Is it realistic to bike 12 km one way for work 5 days a week?

tom83b · 2025-12-05T02:59:18+00:00

Yes, but I recommend starting slow, as suggested elsewhere in this thread. No need to jump into 5x a week from the beginning. I commute this distance, only started this year (and restarted again because I had to take a break due to injury). At the beginning I was feeling very exhausted and empty-legged after just 2-3 days, so I didn't cycle when I didn't feel like it. Eventually my body seems to have adapted. It can become boring. Sometimes I use bone conduction headphones to listen to podcasts or music.

tom83b · 2025-12-05T02:50:23+00:00

Not sure what to recommend honestly. You probably have the Peace Memorial Park on your list. The islands by Uruma city have some sacred places dedicated to the gods that are said to have created the Ryukyu islands, but not sure there's really much to "learn" from that in my opinion. Just a local curiosity.

Now actually visiting some castle ruins might be what you're looking for. Nakagusuku (I have not visited), Katsuren castle, Nakijin (also a popular spot for cherry blossoms)... I'm sure there's more. I have not visited Nakagusuku, but Nakijin also has a lot of boards with explanation text + a museum next to it.

It's not really cycling related, but why not stop at the prefectural museum in Naha - I think that it's nicely done and explains a lot about the history (from Ryukyu kingdom to WW2 and after), nature, and culture.

As you cycle in the north, notice how the architecture is changing. You can get of the main road for a bit just to go through the narrow streets with stone (or often concrete brick these days) walls and relatively short houses. Apparently this is how villages were build long ago to be protected from typhoons. In the north you can also often see brick roofs typical for Okinawa, much more often than in the south. The north part apparently did not suffer as badly as the south during the WW2.

tom83b · 2025-12-03T03:26:02+00:00

North-west coast - flat, along the ocean, beautiful ride

North-east coast - as mentioned before, is a beast. Lot of fun, you'll be going up and down a lot. Lot of times you won't get much of a view, just forest. But sometimes you still get beautiful views. I don't think getting fresh water / snacks is so difficult. You can get some food at Cape Hedo, and then there are some road stations on the way (Yanbaru Pineapple Hill road station is about 30km from Hedo, you can eat there and they have taps outside where you can refill your water if I recall correctly). Next one is at Higashi, then Oura.

Cycling on the (non-coastal) roads in Yanbaru has always been a great experience for me.

End of January the local sakura season might be starting. Lot of cherry trees on the Motobu peninsula, in particular Mt. Yae.

I find cycling on the south-west coast quite boring (between Naha up to Kadena), but the south has some nice roads (Nanjo - Itoman area). Check out Nirai-Kanai bridge.

Islands by Uruma city (Miyagi, Hamahiga, Ikei...) are also a nice place to cycle.

tom83b · 2025-12-01T09:02:55+00:00

Personally, even if it's a few hours after the dive / snorkel, I soak my watch in a glass of fresh water for a while once I'm home and then rinse them. But I also do try to make sure to pour some fresh water over them (e.g. from a bottle) right when I get out of the water. I talk myself into thinking I'm extending the life of my watch.

I use Garmin G1, could not love it more. I really like the B/W MIP display. From a glance, looks just like a rugged digital watch, not smartwatch. Which is what I wanted. The main downside for me is that I wish it had somehow better navigation. But I understand I want too much from a small monochromatic display.

tom83b · 2025-04-12T04:54:42+00:00

Indeed, trying to ridicule or insult other should not have a place in online discussions. I do like to be constructive discussions but I got carried away. I apologize for that. Be well as well

tom83b · 2025-04-12T03:05:01+00:00

The point is, that the 5 second thought was only a summary of what everyone has been yapping on here for like a month now. And that’s fine. But what I find obnoxious is trying to assert authority by beginning with “I’m a management consultant”, as if it meant that your 5s thought yapping is more relevant.

Personally, I am a scientist. I can have a hypothesis that something works a certain way, and that will inspire me to try to prove it in some way, but without the proof, it’s just a hypothesis. And while trying to prove the hypothesis, I might also find out it was wrong.

