One by one the extras on my bike computer have gone away. I use a Garmin 500, which I realize is old technology, but it is there. I have removed the heart monitor. I have removed the wheel speed monitor. I removed the cadence counter. I now only display the GPS speed, the distance and the time of day. Most of the men and women I ride with have Strava and other programs. They have power meters. Are you kidding me. These guys are in their 60s and 70s. I can tell them how much power they have == very little. But, get your enjoyment where you can, and they do enjoy all this tech stuff.

Cute. I am an old guy myself... and I enjoy tracking my miles, times, and even calories burned. I just use a phone app... I don't even mess with a bike computer. I even keep the phone in it's ZipLoc bag in my jersey. It's all serious fun.

I don't think I'd be riding if it an exercise thing. I ride a lot... but I just ride for fun.

1 of my greatest joys on a ride is clean handlebars.
YMMV

This is awesome, I get to use the same image twice in one day!



How precisely does it impact your ride if some other guy in the club has a full array of sensors sticking to him? Something about "different strokes for different folks" seems mightily applicable here.

But I must say, most of you old guys sound about as fun as knee replacement.

The only thing I look at is HR and cadence. My Garmin tells me when to turn. All the rest of it I don't need to know, especially stuff like speed, distance, and the time of day.

I'd have all that gear, but I'm too cheap. I can afford any toy I want, but I just can't bring myself to buy them. Clearly, I need therapy, but they charge for that too, so I do without.

I use distance, speed, average speed and cadence (though not cadence on the fixed gear).
Why?
I'm a numbers nerd and like recording and looking at them. They serve very little use beyond that though occasionally it's been useful to look back through the log to work out how long a trip is going to take me... and that's been very rare.

I have found that it's too easy and a big mistake to let the computer dictate how you ride - trying to maintain a cadence, trying to maintain a speed, trying to maintain an average. This is a mistake because you will push yourself too hard... though that's not always a bad thing in itself.

I ride for pleasure. I get my pleasure in a particular way. You might get pleasure from different things to me (eg, smashing yourself to beat a time). However, if you're not enjoying, you need a bloody good reason because I can't see the point.

Missus got me a cyclometer 15 years ago. It was still in it's packaging. It went straight to bin not long ago. I don't think they do them like that anymore.

No interest in any of that stuff. My ride to work always takes about the same time, unless there is heavy snow.

I like my old school Cateye, but I really only use it for speed, time and distance. The cadence sensor could definitely come off, but I'd have to cut it off since it's hard wired in-line with the wheel sensor, so there's little point to that. Though I suppose that I could at least leave the magnet for it off the crank arm.

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.

I like to count my mileage (as an annual goal) as well as my average speed. I also use the mapmyride app and just recently got an HRM, but those are interesting diversions, not really essential. Simplicity is certainly worth aiming for.

As an aside, I am still using an original Avocet 20 Cyclometer that I purchased in 1985. Reads in kilometers only. Still works great, and because of the 4 magnets, updates a lot quicker than modern ones.

The only gizmos on my handlebars at this point are my mp3 player and portable speaker. I measure my performance by how well I can remember all the lyrics to every Jimmy Buffett song in the mix. If I miss one, it's time for a water stop. If I miss two, it's time to go home. Life is good.

You have new technology, just not cutting edge next new thing stuff. You are way out in front of my Garmin Geko 100. These you cant even find at a yard sale.

I'm down to distance and speed on one screen on my Edge 500, and percent of grade and elevation gain on the second screen. I don't know why, BikeArkansas, you made what seems like an unkind comment about the strength of older riders.

Gee Wally, I'm shooting for a Rollfast speedometer for my latest Rollfast project myself

You guys got any clue as to how much those magnets attached to your wheels and pedals slow you down? You are foot-powering small generators. Heck, at our age (approaching 80) we need every bit of assistance we can get.

Throw away the magnets!!

As far as the various Apps and Garmins and similar - well, they all need recharging, using up MY electricity in the process and putting an extra load on the electrical system, requiring more generators powered by coal, or wind or natural gas or whatever!

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.

Simple Garmin GPS uploaded to Garmin Connect and from there to Strava, which I wouldn't have signed up for but required for National Bike Challenge this year. Strava is interesting, I must say.
Basically, just tracking miles for the last few years.
Got rid of those energy-sucking magnets when went to GPS last year.

I still use old Sigma Sport bike computers. They are cheap and give me the basic data I need. And it really only needs to be close... but the data is still shown to 2 decimal points... lol.

Many years ago I had a cadence sensor. This is great for someone starting out. After you get used to a high cadence it becomes pretty meaningless as the years go on.

I rarely ride to try to hit an average, unless I'm feeling really good and moving along at a good pace.

