Activity Tracker

The Story of Me Buying a Bike

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I originally started writing this in May or June 2020. I have been pretty slow getting things published.

Even before the Corona Virus lockdown I thought about getting out with the girls on bikes. It wasn’t until last Summer 2019 that both of them were able to bike ride. They could not get very far on their scooters even though they both scooted for years. With biking skills I figured by this summer they would be strong enough bikers that we could at least travel locally around with them. Then the virus happened and we got locked in.

When I commuted to work my walking to and from the train, and walking to and from getting lunch was typically just enough to get my entire activity requirement for the day. At least according to my Apple Watch. When I worked from home prior to lockdown i would need to take a walk to the store or something to get most if not all of my activities requirements. Even before lockdown I figured one way to keep active when working from home would be to get a bike and use it as my daily exercise.

One of my friends at work told me about a bike purchasing scheme the company had so you could get tax relief on a bike if you wanted to bike to work. My luck the scheme closed at the beginning of the tax year on April 1. I was looking to buy something in the middle of April. I had to figure out plan b. I did some research online for a decent all around “hybrid” / street bike. I figured out what brands the local shop sold and found what would work for me online. I then went to the local bike shop on the Saturday before Easter. The bike I wanted was exactly what the guy at the bike shop suggested. I wanted a simple Giant Escape. I was half convinced before going to the shop to get the Giant Escape Disc. It is basically the bike I wanted with slightly more expensive Disk Breaks. The guy at the store told me the same reasons I told myself why I wanted to spend the £50 or so more on the better breaks. More bad timing the bike i wanted in my size was not available in the store. If I had stopped by the day before I would’ve been able to buy it since he had one in stock that he had already sold. Funny enough I did go to the store on Good Friday however it looks like they were closed. I figured since it was Good Friday they were. It turns out he had the shutters down but was open. I was lucky in the sense that he could still order the model and size I wanted online and have it shipped. Apparently several other models and sizes were no longer available since they were having trouble getting shipments from Taiwan.

The bike was supposed to arrive a week later however it took about two before it showed up. It was ready on Friday afternoon so I biked it home to give it a quick test drive. I hadn’t owned a bike in years. The Trek I had when I lived in Manhattan and Long Island city was long stolen from the bike rack in the long-island city apartment.

What could be considered even more bad luck was in mid-May due to the coronavirus lockdown my company announced they were re-opening up the cycle to work purchasing scheme that I originally could not use. Apparently due to the lockdown and concerns about commuting when the lockdown lifted there was lots of inquiries about it. Even though I bought something already I am still tempted to purchase a Bromley folding bike the of the scheme. With a folding bike I could go places with it and then fold it up and take it inside with me where as the bike I have i cannot. The bike I have I would never really lock it up and leave it anywhere. In all honesty I am not sure if I would actually use the folding bike the way i describe. The idea of it does sound very promising though. The other advantage to the folding bike is I could keep it in my home office versus having to keep the regular bike in the shed in the back garden. It’s a minor nuisance have to get it to get through the house and outside. The main reason I want a folding bike is I just want it. I know myself well enough to know that all the other reasons are pretty much rationalizing that. I’m trying to see how much I use what I have before I decide to get something better.

I knew I missed biking. I didn’t realize how much until I actually had one was able to go exploring the neighborhood. That though is maybe another story.

I Have Given Up (Sort of) On Activity Bands

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Ever since before I decided to lose it weight I was tracking my activity. Originally I used a Jawbone Up. I went through several versions of them and then I try to Fitbit for a while. I ended up going back to jawbone and then again back to Fitbit. For about a year I have been using a Fitbit Alta.

That was until last month I stopped using an activity tracker during the day. The annoying clanking of the band against my watch finally drove me to stop using an activity band altogether during the day. I did some basic research and I found that the accelerometer on my iPhone is relatively comparable four step count to a wristband activity tracker. The downside I read were you don’t always have your phone with you so the phone doesn’t always capture your total activity. For me I generally do carry the phone with me most of the time and the level of accuracy the phone would give me versus wristband was worth the trade-off.

Several weeks into this change my step count seems pretty consistent. I still use my Fitbit to track sleep however I stopped wearing it during the day. Generally pretty happy about that decision since having my watch and a wristband was always annoying. It was worth it when there was an alternative however now that I found a decent one I don’t see going back to wearing a dedicated wristband with the feature set that are currently offered.

