Keith_J

Funny! My invisibility uniform is any of my cycling clothing. I'm invisible unless they perceive me to be in their way. Well, almost. I had found one cache in a wooded section of a park and some pedistrians saw me through the openings, thinking I was doing something illicit.

I will never get stuck...I am a cycle-geocacher. In low gear, my Cannondale Scapel will climb 45 degree inclines if the surface is hardpack. Of course I cannot ford deep streams but I have had it up to the headset. On level ground, the speeds average 15 MPH and on streets, I usually get 22 MPH. Since many trails are open to bikes, I can hit caches faster than drivers.

RAM mount, for all your mounting needs. http://www.rammount.com/ramgps.htm Wulf Cool mount! I am worried about crashing and damaging the unit...my last major spill was on the road bike which was the final blow to my shifters. Since Shimano no longer makes 9 speed Dura Ace, I was forced into the new 10 speed (actually 20 speed but cyclists talk about the speeds on the rear cluster) which cost me about $1300... This mount appears to be capable of mounting to the top tube of the frame where it will be better protected from damage. Plus on my road bike, there is no room left. I have a special computer which measures everything but horizontal position. Yes, it has barometric altitude, cadence and power (measured by chain tension via harmonics and chain speed). I barely have enough space for my light.

Using a flashlight to discharge batteries may damage the cells, because one cell will go flat first, and then the other cell will push reverse current through the dead cell which can ruin it. If you use fully charged NiMH cells in a GPS unit until the unit shuts off from low voltage, the cells will be fully discharged for practical purposes. Flashlight discharge is fine for one or two cells but for all parts, is unnecessary for modern cells unless they are far different in charge state. For our application, all cells are used in series and therefore, balanced discharge is relatively good. Furthermore, the discharge rate is very slow compared to the 2-10 amps that electric RC airplanes put on these size NiMH cells. Unless the cells get warm during discharge, balance is usually not an issue. Charging is most important. Ordinary NiCd chargers will not work and neither will trickle. NiMH need to be charged at 1-2 times the capacity, for charge times of 1 hour to 30 minutes. This faster charging will cause heating but in addition, it will provide a more pronounced negative delta voltage. The negative peak is the ONLY means of determining full charge. Slow charging leads to a lower delta and most chargers that place cells in series will have each cell reach a delta at slightly different times. For safety, the first delta cuts off the charge. I am an electric RC pilot and have several NiMH chargers for my cells. I charge single cells at 1 C, that being 2.3 amperes and it only takes 1 hour. I have over 500 charges on my first set which I use for all purposes. These chargers usually have a capacity totalizer and some even have discharge totalizers. This is how I determine service life. Oh yes, for ultra abusive NiMH story, consider my Sanyo 4/5FAUP packs. The A cell is a bit larger than a AA, naturally and 4/5 is just a bit shorter than a regular D cell. These have 1950 mAH capacity and I draw 45 amperes for short spells. 45 amps at 9.6 volts is over a half horsepower, all out of a 11 ounce battery pack. It makes my hotliner sailplane get really small, very fast. And very fast in level flight.

Second time is the charm. Found the first one easy enough but the approach had a particular hazard with a bamboo-like growth called Georgia cane. The cane from last year had fallen over, making for a very slippery srface for the tires and my right knee hit the handle bars hard enough to draw blood. The pain was a bit much but the goal of finding my first cache made it bearable...until I saw the blood running ~7" down my leg... Like in football where coach told us to walk it off, a few minutes later I went to the second cache. Then the third.. A few of the caches had been raided and one had been washed away in a recent flood. On my second to last find, the owner had really gone above and beyond the call. Not only was it in a good ammo can (7.62 NATO), it had plenty of loot like rings, toys etc. I am hooked! Now I really need the handlebar mount for my 60C! BTW, only 24 miles and 8 caches.

Yes, 33 miles. Last week I did 52 miles by myself on the road bike. 3000 feet of climb, 60 MPH max speed (and I don't want to say the minimum but lets say it was a CRAWL up a 12% grade). My daily maximum distance on the road is 134 miles. I figured out my GPS via experience. One set of batteries, some quiet time and hard knocks. Oh yes, in these times of rising energy prices, my bicycles are getting a lot of use. I have commuted to work, even when living 25 miles from work. Surprisingly, it only took ~15 minutes more than driving.

I just bought a Garmin 60C along with the topo software, primarily for cycling. I found this site and geocaching so decided to do the melding of the two. I downloaded 19 closest caches and went out on the mountain bike. I had a previous track so a few yards into the trek, decided to erase it but managed to dump all 19 caches I decided to go ahead and did a 33 mile ride, about half off road. When I got back, I downloaded the track and much to my surprise, I was within the CEP of 5 of the 19 caches! Mind you, I did NOT preview the locations, only selecting caches based on distance. I have the bloodhound nose. I though about mounting the lights and going out after supper but 33 miles with 1100 feet of climb wore me out. My cycling computer calculates energy expended based on my heart rate, speed and time. 2791 kcal was my recorded output, about what a normal adult consumes daily . I did stop for snacks and sports drink. BTW, since my cycling computer has barometric altitude, I figured the 60C would be adequate. I have a good Brunton compass in addition. There is always tomorrow!