Bike Journal - Journals

[Veronica]

I'm curious about how many of us have their journals viewable to others. So a few questions for the journalers.

Do you read other folk's journals?


Why do you keep yours public/private?


What categories do you pay most attention to in your journal? In other folk's journal?


V.

[Veronica]

I'm curious about how many of us have their journals viewable to others. So a few questions for the journalers.

Do you read other folk's journals?


Why do you keep yours public/private?


What categories do you pay most attention to in your journal? In other folk's journal?


V.


I read other people's journals - usually the women I ride with. I get a kick out of Jo's. Having ridden some of the rides she does, I can get a real feeling of being there with her. She's also funny! I'll read other people's when something they have posted sparks my interest - like when Ladyjai did her big ride.

I keep mine public because, there's nothing it that I feel needs to be private. I don't do detailed route descriptions, so I'm not worried about stalkers. It's enough info, so I know what ride I did.

In my journal I care about mileage, climb and average speed - in that order. I was surprised to see how detailed other people get, average cadence, weight, average heart rate, etc. Of course my HRM software keeps track of cadence and heart rate.


V.

[mary9761]

my journal is public, I don't read often, but periodically I will.

[jobob]

I use my journal to keep track of my progress (or lack thereof :p ). Since I have a more-or-less fixed loop I ride in the mornings, I like to see if my average speed improves over time. Someday, maybe it will. :rolleyes:

I also like to note any changes or adjustments I've made to my bike, cleat position, that sort of thing. Then over time I can page back and see if what I did helped. That's really useful.

If anything noteworthy, unusual or funny happens during a ride, I'll put that down too. Since I have a horrible memory for names, if I meet someone on a ride I try to put down the name so I'm less likely to forget it.

I refer back to my old entries quite often. I'm really glad I have that journal.

As for other's journals, I read mainly V's and SK's, since I sometimes ride with them & I like to see their impressions of rides we've been on together. Plus I'm curious about V's training plan.

I also occassionally look at the journals of others I know to see what they're up to.

Woo woo, I'm seven whole miles ahead of SK at the moment so I'm currently wallowing in my superiority. :D :D :D :D :D :p :rolleyes: ;)

Edited to add: lest anyone gets the wrong impression, I really don't compare my stats to others ! My goal for this year is to be stronger and a bit faster than last year, and to be able to ride longer distances, so my competition, as it is, is with myself

[tatormc]

BJ for me is a way to challenge myself against my own stats and others so I occasionaly look at the journals of the riders around me. I do it just out of curiousity to see their speed and how long their rides are and such. I've also seen some comments that gave me a giggle. I keep mine public just in case someone would be interested. Right now my comment is Trainer over and over so it's not that interesting.

[caligurl]

my journal is private because i write detailed route info.... i put my weight.... (along with distance, average cadence, weather, average heart rate, average speed, elevation gain, ride time) and i've ridden EVERY STINKING MILE that's in there... and then some... cuz the times my HR acted up... and wasn't recording miles.. i was still riding!

that log is for ME... not to post for someone else...

i did use bikejournal last year for some motivation.... so what.. a LOT of people do... this year i've cut back on my riding so far (and i've ridden every stinking mile i've posted this year, too!)

i don't read other's journals... i looked at a couple when it was a new function.. just to see what it was all about.. but i don't even remember who they belonged to...

[SadieKate]

Gosh, Cali, I didn’t see anyone accusing you of anything. Am I missing something? I think if you take the time to do a little research, you’ll see you can choose what data to display.

Public journals are a benefit of premier membership, as are enhanced stats, rider comments and the ability to upload and download your journal. $20 a year is cheap to be able to download my journal whenever and play with the numbers. I go back and look at the data for a specific ride. I can compare the data that I record for a ride as well as the data others record for that ride. Gives me a great deal of insight into people. A cyber form of people watching - and, no, I am not a stalker. It is interesting the differing data points folks collect. I'm thinking I need to record the clothing I wear in the winter. Every year, I go through this trial and error period trying to remember what worked the best at certain temperatures.

I read the journals of those I ride with (hey, they might be saying something unflattering about me! :p ) and I read those of forum participants whose comments I find interesting. Plus, there are some very cool bikes to be seen.

All of which reminds me, I need to fabricate and enter a comment about Miss CindySue YouHoo.

Then, there is Jo who I thought was my compadre and there she is bragging about more miles. :( Gonna have to edit my comments about her. :p

[caligurl]

in the other thread i posted... about the fee increase....

editted to add... and i know you aren't a stalker! i'm just careful about what i put on the internet.. heck.. i try to not say where i live on forums.. other than socal!

