I dumped the computers on all 3 bikes this year. It's not that I'm disinterested in mileage and cadence. I have been, however,struggling with some knee and hip issues and found that the I was focusing to much on the the miles and not listening to my body. Now I listen to my body. The down side being that mileage is down and weight is up.
That's why I did want to know more data, rather than relying on my fickle, lying body.
When a friend gave me his "old" iPhone 4s a couple of years ago, first thing I did was try some cycling apps. I still don't even have a data plan or use it as a phone (although I can at home via Google phone over wifi). I still use Cyclemeter, Wahoo Fitness and/or Strava for almost every ride, even a 2-3 miler to the grocery store and back.
The problem with listening to my body is that my body always insisted we were miserable. I've been in chronic pain, often severe, since a 2001 car wreck broke my back and neck in six places. By listening to my body I gained 50 lbs, barely did any walking, and was still using a cane 13 years later.
By 2015 I had to admit nothing was gonna get better unless I tried something different. I'd lost some weight from dieting, and was walking up to 5 miles a few times a week, often without the cane. But my aerobic conditioning was still ... well, non-existent. I huffed and puffed just walking slowly up a gradual hill from the grocery store, or a single flight of stairs.
I was just as miserable the last half of 2015 after I'd resumed cycling. It was fun, sure, but I felt like I wasn't making any progress and was on the verge of quitting.
The phone and apps eliminated the subjective stuff about how I felt. It turned out I was actually riding faster and farther on some days when I felt miserable. And on days when I felt good I wasn't necessarily faster or riding farther.
The feedback and data gave me baselines and milestones. I don't worry about what other riders are doing. But it helps to evaluate my own progress over time.
The apps and data don't take away the pleasure of enjoying my mostly casual rides. But it does remove some of the subjectivity that leads to negativity and self-reinforcing misery.
And that negativity, self-reinforcing misery, inflexibility and distrust of adapting are the traps of aging. As a caregiver for three consecutive older family members over nearly 30 years, I've seen it in my own family many times. And I see it in my aging friends and neighbors. Lots of "I can't" and "I don't feel like it" and variations of "Well, I tried but I didn't experience immediate relief and gratification so just gimme drugs."
At 59 I'm struggling with the same challenges.
The feedback from the phones, apps, computers and doodads help offset that subjectivity. It doesn't steal my bliss. It just tells me "Hey, you're doing fine. Keep going."
And, sure, sometimes I'll see a week or two of slumping in speed and distance and it gives me a baseline for evaluating those subjective feelings of physical discomfort. Last year's slump and weight loss turned out to be due to a simmering low grade infection from a cracked molar. I've put that 10 lbs back on, despite riding harder and farther. And some really slow and exhausting rides this spring were mostly due to heavy winds and gusts. The data confirms that. So I'm relieved of the self-imposed misery of claiming "Oh, well, I'm just getting old and feeble." Nope, my other cycling friends who rode those routes were experiencing the same challenges.