My year on Fitbit (Part 2)

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Fitbit on Amazon

I at to smile at this twitter from Fitbit:

Since I’ve already accomplished this and more by using the excellent Fitbit API and the  script written by John McLaughlin aka @loghound for Google docs. Ernesto Ramirez also made an  how to video on Vimeo which easily explained the process, so that even I could do it!

The results can be found in this google spreadsheet (It may take a while to download, it’s rather big.

In my case the answer is 8,867,720 steps or 7,161Km (4,449 miles) which took 1,226.982 Kcals of energy (more or less I did lose just over 1kg in weight through the year). My weight chart is here

Time wise I spent:-

  • 32% in bed, asleep for 30% + 2100 awakenings :-(
  • 36% sedentary
  • 14% lightly active
  • 7% very active
  • Using google charts I produced this rather nifty chart of my daily steps.

 

So an interesting year for me.

9 Jan 2013 update. Here is the email:

Fitbit annual stats email

 

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A year with a Fitbit

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Fitbit with lanyard & carabiner

Fitbit with lanyard & carabiner

Today marks my first aniversary with a Fitbit, well two of them as one broke getting on the plane in Geneva. The replacement one, kindly supplied FOC by Fitbit eventually got caught up in a washing machine cycle :-( Fortunately, by then I had fixed the original one with superglu, the second one has now dried out and I think shows every sign of working. So I have been able to monitor my steps for the full year. In marked contrast to the Silva ones which could only hack a million steps before packing up.

The grand total for 201/12 is:

8,874,488 steps which they reckon is 4,498.23 miles walked.

Here is the steps per month:

Steps per month

The total floors climbed in the year is:

34,480 floors or about 344800 feet climbed about 65 miles! or about one Everest a month :-)

Here is the monthly floors chart.

Of course I have to sleep as well:

For calories I get ¨This stat is unavailable while we tune a couple things. Don’t worry, your data is safe. Be back soon – Team Fitbit.¨ and the weight will have to wait till I return home.

I will add fun graphs etc to this page as I get them

All my Fitbit stuff is public at http://www.fitbit.com/user/229JTZ

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First Great Walk

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Tomorrow I try my first New Zealand Great Walk it’s the Tongariro Northern Circuit and goes around two active volcanoes Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. What makes it different for me is that I have to take all my food & possible water for two nights & three days. I’ve booked both the Oturere Hut and Walhohonu hut and taxi service to take me to Mangatepopo and collect me from the Whakapapa Village Centre

The weather forecast is looking OKish although there are certainly high winds. I don’t intend on going to the summit’s so hopefully should be OK.

I’ve downloaded the relevant New Zealand Topo50 maps into the Viewranger app and will be taking a spare battery.

Should be interesting – now to pack my bag :-)

 

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IMG_2301

Arrival in New Zealand

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I left Cambridge at 9am on Sunday the 14th October and arrived in Auckland at 2pm on Tuesday the 16th with brief stops at Dubai, Kuala Lumpur & Melbourne on the way. Thats 43 hours  straight without any proper sleep.

First job in Auckland was to try and get my D550 camera fixed as it went totally dead on the way over. It wasn’t the battery and so I ended up buying a second hand body from Camera & Camera on Queen street for about $599 :-( an expensive start to the trip. Next job was to sort out the iPhone.

text from 3

Welcome text from 3

Three had kindly sent me a text  on arrival offering internet at £6,000 a GB in New Zealand. I thought that just a tad to expensive… So I went over to Vodafone where I quickly was set up with a 2GB / 1 month Supa Prepay Broadband+ package complete with iPhone5 SIM for $50 a month a saving of ££5,960 :-)

Emily Place signAfter all that excitement it was off for a well needed sleep at Jucy’s hostel. in Emily Place :-)

 

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I arrive in Kuala Lumpur, well Gate C22

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Dubai - Kuala Lumpur flightpathFor some reason the  flight from Dubai to Melbourne takes a break in Kuala Lumpur  after 5689km. It’s not clear what is happening other than we are all deplane with our belongings. The pilot reminded us that there is a death penalty for anyone having drugs!

So we come out of one door and re-nter through another, having our bags x-rayed far more thoroughly than at Gatwick. I had to remove my kettle and aluminium spec case so the lady could see they were harmless.

Now on my 4th airline meal are a couple served earlier:

Dinner on EK016

 

Emirates snack

Well we are all boarding the same plane, same seat for the next leg to Melbourne!

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Travelling to New Zealand

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Geoff leaving CambridgeCurrently flying 543mph at 35,000 feet en route on the 3602 miles to Dubai. This is the first leg of my marathon journey to Auckland.

The journey across London was once again bedevilled by an ‘incident’ on the platform. Leading to the closure of St Pancras which on top of the closure of the Victoria line & Circle line (well it is Sunday). Not finding any buses I quickly jumped into a passing black cab, whose voluble driver promised to get me to Victoria for 15 quid maximum then proceeded with his life story About his travels to all the (ex)colonies in the 60′s. Staying in each one for a couple of years.

At Gatwick I eventually succumbed to buying a Kindle but could I get it to sync :-( I’m sure it was getting in a muddle with the Kindle apps I have on my Macs :-( in the end I downloaded the books to the Air and then used a USB cable on the plane to drag them into the Kindle. So I can now read the new Goddard books at less than £3 a pop.