[Veronica]

How do we know that anyone logging on bike journal is honest about what they report - other than the people you regularly ride with. Cali for all I know you haven't ridden as many miles as say you have. How do you know I'm accurately reporting my miles? You don't. It makes no sense to me, to really care about where you are in the stats in relationship to unknown people.

snipped from other thread


It's not an accusation - it's an example to make a point. We are ALL on the honor system on BJ.

Veronica

[aka_kim]

The only reason I use the BJ journal is because there was a call-out last year to add miles to the TE club to meet various mileage goals. I don't make my journal public because all entries are bulk entries for one or two week periods, and say something like "Date1 - Date2 inclusive" - makes for fascinating reading :rolleyes:. I use Cyclistats to record the detailed info on my rides, and equipment, and weather.

I have been thinking about discontinuing my BJ membership when it expires this spring, though. I'm starting to like the forums there, where I sometimes lurk, but I don't need the journaling features, and I don't want to participate in mileage contests.

[Trekhawk]

After reading this I had to go and check mine because I had no idea what I had for mine. Ends up mines private which is just as well really because when you ride as slow as I do you dont need to advertise the fact.:D :D
I think mine would make pretty boring reading I just log the basics but as soon as I get that new computer on I will be able to add altitude stuff (and before anyone mentions the fact that Ive had the computer since Xmas and what have I been doing ---- I know I know slack I guess.:o

[CorsairMac]

I keep mine private. I use my logs as personal entry logs and have things in there that don't need to be in the public eye. I didn't realize I could filter out what I display publicly, if I truly can then I might make mine public (but probably not). I don't read other peoples journals just coz I figure if someone wants to share something, they'll post it as a thread. Since I ride the vast majority of the time alone, I guess it just doesn't occur to me to compare my stats with someone else.

[MomOnBike]

Actually, I don't remember if my journal is public or not. :rolleyes:

I'm afraid that any of the ride data I put in is pretty useless to most people. "Hwy 2 loop" means nothing to anyone but me, for example.

Mileage is odd, too. DH (Dear Hubby, Dumb Hunk, make up your own...) & I often ride together & his mileage is often off from mine by several tenths of a mile. :confused: One of us probably has an inaccurate wheel diameter in the computer - or takes turns differently, or something. I try not to obsess over mileage, I don't want the mileage police coming and verifying each and every revolution of my wheels. Close enough is, well, close enough.

As for my relative position on BJ? Somewhere above 1000 works for me, and if I don't stay there, the world will keep turning. Really. I'll turn my OCD loose on something more satisfying.

[Veronica]

Now Corsair I would love to see your journal because you've been doing the unsupported centuries which I think is so cool.

V.

[mary9761]

there are two sides to the public journal and detailed routes, if something ever happens to me since I ride alone so often, it gives them somewhere to start looking for me.:eek:

[yellow]

Well, I'm very new to BJ and really haven't had much occasion to use it yet. I really signed up in response to peer pressure and to add miles to the Amici Veloci group. I'm not sure how I'll use it once I start actually riding outside (I don't track trainer miles). I think mine is public, though I'm not sure anyone would really be all that interested in it. I haven't read anyone else's, though it sounds like I need to read Jobob's!

I have a pretty nifty personal spreadsheet that I use to track ALL of my activity since cycling is not the only or main thing that I do. I'll probably start with just miles this year on BJ and see how it goes. I track routes, average speed, and total miles on my spreadsheet so that I can see how I progress over the season. Since all my bike routes will be new this year, it'll mostly just be "data".

I don't think I'll ever be that detailed other than that as my fitness goals are pretty simple and can't be measured in average HR, etc: stay healthy so that I can continue to enjoy life now and post-retirement and to control life stress. And fitness must be fun. I have historically been waaaaaay too hard on myself and a chronic goal non-achiever (mostly because my goals were not reasonable). I don't want to play that game with my head anymore. I think the real reason I track stuff in the spreadsheet is to prove to myself that I am staying active, which will keep me healthy and happy.

I will caveat my "fun" requirement with a confession that I do go to the gym, which I don't really find all that fun. But I go because if I don't go with him, DH doesn't go. And it's interesting people watching, especially this time of year with all of the resolutionaries hanging about. And I know that I benefit from the strength training, so I can hack it a few days a week anyhow. :p

[nuthatch]

I never even thought about looking at someone else's journal! And I never bothered to make mine private - why would anyone look at it? Ha! Of course, this thread had me rushing right over to BJ to see who had a public journal.