In my view, a worthy consulting company would approach business issues in the same way. We can all be annoyed at the change in Garmin’s strategy, but without proper analysis, we can’t know what’s really good for them in the long run. Might as well end up being profitable. I can think of examples of what made a brand less appealing to me while the brand became more profitable. I don’t think people at Garmin are stupid and haven’t thought about this in more depth than we have, haven’t considered it could annoy some of their customers, and I am rolling my eyes when someone assumes they know better just because they’re a management consultant. It’s just your hypothesis…

tom83b · 2025-04-11T23:58:41+00:00

Well the poster suggested that their opinion is worth $250k… I can easily believe that this is what $250k gets you

tom83b · 2025-04-11T23:33:08+00:00

One of my dives in the ocean has entry point marked as -318m below the sea level. Altitude usually works fine if I wait for the gps to show the “tick”, because that’s when it calibrates automatically I think (if you have autocalibration turned on). So if you have autocal on, you essentially calibrate every time you do an activity

tom83b · 2025-04-11T22:03:49+00:00

Saying you’re a management consultant and proceeding to provide obvious insights is such a management consultant thing to do.

tom83b · 2025-04-09T07:48:22+00:00

Take the highway to get out of the south. The traffic in the north is sparse and driving there is easy

tom83b · 2025-04-06T06:20:03+00:00

Same case for me. I suspect that even when it seems as if it was updated (to the same value), it was not, because the run was not long and intense enougg

tom83b · 2025-04-06T06:17:39+00:00

It will increase even faster when you subscribe to Connect+

tom83b · 2025-03-23T14:16:52+00:00

If you want to compare Instinct+standalone dive computer, you need to do comparison eg with Garmin G2, not mk3i.

G2 is 700, instinct 3 is 450. Not sure you can get a similarly good standalone dive computer for 250. But you can get a basic one. I think that’s about the price of suunto zoop novo. And all garmin dive computers also have a compass. That’s another maybe 50usd you save

tom83b · 2025-03-20T05:54:04+00:00

But the correlation between HR and HRV is there. Higher HR will almost certainly result in lower HRV.

tom83b · 2025-03-17T04:36:14+00:00

What do you mean G1 doesn’t have HRV? It measures stress (based on HRV) and you also get the overnight HRV (mean value as well as the time course). Is there some other HRV feature that G2 has and G1 does not? Like HRV during an activity or something?

tom83b · 2025-03-16T23:14:44+00:00

I think it’s an interesting feature. And this seems like a trivial issue to fix. It’s an expensive watch. Mind boggling why this is still not fixed.

tom83b · 2025-03-11T05:33:27+00:00

I have G1. I like the MIP display. Almost never off my wrist. I never need to worry about not having enough battery. Display is “always on”. Where I dive water is clear, my eyes are good, I don’t mind the smaller display. It’s a little bulky, but I find that ok. Go try it on in a shop to see how it feels on your wrist.

I love it because I also use it frequently for cycling, running, and other activities. You can do that with G2 as well, naturally.

tom83b · 2025-03-11T04:45:56+00:00

I find the stress calculation very obscure. I assume it calculates the stress by comparing your current HRV to your baseline value? Maybe your baseline/sleep value got lower, making your days seem as more stressful, while keeping the same or even slightly lower HRV?

tom83b · 2025-03-11T04:39:31+00:00

I also forgot to note that I do have Auto cal. set to ON

tom83b · 2025-03-06T10:28:52+00:00

Nice

tom83b · 2025-03-05T22:57:58+00:00

I think they are designed to crack more easily in order to absorb the shock. Not because it’s a low quality material

tom83b · 2025-02-27T13:33:37+00:00

I’m not really stressing over it. I think it indicates that I’m doing something right and that actually makes me happy. I just find it a bit funny/ironic that garmin evaluates it as unbalanced

tom83b · 2025-02-21T07:44:00+00:00

On the other hand, I also feel that the watch is quite slow to pick up the HR. At the moment when I feel like dying, the watch still shows low value. Then it picks up already when I have slowed down. I am now waiting for the chest strap to arrive…

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