I’ve just got a Garmin Edge 500 with cadence & HR for my birthday. I will get round to reading the online manual, but any good tips etc on how to set it up/use it?

So far I have worked out how to programme in my 3 separate bikes ie MTB, Cross bike and turbo and have set up displays for each.

I assume if I want to use the cadence sensor on 2 different bikes, I am as well buying a 2nd sensor?

Also can anyone point me in the right direction for trainig advice etc.

Ta

I don’t bother with cadence on the MTB, it’s useful on the trainer and ‘interesting’ on the road but less constant off-road to be of much use. Particularly when watching the trail and not really having chance to look at the display.

Find out your LTHR and adjust the HR zones to suit, plenty of reading around to find out more. Something I keep meaning to do properly…

If you don’t mind swapping the sensor over (e.g. from ‘best’ bike to winter hack)then stick with one. They are easy enough to remove although you only get one thick & one think bush to use so that can be an issue.

If you use different bikes regularly then a second cadence sensor is a good idea. I’m glad I got the second one.

I’m more concerned with cadence on the road but a mate rides purely on HR zones and doesn’t bother with cadence. Summary, try both and decide what works best for you.

HTH

I’d say Cadance on Trubo essential, Cadance on Road useful but Cadance on MTB is almost miss leading.

MTB cadance constantly changes and stops due to the decents/chanagble nature of the terrain, but cross (assuming your riding a mix off road/off road/firetrail etc) and turbo are more open to constant spinning.

Training wise, I’d use Alerts to ensure your cadance doesn’t drop to much on the cross/turbo around 80 is a good target to keep above and likewise set lower alerts for your HR to make sure your not relaxing too much.

You can also set up workouts which come in great for the Turbo and Courses (bread crumb following) for following new routs (works best on the road).

I set mine up so it has 8 figures on the lead screen, 8 summaries on the second, andfive numbers (Power being the largest) and cadence and lap time on the third. For training I ride to power on the big number.

If you don’t have power, use HOUR on the third screen. Cadence off road isn’t worth much. Cadence on road and turbo I find vital. I’d buy a second cadence sensor – the bontrager one is very good and doesn’t have speed. The pedal magnet is FAR better than the Garmin one.

If you want cheap approximate power, buy a PowerCal Heart Rate monitor. I ride to that on the turbo, and it’s not bad. I’ve also used my power meter and for simple interval stuff like Sufferfest, the difference is not worth the seven fold price increase.

I do tend to have cadence displayed on my main screen but to be fair i’m pretty good at maintaining a happy spin rate on my own. I have used the HRM but TBH again found it was only telling me what i already knew ie that hill was hard work.

I’m sure there is a lot more science behind it all if you take your training seriously.

The one thing I did spend a lot of time researching was how to map and load courses to enable the cue card screen and give turn directions. Have recently stumbled accross this post/site which has some good screenshots of what can be achieved and a helpful how to guide:

http://velogps.com/garmin-edge-500-turn-turn-directions-courses/

Worth a ‘like’ to keep an eye on what else gets published.

On the road I set screen 3 to show speed, cadence and heart rate. Nice big numbers for my ageing eyes…

Oh and Strava, Strava, Strava for me rather than Garmin Connect or whatever it’s called