I’m compliant with Rule #74: no Garmin, no cyclometer, just an uncluttered cockpit. I’m not anti-data, if I could generate some awesome data I’d like to know about it. If I was racing I would train with data. I just got bored with looking at the numbers and not doing anything about them. When my Cateye cyclometer/heart rate monitor demanded yet another bi-monthly battery change, I took the whole thing off and never looked back. Total milage, elevation gained, I no longer care about these numbers.
Can you ride without data? Does a ride even happen if it doesn’t show up on Strava? Bretto brilliantly introduced the V-meter three years ago. It was an idea that flew in the face of all the new technology we needed on the bike. Push on the pedals and if in doubt, push on them harder.
I did buy into a heart rate monitor or two in my time. Early on we used them like kids used the early alcohol breathalyzers installed in bars. That was an ill conceived notion if there ever was one; it’s a damn bar, only young drunk males are going to use breathalyzers and it won’t be to see if they are too high to drive. Rather, they are going to use it as a drunkometer, to see who can get drunker. For us it was young males on bikes, I’m gonna peg this HRM, see, see, I can get a higher number than you because you suck.
Without data I know when I’m going faster than 65 kph, things do change at those speeds. And I know when I’ve done a 160 km ride only because it’s a route I know from past centuries. I do live on an island. But I still make deposits at the pain bank at regular times. Being too big to climb and living on the side of a volcanic island has made every ride something. When I was younger I couldn’t enjoy a forty-five minute ride, I actually wouldn’t go on one. What was the point of such a short ride? Now forty-five minutes can mean forty minutes of steady climbing and five minutes of descending. That’s a ride.
Getting shelled by your friends tells you something, something you already knew, they are faster. Riding with friends who are faster is the best training aid. I figure it’s a quality training ride if I barely make it home. Do more of those, keep doing them a little harder.
Keepers Tour 2012 was doubly fun for the training required before the trip even started. We all need incentive to crank up that kind of fitness. I’m sure the 200 on 100 Cogal riders felt the same way; this ride is going to hurt but it will hurt less if I murder myself in the months before. The Spring Campaign is looming and I’m already devising training rides that will either make me fit or ruin me, or both at the same time, which is what usually happens.
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@wiscot I think The Prophet's renowned 200+ racing days per year made up for being a few riders short of a 2013 squad.
@Yvonne very well said and a great first post ( I think it's a first).
@PeakInTwoYears
Aww, that's no fun. Part of the excitement of riding MTB trails is having no idea where you are or how to get back to civilization. When you find yourself calculating how much protein is in a 2" rubber tire, you know you're doing it right.
@G'rilla
on those few days I actually have an entire day off from work or school I dont care about where I am.
@G'rilla
I'm a navigation geek. I just dig it. On the other hand, not knowing where I am feels like having a rash.
But I don't have a Garmin on my road bike, do I?
@eightzero
what, like this?
As to power meters, it's all good if you want to use one. I don't, but whatever, we all have our own path. HOWEVER, don't keep rambling on during group rides about how much power you're putting out (or not putting out). I don't give a flying fuck, and the numbers have no meaning to me whatsoever. 400 watts, 10,000 watts? What are we, lightbulbs now? I have no way to relate those numbers to my effort.
@ChrisO: Good on ya, but $1000 is $1000. I could spend that on a ton of other stuff that is satisfying to me. I just can't bring myself to drop that on what I can get a nice set of carbon tubs for. Or throw it at the mortgage. Or food.
Carry on............
I loves me some post-ride data on Strava but during the ride the only things showing on my Garmin are speed, distance covered & time of day.
Nice little feature on Strava (beyond most of the standard features) is the distance tracking for each bike & also any components that you've added/replaced.
@Mikael Liddy I have seen that before. In my opinion it's absolutely ridiculous. Why don't they just make a computer simulator that you can get on and ride and then track every last metric of your performance. That way you can stay off the roads and leave them less congested for those of us who would like to just ride.
Data and numbers are tools, as such, they are useful if one wants to measure, track, and improve one's progress. I rode with a HRM/speed/cadence for several years when getting back into cycling, and it was very helpful and motivating for me to see my improvement, especially while I was recovering from a broken foot that pretty much kept me from doing anything aerobic for a couple of months. Then, at some point a couple of years ago, the mounting tabs broke off, which coincided with the advent of apps that used the GPS functionality of my iPhone, and I couldn't be bothered to replace it.
I now enjoy riding free of immediate data, but also like to be able to look at what I've done in the last ride/week/month. For me the best feature of an app like Strava is its ability to generate the ride profiles. There's something supremely satisfying to me about having completed a ride where I keep doing just one more hill and being able to look at the sawtooth like profile that it generates.