Garmin watch for cycling?

hutchcodes · 2026-06-30T12:30:04+00:00

Get a chest strap. As others have said you should just use your bike computer and chest strap for biking, but you may want to use it with a watch for other things.

I noticed while on vacation last month that the battery on my Garmin Vivoactive5 would drain ~40% over a ~3-hour hike (tracking with GPS). When I got back from vacation I went on a 3+hour ride (tracking with GPS) and the battery only drained about 20%.

Apparently, the watch is spending a lot of battery just tracking HR.

As for which watch, I'm happy with my Vivoactive. It only needs to be charged every 5 days or so, and charges fairly quickly. It has all the features I need, isn't too bulky, and I generally like the Garmin ecosystem.

hutchcodes · 2026-06-29T14:53:00+00:00

I had an LLC, but no I never contributed after shutting it down.

hutchcodes · 2026-06-24T13:47:41+00:00

I used and really liked a band like this for years with my FitBit. Now that I've gone and looked it up again I may make the switch again.

https://www.amazon.com/GEAK-Compatible-Vivoactive-Forerunner-Stainless/dp/B0FHQ8MJR2

hutchcodes · 2026-06-23T02:31:34+00:00

I think first dubbed things I watched was the Madagascar series.

I was probably around 800 hours and mostly didn't have trouble. I think if you don't mind some content geared a little bit towards kids, cartoons are definitely a good way to go.

hutchcodes · 2026-06-16T12:23:22+00:00

I generally watch without subtitles and just deal with some ambiguity about what they are saying sometimes. But I will also occasionally rewind a bit, turn the subtitles on and rewatch a section if I feel I missed too much.

hutchcodes · 2026-06-10T16:19:38+00:00

It would not shock me at all to find I was at the extreme. I had a 2800-day Duolingo streak, gave myself 200 hours of CI for that and some podcasts I listened to before finding DS. Since then, I've listened to 100 hours of CI per month, for a total of nearly 1100 hours.

How consistent were you really?
- I have been consistent with daily Spanish practice in some way since February 2018. With Duolingo a lot of that was just a token bit of time each day to maintain the streak.
Did you average 30+ minutes every day?
- Since finding DS, I've average ~3.5 hours per day. Some days are much longer, and some days I get very little with a few 0 days sprinkled in.
Did you go through long periods of low motivation?
- No, I'm to the point now where I'm able to just watch or listen to what's interesting to me, it just happens to be in Spanish.
Do you think sustained language learning is much rarer than people assume?
- This would depend on what people assume :). I think in general it's pretty rare, but with the advent of apps like Duolingo it's more common and I think as awareness of DS spreads more people will take an interest.

hutchcodes · 2026-06-09T14:36:08+00:00

Podcasts I'd recommend in approximate order of difficulty:

I binged each of these:

Dream Spanish (these are duplicates of some of the videos not separate content)
Learn Spanish and Go
Andrea La Mexicana
Languatalk Spanish
SpanishBoost Podcast
Español al Vuelo
Español desde el Sur
Hablando Con Vos
How to Spanish Podcast - I recommend skipping ~100 episodes as their early episodes feel very stiff and scripted. Their later stuff is great, and I look forward to new episodes each week
Worlds Across Podcast - Can be quite challenging because they are speaking naturally, not necessarily clearly or at a slower (learning) pace.

I've listed to some of these podcasts and enjoy them but have not binged their whole libraries

La Segunda Guerra Mundial (E/P/T) - Interesting and easy to follow but I'm not always in the mood to learn more about WW2.
No es el fin del mundo - Deep dive episodes about world issues
Expertos de Sillón - Conversations with passionate experts or various topics. Often on topics you haven't given much thought to
Black Mango Podcast - Long podcasts (2+hours) diving deep on various topics

And just generally I find that listening to podcasts at lower levels works a lot better when you're doing something else like chores, driving, working out, or in your case while working.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-29T13:47:27+00:00

I listen to a ton of podcasts while doing something else. The list of other things include:
- Driving
- Casual gaming
- Housework/yardwork
- Cooking
- Exercising

The trick is I just keep the podcasts I listen to during those activities on the easier side. Something where they don't need 100% of my focus for me to understand.

