We’ve stocked Suunto’s training watches for years now and have had a lot of enquiries in that time concerning the similar offerings produced by Garmin. We’ve finally managed to get our hands on the Garmin watches and they look great!

As you’d expect from Garmin, these watches are all built around GPS units however they aren’t designed to give your location. Instead they use the GPS to give the most accurate possible distance and speed data in order to help you monitor your work out. We have decided only to stock the watches which combine GPS and heart rate monitoring as we feel that heart rate data is essential for anyone who is serious about improving their performance.

We’re also stocking a range of Garmin accessories for the watches.

Garmin Forerunner 110 HR

Garmin Forerunner 110HR

The Garmin Forerunner 110HR is our best value GPS enabled training watch. It features real-time speed and distance data plus heart rate monitoring and is compatible with Garmin’s online training community Garmin Connect as are all our Garmin training watches.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT HR

Garmin Forerunner 310XT HR

The Garmin Forerunner 310XT HR is a superb training accessory for multisports athletes. Couple it with the Quick Release Kit for the ultimate triathlon training partner.

Garmin Forerunner 405 HR

Garmin Forerunner 405 HR

The 405 HR is a superb runners watch with a unique touch interface which makes it incredibly easy to adjust on-the-move. Advanced GPS features such as auto-lapping make this one of our most advanced training aids.

Garmin Forerunner 405 CX HR

Garmin Forerunner 405 CX HR

The 405CX takes the amazing range of training features offered by the 405 and adds heart-rate based calorie calculations to help you work out exactly how much energy your body is using in a given workout.

Yesterday I took my mountain bike along the 7 summits trail.

This is a legendary singletrack  route in BC and deemed “Epic” by the IMBA.

It basically traverses the Rossland mountain range and gets right into the high alpine terrain.  The route is 37km in length with 1200m of climbing and nearly 2000m of descent.  The whole route is just perfect singletrack.

As a mountain bike route is combines great scenery, punishing singletrack climbs and a amazing amount of descent.  This is no cross country route, you really need a capable all mountain bike to get the most from this route.

Our group had a couple of mechanicals, and 2 people dropped out at the halfway point. All in it took 8 hours- probably 5 hrs riding and 3 hrs fixing things or taking rests.

The Weather was just about OK, a couple of rainshowers and about 8-12 degrees.

My top kit choices for the day were:
Deuter Speed Lite 10 litre pack, the smallest pack I could get away with.

Marmot Windshirt Fantastic top, kept me warm and wicked the moisture away. Packs away easy too.

This is easy the best long distance MTB route I have done. Still sore today. None of the pictures do any justice to the downhill trails, just come and experience them for yourself.

For more info and some much better pictures see this link: More details here.

Thanks to Kevin, Martin, Tracy, Lou and Laurie.

Pics below:

Top of the first Climb, Mt Plewman in background, this is great ski touring terrain in winter.

View towards Old Glory.

Looking back Granite Mountain, the main ski hill for Red Resort.

Amazing Trees at top of Mt Plewman

Just Pass Record Ridge.

The Kootenay’s is a region of mountains  in the South East corner of British Columbia, Canada.

It is home to some fantastic MTB terrain, and has had a remarkable number of very well built trails.

If you are used to UK trail centre riding areas such as Glentress or Dalby then this place will blow you away. The riding is a mix of crosscountry loops and shuttle accessed downhill style descents. 2-3000ft descents are the norm here.

Highlights:

Eli Sim in Nelson is a great ride. It takes about 50mins to get to the top by a fireroad then you get a great fast flowing descent with plenty of intermediate stunts.

The Awakener
This is a route near Castlegar, BC, a great mix of advanced trail types

The wildlife here is amazing. So far I have seen 5 bears, all have been fairly relaxed so far and just slowly leave the area when they see/ smell you. Today in Rossland we watched one climb a tree searching for food. Other wildlife seen recently include Ospery, Deer, Marmots, Bald eagles, Mountain sheep, Humingbirds, Chipmunks and Beaver.

Bear seen slinking away in Rossland
Rossland Riding

The terrain here is not really any different to areas of the Alps. The difference is the huge effort local riders and clubs have put into the trail building which results in beautiful riding trails with plenty of oppurtunites to rip it up and improve your riding. If you love mountain biking this area is a must see.

I’ll post some more links to vids shortly when I get my helemt cam working properly.