HEART RATE MONITOR SAGA

     I almost don't want to post this.  I blame it on old age, a lack of mental acuity.  Usually I blame oxygen debt for such lapses, but I can't in good conscience for this boner.  But first, a short history.  Early last year I employed a coach.  That entailed purchasing a power meter and logging my training on Training Peaks.  This was a successful venture in that my speed and endurance improved and I learned what I needed to do to keep that form.  Recently I parted ways with the coach, partly due to economics and partly because I planned to do less structured cycling for the next six months.  This meant I would be doing my own fitness monitoring.  Ugh!  I'll need mentoring on what all that data means.  Generally, I pay no attention to the power data and lots of attention to my heart rate.  Us old guys really can't afford to push it too hard for too long.  And so we begin my story.
     Last week I took my first three hour ride in a year.  Actually, three hours and ten minutes.  It was a good workout, uneventful, and I was properly sweaty at the end.  Normally, there are only three or four cars in the parking lot at Old Settlers Park Pavilion.  Today every space was filled with Spectrum trucks.  Apparently they were there for lunch and a meeting of some sort.  Anyhow, I was thrown a bit off my finish routine and tossed bike and gear into the car and came home.  The next day I couldn't find my HR strap.  But I was in a hurry to ride so left after a cursory search.  I even went back to the park to see if it were on the ground or if someone might have seen it and put it on the fence or table.  Nothing.
     When I got back home, I thoroughly searched the car and house, dirty clothes basket, anyplace I could have dropped it.  Nothing.  Another ride without the HR data..  More searching, this time in places it couldn't possibly have been.  Nothing.  I like having HR data.  So I hit up Amazon and had it delivered on Sunday, yesterday.
     Pairing the HR transmitter is easy.  I sat down at the table this morning and turned on the Garmin 520, settings>sensors> add sensor.  Piece of cake.  The Garmin was showing connected, so I put it on to make sure I was getting the heart rate.  Nothing.  I wet the sensors and still no reading.  I double checked that the computer was reading the HR monitor.  A glimmer of light went off in my head.  I went outside and walked a few houses down the street.  I had the HR on but now got zero connection.  Pook!  Ding-fu!!
     Back at the house, I went through the pairing sequence again.  This time I paired All Sensors.  A different one came up.  I clicked on it, then went back to the ride screen.  Sure enough, a big 74 showed up on the screen.  Sigh!  No problem, Amazon has a good return policy.  Oops!  When everything seemed to be in order, I'd walked out the trash can, on the street for pick-up, and tossed everything.  And the trash truck had just come by about five minutes prior.
     I backed the car out of the garage and turned on the garage lights.  Time to go over everything.  Not inside the shoes, not inside the car, not inside the Camelbak.  Ah!  Somehow, in my rush to leave the parking lot the other day, the HR strap came attached to the Camelbak, disguising itself as part of the pack itself.  Even though I'd picked it up out of the car and hung it up on a hook, it just appeared like one of the many straps the Camelbak has.  Now I have two HR transmitters and straps. If anyone needs a replacement, let me know.