking was more like mountain biking. You are always reacting to the terrain; always thinking and adjusting.

But that is also not really true either. Kayaking is not quite as white knuckled as mountain biking. There is a lot more flow and space to breath.

As I crested the hill, my lungs heaving and my legs burning (I may not have shifted as smartly as I could have), I gave up trying to figure it all out.

Kayaking is the perfect combination of zen and adrenaline; you have space to breath and just feel the motion of the paddle through the water and the thrills of waves and constantly changing conditions.

Road biking gives me the zen without the adrenaline. It is all space to think and feel the burn of spinning the peddles.

Mountain biking gives me the rush and active body thinking. It is all about being aware, reacting, and feeling the bike move.

I'll take the kayak over the bikes every time, but options are always good - particularly since COVID has limited my access to the ocean but not the roads or the trails.