All I know thank to Google Maps is that it was a 10 mile loop starting and finishing at my house.

The one thing I knew was that the first half of the bike route the road sure kicks my behind.

But, I discovered VeloRoutes. The best tool is http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps. You can track your route and get the exact distance and nice looking graphs when it comes to elevation.

Here is the elevation graph for DMS-10 Mile route.

So this nice looking graph confirms why the first half my bike route kicks my butt.

You can read the math background and google how to measure it.

In short. Cadence is the amount of time you complete a full pedal. If you pedal 50 rotations an hour. Your cadence would be 50.

What I am learning about being a cyclist is that everything that can be measured, should be measured, and will be measured. You measure the distance, the speed, the altitude, and even the calories you have burned.

I am not interested in finishing the race in the top 10. I am interested in finishing the 100+ mile race with out killing my self. Cadence, will be the unit that I will be measuring and hopefully improve as the weeks come and go.

Why is Cadence something that needs to be measured?

If I keep a constant cadence I can condition my self to pedal at a constant and manageable rate. The goal is to keep a constanct pedaling rate regardless if the road is flat or a hill.

So, that lead me to my weekend adventure. I went out and looked for an inexpensive bike computer that could track the cadence for me.

I found an inexpensive wired bike computer that would do the job.

The CatEye Strada Cadence is the only one I found at this price range that came with Cadence.

But, I failed to get it to work.

Even after watching videos like the one below.

So, for now I will just ride and see who I can find to help me troubleshoot my basic bike computer.

Today I learned how to ride with a group and how to let the riders in your group know about hazards on he rode and the safest way to pass someone.

I learned how bicyclist track their progress. I first learned about Pedometers from runners and walkers. I was not sure how they would work on bikes. But, I discovered they come with sensors that count the time the tire and your pedals spin.

So now the geek in me now wants this.

Sadly I don’t think I will be able to get something like that since that cost over 600 dollars. But, they make some really basic cheap ones for like 20 dollars.

I am looking forward to see what I learn next week.

I am training for my first stage of the 1,000 mile bike ride next year. I am training to ride 100 miles in August via the “Team and Training” and I am helping to raise money to help fight blood cancer.

The last few weeks I have been learning new terminology and a new culture. The “Bike Culture” at first glance looks like a group of competitive people. But, what I am slowly learning is that the “Bike Culture” is full of good hearted people.

The first terminology I learned was the word “Saddle”. The word saddle is the word use to describe your bike seat.

The first thing people told me was to upgrade my Saddle. But, honestly I think regardless of your Saddle the hardest thing is getting use to sitting on a bike for 6 yo 8 hours of a time.

I have been riding for a few weeks and I finally got around getting bike shorts.

Thanks to the good people of REI. I was able to find a perfect pair of “Gel Padded Biker Shorts” within my budget.

Getting an upgraded Saddle made my ride softer but the bike shorts have made my ride enjoyable.

Now, I just need to save some money for the helmet and the tire tools I need to have in the next few weeks.

When I made the commitment I had no bike, no bike gear, or even a Helmet.

Just to give the few of you an update.

The wife surprised me by getting me a Trek Bike. It is a nice starter bike. A hybrid bike between a road bike but with the mountain bike feel. It took me many store visits from all over city to finally find the style that I like.

People always ask what bike I recommend. I don’t think you can go by a single brand. You must really go out and see what bike you feel the most comfortable in. If you are going to race you must keep in mind that you will be pedaling for hours at a time.

So, now I must go look for bike shorts and a helmet.

But, the fun started when I discovered the ability to add pictures of people on the phone.

Being the parent that I am. I only had pictures of my kid. So, I added my son Hex and we had a fight.

For the record my son ended up beating me.

But, it sure felt surreal hitting my son. So it made me wonder if an app can be developed to stop or even prevent parents from hitting their kids?

I don’t claim to be the person that coined “Brand Ambassador”. But, in the current state of my life. I can really identify with it.

I have been a “Brand Ambassador” for over 20 years. Haven’t we all?