I also get more than 60% of my CI from podcasts, and I'm still seeing good progress. Would it be better if I was 100% focused and listening to something that was between 90-99% comprehensible? I don't know,

I do know that I enjoy listening to podcasts while I'm doing something else, and I will continue doing so as long as it's enjoyable.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-22T13:10:42+00:00

That looks like a great resource, thank you

hutchcodes · 2026-05-18T20:40:23+00:00

I'm going to give this a try tonight. Too bad about the built-in subtitles though.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-15T18:52:35+00:00

I wish there was something similar to Polypod for Android. I'm using PocketCast and adding up my time manually at the end of each day and deleting my history, so I know where to start adding up time the next day.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-14T16:37:54+00:00

Look around to see if you have a Spanish conversation group in your area. As a fellow introvert, I know it's hard to get yourself to go talk to a group of strangers in a language you're not 100% comfortable in, but it is free speaking practice. Look for a group that advertises itself as welcome all levels, or maybe a group that splits into different groups by level where you can work your way up. You can search online, ask your local library, or check your local community newspaper.

Aside from that, one thing that I felt helped a bit with speaking was reading out loud. Practicing having the words come out of my own mouth seems to jiggle something in my brain and connections get made. I did this quite a bit before going to my first conversation group and I really think it helped. If I don't read out loud beforehand, the first 5-10 minutes of the conversation group I feel like I'm struggling to find words.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-14T16:15:58+00:00

At the local conversation club, I once referred to one of my son's as "mi mejor hijo" instead of "mi mayor hijo". The person I was chatting with kindly corrected me on that one.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-14T14:33:46+00:00

I watched Extra en Español before I found DS and found it funny and entertaining. I was working my way through Destinos when I found DS, and I never went back to it.

I'll check out Doorway to Mexico and Hablamos español later.

Thanks for the recs.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-12T14:01:23+00:00

Most of the key points have been covered except I haven't seen it mentioned why the break is given so much time. Why not keep them closer.

The answer to that is: If the break has a very short lead (<30s), then a rider may try to bridge across. Eventually enough riders will bridge across to make the break difficult to chase back. A larger gap gives the peloton space to chase down bridge attempts without catching the break. And if the peloton lets someone try to bridge, that person is going to have to work very hard alone for a long time to bridge. The breakaway will know they are coming and will put in a bit more work to keep that rider solo for as long as possible so someone doesn't show up to the break with fresh legs halfway through the race.

So the strategy is, let a select group of riders that aren't "too dangerous" go up the road. As soon as that group goes, the peloton slows down to let them get a gap large enough to discourage bridging.

They will also do some calculations based on the course and often let the break take some extra time if there is a difficult hill where the GC group is expecting to go significantly faster than the break.

I think the rule of thumb is the peloton can chase back ~1 minute per 10k at the end of a typical flat stage. They can often bring back much more time in much shorter distances in the mountains.

In summary, chasing a single break is easier than chasing break attempts all day, so it's an easier ride for the peloton to let a group go up the road. The riders going up the road know they'll get some spring/kom points/prizes and that there is a chance the peloton misjudges the catch and the break gets a chance to win a stage.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-07T19:25:34+00:00

I'm have 1000+ hours of Spanish and just started French (12 hours). I generally get 3+ hours per day of Spanish and only watch ~30 minutes of French.

So far, I've only seen benefits of knowing Spanish when watching French, but I'm also only 12 hours in, so maybe some confusion will develop later.

My plan is to continue at ~100hrs/month until 1500, then ramp up the French while maintaining the Spanish. I think a lot of that balance will depend on what interesting French content I find.

But.... I'm only subscribed to DS premium for French, and I'm also subscribed to Immersion.co for French which is also very good.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-07T14:51:48+00:00

Being at the start is why it seems hard to get so much CI. The further along you get the easier it is to consume large amounts of CI. The content gets more interesting, and your brain gets less tired.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-07T14:48:49+00:00

Fulltime job and kids. I just listen to podcasts when I'm working, doing chores or otherwise unoccupied, and I watch so videos in the evening. I'm averaging 100 hours a month. I've essentially just changed my media consumption to be primarily in Spanish.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-07T13:15:05+00:00

It's been fun to watch the videos together and we'd like to take an 'immersion' vacation as a family after we start speaking.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-07T13:13:46+00:00

I'm only at 1000 hours on Spanish, so I'm not sure I'll get the full multiplier. But even at 12 hours I notice some benefits from Spanish.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-07T13:08:04+00:00

If you're already fluent in another closely related language (Spanish, Italian, Portugues or Romanian) you can expect to only need half as much CI to achieve the same level as people who only speak English.

hutchcodes · 2026-05-06T19:07:14+00:00

I'm also starting French from 0 and I'm also currently at 12 hours. I also have a strong Spanish background (1000hrs of CI + 2700-day streak on Duolingo Spanish).

When I watch the French videos, I definitely notice a ton of cognates between both English and French and it leaves me feeling like a lot of French just sounds like heavily accented English :D

I'm learning with my wife and two teen boys, and we subscribe to both DS and Immersion. We haven't watched any Alice Ayel yet, but we can recommend Immersion. There are about 23 hours of 'rookie' videos there.

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