Friday was a beautiful day. Bright overcast, high seventies. No wind to speak of. So I took a long bike ride. Packed a lunch and set off from the old Lorton Prison, now called the "Workhouse Art Center". I pedaled up route 123 toward Fairfax along the paved bike trail. It's called Ox Road in Prince William County, and Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax County. Then back by the same route. I pedaled for 4:45 and rested for 25 minutes to cover nearly 35 miles. Not the longest trip I have ever taken but a grueling slog; I haven't biked in months and I'm out of shape.
Check out the display from the iPhone:
Notice how little battery is left after less than 5 hours of continuous GPS use. That battery was in a car charger until the minute I pushed off at 12:20. I brought along a neat little USB charger like this one:
But the iPhone didn't like it; it reported, "The charging device is not supported..." So the iPhone was nearly dead after five hours. This is an app called Cyclemeter.Here's a snapshot from near the end of the trail:
Waples Mill Road in Fairfax. Just a mile from the NRA's HQ the country is surprisingly wild; I saw a large adult red fox a hundred yards farther down the road. And an eagle carrying a squirming fish in its talons.
The NRA building is at the 16-mile point. As you can see, I had some trouble finding a bicycle route across I-66!When I got home I was exhausted and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then I took a shower and the salty taste of the water surprised me.
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6 comments:
My legs are tired just from looking at that. I've a brother that does a ride from Seattle to Portland every year, I think that's about 175 miles, done over two days. ouch.
Wow! That's a tough ride.
That's one of the reasons I dumped my iPhone for a Droid X.
Fully charged, my iPhone was good for one day of use, then back in the cradle.
The Droid is good for 2-1/2 days of similar use.
You're my hero, Turk. I've managed a mile a day recently but that's all.
Here is more information on getting an iPhone to work with your MintyBoost charger.
http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/icharge.html
North: the iPhone seems to like alkaline batteries, but it objects to rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries.
I appreciate the link.
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