Majority of us have been an unofficial Brand Ambassadors at one point. Think about the last time you suggested a product, a service, a person, or even advice against a brand?

Their is no secret I love Coffee Bean, Rhapsody, Borders, Netgear, Twitpic, Sobe, and BrightKite. If you follow my tweets you will even find me offering suggestions, tips, and solutions to such products and services. But, in general you will be finding me spreading how much I enjoy their products.

To me a “Social Media Brand Ambassador” is someone that is passionate about a brand as much as they are passionate about social media.

It is only a matter of time before companies will start using “Brand Ambassador” or “Social Media Brand Ambassador” in job titles. Sadly, I suspect companies will simply be re-naming current jobs that are simple marketing positions. Such companies are really going to limit their success.

Personally, the people at @comcastcares, @mediatemple, and @textPlus are good examples of a “Brand Ambassador”. They engage people having issues, asking questions, or giving compliments. They engage people and have a conversation. Never once horse feeding an upsell or product.

What started to be a simple post about the term Brand Ambassador is now becoming a page. The more I think about it the more I want to make business cards that read “Dave Mora – Brand Ambassador” now picture flipping it over and see the logos of the brands that I am am ambassador for?

So, if you work for any of the brands I love. Just know. You can hire me and pay me 0.00 dollars and I will continue to champion for you. I am already doing it for free so no need to pay me. Just allow me to officially call my self your “Brand Ambassador”

But, if you feel need to cut me a check. I will not send it back.

We did the usual iMac troubleshooting and decided to take it to the local Apple store. I mean why have the Apple Care program if we don’t put it to use.

Somehow the idea of “us” going to the Apple store ended up being “I” was going to the Apple store. So, here I am chugging along the wife’s iMac through the mall and waiting Apple Genius.

My turn came up and the Apple Genius confirmed what already knew. But, after a few minutes the Apple Genius informed me that the Hard Drive was toast and that it needed to be replaced. People always say that Apple products are more reliable over PC’s. But, in the last 2 years every Apple product we have has failed one way or another. But, the fact that Apple always replaces it without any hassles makes us forget the fact our product failed.

This time a hardware replacement felt more like the lazy way out of a problem. The wife had not backed up her latest bash of iTunes purchased.

One feature I love about Apple computers is the Target Disk Mode option. The ability to boot up 1 computer and connect it to a 2nd computer as an external hard drive. I asked the Apple Genius if I would be able to do that to back up data but his answer was “Nope your drive is toast” nothing you can do can make it boot up.

Personally, every time I hear someone say that the answer to fix any computer trouble is to format and reinstall the OS or replace the Hard Drive I feel is the lazy way out.

I am not Mac geek.

I am just a PC living in a Mac world.

I made the appointment to go back in 5 days for the Hard Drive replacement since it takes 3 to 5 days for the store to get the Hard Drive.

I came back home determine to get the iMac booted to the point where I can back up the Misses DRM music.

Thanks to the Apple Support site. I discovered the Command + S key. Booting up the iMac into a terminal window was something new to me. But, a geek will always welcome a terminal window.

I ran it. It found errors. It fixes it.

Guess what happened next?

The wife once again has a working iMac. I used this time to back up her DRM stuff and other essentials files. Now she can enjoy her mac until I take it back for the new Hard Drive.

I mean. Why not take advantage of a new Hard Drive

I try to reflect back on a daily basis and be thankful that I woke up for another day. But that is just my nature.

This year is one of the few years that I have a long list of things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for having the opportunity to help others along when they ask for help or just through random acts of kindness. I am thankful for meeting new and awesome people at events, at work, at stores, in my local community, through social networks, and especially through my little silly blog. I am thankful for the new friendships I have made in Guatemala.

I am thankful that my father, although thousands of miles away, can still be part of my life for another day.

I am thankful for those that have helped this year with changes in life.

But, I am mostly thankful for being a father, a husband, a brother, and a son.

So with all that said. Its turkey time and I leave you with a video clip from @tanjab Give Thanks video series.

You can contribute your own “Give Thanks” video or check out the many of them she has collected at www.GiveThanks.tv.