Originally Posted by
hhnngg1
If you're just riding for 'fitness', forget about the HRM. If you still want to track your miles because it's fun, just get a cheap bike computer, non cadence needed. Just ride hard when you feel like doing it, and enjoy the rest. The metrics are really only important when you want to know exactly how much you're improving and what kind of stimuli you need to keep improving, which is mainly for racers. It's overkill for fitness cyclists unless you specifically enjoy this sort of stuff.
For once, I totally agree with you. I used bike computers for years, but haven't for 11 years. My main objective is to have fun which includes trying to keep up on fast group rides.
My improvement or decline is measured by if I can keep up or not and by how I feel after a long day of chasing or climbing.