John

I'm trying to stay ahead of the reaper by as far as possible and there are days that I feel like my chips have been cashed in. Being able to see results during and after the ride is extremely helpful in revealing my status. I understand why some might want no part of the data that can be accessed with today's electronics and that is their prerogative.

The live information during my solo 76 mile segment of today's ride kept me honest in maintaining an average mph and the info during the second group 45 mile segment allowed me to push and keep on track with the other rider's speeds.

I find the information very helpful NOT like being a vampire just sucking the fun out of my rides.

I use a Garmin 800 and find it useful, interesting and informative esp. when comparing data from previous rides.

Lately, due to back problems, I've had to switch from my normal road bikes to a recumbent and the Garmin shows me just how far I need to progress on my recumbent skills to match my previous "normal" road bike levels. Long way to go!

But at least I can see I'm making progress so I really appreciate having the Garmin along for the ride.

Rick / OCRR

I like what [MENTION=418370]canklecat[/MENTION] said - and from my perspective, I don't want to offend any of you, -- here comes the "but" you knew was coming - but ... this discussion makes me think many of you are giving up on living to the fullest in some way. And the "I don't need it" is the back door rationalization. It sounds "old" and it sounds depressing and like "settling."

To each his own, I'm fine with that if there is a simplicity there that puts people in their zone, and happy to be wrong about my comment above. But, I'm fighting way too hard with my own demons right now, centered around themes of what I've lost versus what potential I have in my life. What I read feels like settling. I've settled far too many times because it was the safest way or the fastest way out of a bad situation - and been sorry after and hated myself for not fighting for my rights, for myself, or for my chance to become better. Right now, and really for some time now, I have been on the precipice of choosing life or death, and at this point I really don't care who knows that, what they think about me or that knowledge. Dismiss me as crazy, embrace me as human with problems, I don't care either way, I have that same internal debate myself constantly. Even when most of me feels like just giving up and saying game over, bye, there is still that little part that says no, today was bad, or today was brutal, but tomorrow I can be better than I was today. I'm working my a$$ off every day to make the right choices, fix it, and be better tomorrow than today. Even when it's really hard.

You are all deluding yourselves if you think you don't have to fight 24/7/365 to just hold on to what you have, and then fight even harder to take one more inch of ground from the enemy and hold that too. Life is war, war is Hell, but there is no alternative. Fight or die.

I'm 51. I have everything, every advantage, but it means nothing because it doesn't stop the pain of my past. If you want to know why I'm so messed up, ask my father, who is if there is justice has been burning for the 19 years he has been dead, since he bought himself an early grave from the cancer sticks that always dangled out of his mouth; at least when he wasn't screaming at me, telling me I was worthless, slapping me hard across the face or head or punching me in the jaw or gut, pointing a gun or knife at me, or worse I'll leave it there. (C)PTSD much? You betcha. It took me almost 50 years just to put a name to it. I finally knew I had turned a corner the morning I sat on a fishing pier at 4 am with a loaded pistol, his pistol, in my hand and figured out it wasn't death I actually wanted, I just wanted life on my terms, without that albatross around my neck. All of the bazillion times I've wanted to off myself, well, it was never wanting death, it was just the cyanide capsule every commando carried into his mission in Nazi-occupied Europe - escape on his own terms before they did much worse.

So now, all of this **** comes down the pipeline at me, and I still fight. Even though a lot of days the thought of that cyanide capsule still has some draw, I fight. If I don't, he wins. The last time he hit me, I was 24, and as usual, something I did wasn't good enough. It was the last time, I sucked up every bit of what little courage I had and called 9/11. Not much really came of it except months of extended family drama, but he never hit me again.

In a previous job, I shared an office with a coworker about 15 years older who listened to the "Oldies" FM radio station softly all day, every day. For about 6 years. It was the same set of a couple hundred, maybe, "biggest hits" from the 60s to the early 80s all of the time. Same day after week after month after year. Yellow Brick Road, check. Rhiannon, check. Hollywood Nights, check. Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday and Silly Love Song, check, check, check. Always.

I really wanted to gouge my eardrums out with an icepick after a few months of that. I listened to 6 years of it to be polite and respectful to an older coworker. But hated the fact I settled for disregarding my own needs or desires. A few hours of silence or something by Coldplay or Daughtry or U2 would not have killed him.

How depressing. You only grow by taking risks and by pushing your boundaries. I only have the hope that I can improve, change, grow and actualize potential to keep motivating myself forward. If I can do it, absolute trainwreck that I am, anyone can. Keep your excuses to yourself.

how does not wanting complications and giving up equate? back when I did eat meat, every once in a while I threw a steak on the grille and enjoyed the hellouttait. that did not mean I needed to know all the parts of a cow.

Riding simply is liberating. I do carry my phone for tunes & podcasts but also leave it off.


One-fixed-gear, one-brake, no speed-computers. Simple riding enjoyment!