A weird thing is that charging the Kindle through the backseat USB socket on this B777-300 means I cannot read it at the same time :-(

Hopefully will get to post this in Dubai! I’m certainly not paying 3′s £6 a Mb roaming rate though

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July snow

GR10 Merens to Bouillouses

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Lac d'EtagnasSally and I have now completed the first two days of my resumed GR10 trek along The Pyrenees and even though I recently completed The South West Coast Path I’m finding it tough going.

Maybe its the altitude as we are spending a lot of time above 2000metres or it could be the backpack is heavier as we loaded up with food due to staying in remote refuges or maybe I’m just getting old :-( Hopefully, my fitness will return over the next 100 miles.

The weather has been excellent, good visibility and sunny most of the time which is in marked contrast to my previous trips :-)

The route and photographs can be found on Everytrail, The Day numbers are taken from the Cicerone GR10 guide.:
GR10 Day39 Merens les Vals to Refuge des Besines at EveryTrail

Day 40 GR10 Refuge des Besines to Refuge des Bouillouses at EveryTrail

The pics are also on Google+ Day1 here Day2 here

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GR10 map

Finishing the GR10

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It’s time for another walkie :-) This time it’s a 113mile stroll, completing the 538 mile GR10 trek from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast along the French/Spanish border.

Geoff Starting GR10 in HendayeI started the walk from Hendaye on the 4th September 2007 giving up at the halfway stage, in totally foul weather, at Bagneres de Luchon on 25th September 2007.

Last year I returned and set out from Bagneres on the 9th July hoping to reach Arles sur Tech, so that I could spend some time with Dave & Susie who had rented a gite there.

Yellow trainHowever, I ran out of time, so decided to stop at Merens Les Vals (Actually at Ax les Thermes) and save a few days by taking the train  to the Spanish border at Latour-de-Carol where I caught  the lovely open topped Yellow Train to Villefranche followed by a bus to Vernet . After spending the night. I then walked back up to the GR10 near Canigou and then down to Arles (a tough day’s hike!).

This year I’m taking Sally (previously I walked it on my own) to Ax les Thermes to sample the sulphurous waters and hot baths before starting the GR10 again at Merens. This time, walking all the way, so we should finish the GR10, arriving at the Mediterranean in Banyuls. :-) I’m not taking the tent this year so hopefully the gites/refuges/hotels are not to busy!

Not sure how much blogging etc will get done especially after reading this excellent article by Earl “Why Have Travelers Stopped Talking To Each Other?“also some of the refuges are quite remote with no regular phone line. But I’m taking the Air just in case…..

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Scarpa Terra GTX Boots at 1.5 million steps 680 miles

40 days of wear on Scarpa Hiking Boots

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Final update! I returned the boots to Open Air who sent them onto Scarpa’s UK agent (Mountain Boot Company). on June 8th they refunded me the full purchase price with an admonishment from Open Air that they won’t supply me another pair of this boot model!

This an update to the disappointing saga of my  latest pair of Scarpa Terra GTX boots, purchased from Open Air in Cambridge, UK on the 7th April 2012 for over £120.

Scarpa Terra GTX Boots at 1.5 million steps 680 milesFrom my first post you can see the heels started to wear very badly after only 127 miles and started to leak water at 307 miles.  I’ve now completed the 676 miles of The South West Coast Path. This is a pic of the boots today after about 1.5 million steps or 680 miles (1000Km) or so. As you can see both heels are totally  worn down (making them lethal in wet conditions), the toes are also close to their limits. Most of the walking was over pretty soft terrain (you can see the rubber isn’t shredded at all).

Whilst away, I entered into some email correspondence with Scarpa which turned out very disappointing. Nathan Fullwood, Ast. General Manager of the UK distributors, The Mountain Boot Company, promised to call but none came :-(   In an email to Open Air their response was:

“The wear rate of an outsole is linked to a number of factors including rubber shore. However Factors such as the midsole ( be it pu, Eva etc ) and the internal midsole ( texon, nylon internal board) will have a bearing even before one considers terrain, walking style and consumer abrasion.
The terra construction is overall designed to be light and cushioned, with an upper and sole that perform/ wear in tandem As the boot is close to impossible to resole effectivly. One could increase the durability of the sole by adding more rubber, but this would increase weight.
In our experience of the terra having sold over 50,000 pairs in the uk over the last 4 years, we are comfortable with its components and performance for its intended use. If we have seen a return on the product, it has almost always been linked to a more experienced and serious user expecting more from the product than it was really designed to do.
As such as per our initial feedback we would propose to trade your customer up into a product such as the ranger gtx or perhaps even a delta gtx. ” (my emphasis)

So they expect £120 to only buy you a pair of boots not designed for serious walking? Their website clearly says something different:

THE SCARPA® TERRA GTX WALKING BOOTS ARE IDEAL FOR HILL WALKERS LOOKING FOR COMPLETE WATERPROOF PROTECTION AND COMFORT

So it’s back to Open Air who say they will return them to Scarpa for me, maybe I should get the family Italian connection’s to give someone at Scarpa head office a call :-)

It’s amazing to me that no one seems to make boots with easily replaceable heels, I would have thought they could be made to bolt on, rather like the bindings on my snow board. then I could carry spare heels on my trips :-)

 


 

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