Ben’s Race Page

So I have been living in Chicago for 10 years now and have been driving to and from the suburbs for work that whole time. My commute typically takes an hour each way, but on bad days, going into Chicago can take much longer. I recently started taking the train to work. My decision was based on a friend’s experience and the rising gas prices. Taking the train involves driving about 4 miles to the station, then taking the shuttle from the destination station to work. When weather (and train rules) permit, I ride my bike to the station, take it on the train and ride to work. This may take a little longer sometimes, but I know how long it is going to take and it is much less stressful than sitting in traffic.
I don’t quite know why I didn’t do this before. I guess I liked having the freedom of my own schedule or I thought it would be a pain. I have found that I don’t mind the schedule and it’s actually relaxing to ride the train. I know that I am saving money by going this route.

My friend Jen quit her job, rented her condo and bought a one way ticket to Bangkok. She’s planning to travel for a year without a set plan. She’s not sure how often she’ll be able to get online, but when she does, her blog should be interesting. Check it out here: Jen’s Travel Blog

My nike+ battery died again. I’m guessing this was a result of me trying to solder directly to the battery. I’m going to give it another shot by soldering to pieces of metal and attaching them to the battery. I’ll keep you posted when I get a chance to do this.

It did work great for the 1/2 marathon I ran, though.

Not sure if this is a long term fix, but we’ll see. So far I have only walked with it. I’ll report back when I run with it.

Anyway, I looked it up online and I couldn’t find where anyone else had done this. My sensor was dead, so I used a razor blade to cut the case apart. The battery it uses is a pretty standard CR2032 3 volt watch battery. All I did was unsolder the connections from the old battery, remove the piezoelectric accelerometer from the top of the battery and then solder the wires to the new battery and glue the acceleromete to the top of the battery. I haven’t glued the case back together yet and my Ipod still reports that the sensor has a low battery, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

Here’s some links I found to what the guts of the sensor looks like:

How Stuff Works

Sparkfun Electronics

If you would like some help with your open water swimming, you should check out Mary Meyer’s Swim Clinic. It’s the weekend of June 16 and 17th. I took some swim lessons from her last summer and it helped me improve my swim time in the Chicago Triathlon. There’s a link to her website in the links on the right. Check it out.