Jawbone Up to Fitbit

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I’ve been using a jawbone up as my activity tracker since they became a product. I love that they were small bands that I could wear in addition to my watch that did pretty much all I needed them to. I was frustrated that the first generation recalled however pleased that that the company Jawbone was smart enough to give me a full refund. I was excited when the second generation came out and waited weeks for one to come in stock to purchase. Later I was frustrated at how often my second-generation band would break however pretty pleased that the company would continue to give me new ones. After upwards of five bands however that got old pretty quick. I have blogged in the past around my challenges with my jawbones. (http://scottodyssey.com/?s=jawbone+up&submit=Start+searching).

Even with all my problems with the UP I continue to choose it over the Fitbit Flex  as far back as late 2013. After the second generation UP, i purchased the UP24 (possibly 2 of them) I then bought an UP2 when the 24 finally died. My first UP2 started to lose its battery charge earlier this year. It also lost top paint covering on the metal that rests against my watch. It didn’t look good but it worked until the battery started dying. I then bought another one with a more rubbery strap. This weekend that latest UP2’s rubber strap ripped. I was able to wear it for a little while longer however became so frustrating to wear and looked really stupid I decided I needed to buy something else.

The challenge for me was I did not want to buy and other band from Jawbone after going through at least 10 of them in three or four years. Granted I didn’t end up paying for many of those since they were warranty replacements I did have to  pay for more than one or two of them.

For me technology purchases usually work out the best when they are well thought out. I know myself and I have specific requirements. Because of that I tried to remember why I selected the jawbone over the fit that when I owned both at the same time. I do remember that the jawbone felt like a more accurate step count. The silent alarming also felt like it was better however I know that fitbit has improved on that since I last owned one. Separate from my previous owning a Fitbit I do not like that Apple and fitbit do not work very well together. Specifically Fitbit does not talk to apples Health application. After some brief research I did find out that there is an app that will sync that data between the two devices. I also found out that both myFitnessPal, and Withings can talk to Fitbit with no problem. That will allow me to continue to use my Withings scale and myFitnesspal with a Fitbit. With all that information in mind I went out to the store to check out the new Fitbit Alta compared to the Fitbit Flex. Both appeared to be the same size however the Alta had a small display. I wasn’t fully clear if the altar had significantly improved sensors for the extra price it cost. Since I wasn’t sure I erred on the side of caution and splurged the extra money for the Alta.

Set up of the device was pretty trivial. Syncing between all the apps that I use was equally simple to do. The device feels pretty sturdy on my wrist. I’m curious how long the battery life will last. I confirmed for me the displays useless since I turned off all notifications such as text messages and phone calls. I also turned off the auto on function or whatever they call it that turns the clock on when I lift my wrist up. I have a watch I don’t need this band to act like one. I just needed to track my activity and silently alarm me to be more active. So far it’s been pretty successful at doing that.

A minor side benefit to switching to Fitbit over jawbone is apparently several people I know have Fitbit’s and I’m already in competition with several of them to keep my step count up. Several people at work have talked about doing something similar with Virgin Pluse activity trackers that our health insurance company is offering for free. I don’t like the idea providing medical and activity details to my insurance company so I opted out. This gives me the gamification of working out that I want but doesn’t share the data as much.

I’m hopeful that this was a sound purchase and it will last more than a few months.

3 Million Steps

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Today my Jawbone UP told me I had walked 3 million steps since I got my first UP. So first thanks UP for pointing that out, and second way to go me!

I do need to not there was a 10 month break on accruing steps when my first up broke and Jawbone recalled the first gen to when I got the new 2nd gen one so here is to hoping the next 3 million is achieved much sooner.

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Ordered a Jawbone UP24

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I keep waffling on what fitness device I am using.  After lots of replacement units of the Jawbone UP I got a Fitbit Flex in September. I used both devices for most of October to see how they compared.  Then I dropped the UP in favor of the Flex.  Part of the reason I did that was that the UP was too big on my wrist after my weight loss in recent months.  The Flex didn’t have the inactivity monitor that I liked with the UP.  it also seems to record about 2,000 more steps a day for me than the up does.

Just as I was getting used to using the Flex Jawbone comes out with the UP24.  It offered me the bluetooth sync that the Flex has and all the features that the original UP had.  I took the risk and ordered one in Medium hoping it fits and i can go back to using the UP.  I will write more once I get it and see how it works.

My Fitbit Flex

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Today i got a fitbit flex. I wasn’t planning on getting one but i was in BestBuy and walked past it and couldn’t resist. I have a Jawbone UP but have been wondering about the Flex evver since it was announced. With all my issues with my UP’s even though i like the UP i wanted to give the Flex a test drive. I plan on using both for a while to see what one i like better.