I'm really only interested in using my own journal as a historical record for myself and browsing the forum, which seems friendly and supportive for the most part as well as having the manly perspective. I don't keep track of statistics anywhere else but BJ so it's important; accessible from anywhere I'm visiting via the internet and worth the annual fee, I think.

[pkq]

Do you read other folk's journals?

Rarely.


Why do you keep yours public/private?

Private. I don't want some to know how I'm training. Too much info will make me unsurprising, bland, predictable, defeatable. :eek:

My average speed isn't meaningful because I warm up and cool down on the bike. I throw in junk miles, too, on many rides. Riding lots of hills w/ steep grades is hard to compare with others, too.

What categories do you pay most attention to in your journal? In other folk's journal?

My journal, hmmm, depends on the ride. Usually heart rate stuff, miles, and how I felt. I like to track how I do on the same training routes, especially the hill repeats.

Others journals, hmmm, depends on what looks like useful information.

As an aside, I use the enhanced graphs to see trends. It's a great tool to see max speeds, too, for descents. I'll look at the graph for mileage, too, which has shown a decrease in miles/ride occasionally.

I do enhanced stats to see where some of the women are relative to me, like Rookie, TalimenaTammy, and a few others I have met. But I don't do that very often. Of course, if I am in a dead heat with Rookie, I will look often. :)

[CorsairMac]

Now Corsair I would love to see your journal because you've been doing the unsupported centuries which I think is so cool.

V.


Wow V - thank you very much! That means a lot to me!

[SadieKate]

My average speed isn't meaningful because I warm up and cool down on the bike. I throw in junk miles, too, on many rides. Riding lots of hills w/ steep grades is hard to compare with others, too.Yep, this is why I don't use the general rankings for competition. Everybody plays by different rules. For instance, a mile of technical singletrack isn't worth any more than a mile of skinny-tired pavement on BJ and it definitely affects your average speed. I read mostly to see where people ride and if they had fun. Some of the comments can be pretty funny, though I wonder about someone who records their rank after each ride. It's strikes me that it is the same mentality as racing a century course and bragging about beating someone who wasn't racing it. Just me, but I think it is odd. Reading the journals is like people watching at the airport.

[Bike Goddess]

My journal is public and I've never had a problem. I haven't a clue of how to set up my own spreadsheet and the BJ seems to handle what I would need anyway to track my progress.

With regards to comparing my rides, that is difficult because some days I have to deal with a strong wind one way and another day, it might be the same ride, but different wind conditions. No two days ever seem to come out the same! Of course that is why I enjoy riding- never know til you do the ride how it is going to be!

I seldom read anyone else's journal. What I do read, however, are people's reports on the metric century thread as I have been active on that thread and post my metrics on that thread. If I have a funny story, it goes there for others to read. I also stated a goal with that group so I will add my metrics in there to keep track of my progress. I will also comment on other threads if I find I have something I wish to speak about.

One thing I do like about the BJ is we can send other riders comments. I love to be able to tell someone how much I enjoyed riding with them or how I enjoy reading their comments on a particular thread, etc and I enjoy getting feedback from others (even though I am always surprised when someone sends me a message).

I have met folks from all over the country (and am about to meet some more) from my involvement with BJ as with this forum. Every person I have met so far has been a delight. We have traveled many a mile together on our bikes and I am thankful for the companionship.

Yes, I too would love to hear about others' travels, BUT if people want to keep their journals private, fine with me!

I look at stats more for fun than anything else. Sure, it does motivate me, but I'd ride anyway if I didn't ever have that part of the BJ.

By participating with the BJ I have a cross section of cyclists that I wouldn't have if I just wrote in this forum. Yes, when my membership comes due, I'll ante up. It's worth the money for me!

[caligurl]

actually.. the comments section is just for riders that have ridden with you! slantz even bolds the word ridden :o (the formatting didn't come through when i cut and pasted the snippet!)

"If you have ridden with this member, please leave a message about your experience."

i would like to see a PM on the forums.. like they have here! people have used the "add me to your buddy list" to send me messages... but once you hit add.. you can't do that again! PM would be awesome!

i have a "stalker" from another board that follows me around and then starts trouble back at another board.. NO WAY am i putting my info out there for people like that to see where i ride.. what i do! besides.. my journal is for me and my comparisons! :cool: (now that my rides are finally coming around again... i.e. borrego to the sea... fall metric.. etc.. that i did for the first time last year.... it's nice to go back and see if i've improved or *gasp* gotten worse!)