Eben Weiss will be shocked to learn he's been around that long.

I'm shocked I've been around that long!!!!!

Eben started posting 5 or 6 years ago. He's a good writer and can be wicked funny, but he's been in a funk for awhile and his writing tends to cross over from snarky to sardonic and mean spirited. At least that's my take on it.

Germaine to this thread, Weiss is a bit critical of the cult of amateur racing, especially on cat 6 stuff. He's the first to question how many amateurs really need power meters and such.

As I've said, I got no dog in this fight. If you hi-tech fellers don't scare the horses with it, I'm good.

I am 97 years old, so I don't care about you fashion conscious young whippersnappers do on your fancy, high speed, recumbent machines. I ride a Rascal electric scooter and wear sansabelt slacks and a cardigan. Anybody who thinks they are comfortable on a recumbent has never tried a Rascal, I tell you what.

Pictures or it didn't happen.

I don't much cotton to these automatic type cameras. I can't imagine why anyone would need anything besides daguerreotypes.

I can just picture it, the wind blowing through your hair as you roar down the open sidewalk.

He he he.

'cause it can make a nice, casual discussion? Kinda like breaking the boredom at the office? I dunno. heh. But I'm going to jump in.

I've got the feeling that cycling tech is in its infancy, and we've got gadgets coming that we don't even imagine yet. I'm actually eager for the Google Glasses type technology to come into its own. Built into RayBan type glasses or even a clip on helmet visor, it will be awesome to have a heads-up display of ... everything. Even rear-view, say from a tiny helmet-mounted camera. Navigation sure, but by that time we should also have AI for early threat identification and alert. Vehicle movements, road conditions, analytic predictions of sudden movements by humans and animals. And what I'd really like is to have it tied into video feed from mini-drones flying out ahead with the same software, so we'll know what to expect. And behind possibly, with lights to wake up unconscious drivers if necessary. The possibilities are endless.

This tech could enormously improve the nascent virtual racing games as well. Instead of guessing where you stand in a segment at any given instant, how neat would it be to have a 3-d image of the bike you're "racing" against virtually in front of you? Or any number of virtual "skins" imposed on the bare streets and neighborhood about you?

Maybe cycling tech is in it's infancy but it should remain there because cost and complication will only go up; same is true with cycling components themselves.

The way people are staying wired-in to their virtual worlds already, it's inevitable. To be sure, the only gadgets I ride with are lights and an $8 speedometer, and I'm satisfied with my voice-only flip phone. It's all optional, but I do love gadgets.

That, to me, is the joy and fun. I'm less unhappy with myself when fit. Bicycling as fast as I can for as long as I can without getting bored or blowing out kills the tension, gets me outside; I love the sound of tires on smooth pavement and the the intimate mechanics of a well tuned and cared for bicycle. Speedometer, cadence, and heart rate perform as goads helping me achieve goals, alleviating the boredom of sameness and mediocrity.

Of course all of the goals, set by some measurement standard, are personal, and influenced by medical, social, or commercial pressure. So within the [boxed] parameters, and within my own [box of joy and bias] yes, I ride for fun. I'm sure not getting paid for it. In fact, I'm not getting paid to sit on my butt replying to this post. It's just within my bicycling [box of joy and bias]

...that...just...had...to...be....quoted.

I'm with you. My high tech item on my bike is a Huret Multito on my front axle. Gimme a gaspipe Boom bike with a leather saddle and rando bars and I'm a happy cyclist. I just ride for the fun of it. I have no goals, no interest in improving fitness, just like to zone out on my bike. I do have an interest in vintage cycling garb, but thats my own peculiar thing.

And whats great is the dudes with the carbon fiber bikes with all the gizmos except me as just another cyclist. I ride on some intense pace group rides and other than an occasional, "How old is that bike?" I blend right in. After many years of cycling I am just not much of a gearhead. Just like to ride.
Me olde Raleigh

Yup. We've got gadgets that measure how far you have ridden, how fast you have ridden and how many feet you have climbed on your bike. I'm waiting for one that will measure how much fun I had. I think that would change the sport of bicycling forever.

Isn't that what the gadgets are measuring?

In every sport or hobby I've taken part in, there's always an anti-gadget crowd that eschews the Latest Thing. And some of them start getting all snooty about how those who use those gadgets aren't doing whatever it is for the fun of it. And mostly, they're completely wrong.

Well, I'm pretty sure such a gadget couldn't be based on smiling versus grimacing. Sometimes when I'm having the most fun I'm pretty sure I look like a gargoyle - mouth agape, lips skinned back, gasping like a fish on the dock...

Otherwise known as "PHD" cameras.







That would be "Push Here Dummy".




I own several.

Well, I bought one but, I couldn't figure out how it worked, too many buttons to choose from you know....

Bill

Tongue in cheek, I'm sure ... Lol. There is a saying in engineering ... make something any fool can use and only a fool will want to use it.

As for cameras, it's all OK. I just make sure my cameras have manual settings as well as PHD settings. I use 'em both. Wouldn't buy one with only auto settings.

There's more than one button????

It's not a bad idea once in a while to step outside yourself and your routine and make some attempt to see if what you are doing could be called sane. I went out on a ride yesterday and went snowshoeing with wife and friends today. So I'm sitting here looking at my desk and the pile of gadgets awaiting my attention:
1, no 2 pocket calculators
Garmin 800
SD card reader
USB taillight
USB headlight
Polar 725X
PHD camera - needs a download and a battery charge
2 USB chargers and cords
Pile of MicroSD cards and adapters containing various maps, routes, etc.

What's is all for, really?
USB lights:
to keep myself and my wife safe on our tandem. USB because no batteries to buy and throw away. Hence also USB chargers.

Garmin 800:
It keeps our tandem team engaged, happy, and performing as best we can.
Stoker is navigator and has the 800, so I can concentrate on piloting the bike. The route we're following will have been created with online software and downloaded to a MicroSD card in the 800. Why all this, though? Most frequently to find our way on complicated bike routes with a zillion turns in places we've never been. That's frequently the best. We love to go new places. We also love to make the bike go and fly along, not having to worry about route since we just follow the route we've already plotted. We're so frigging old we couldn't remember three turns ahead, especially not with a serious oxygen deficit and tiredness. I can always tell I'm going good if I can't take 47, subtract 23 and add 4 and come up with a reasonable number.

The 800 is also fun because we can upload our route to Strava and see how our performance was in various parts of the route and overall. It's interesting, I like interesting things, and it's fun to share with others.

The real trick thing on the tandem is that the 800 shows my wife my heart rate. She also has her own Polar HRM which simply shows her heart rate. Thus she matches her HR to mine and we keep our efforts synched up, thus eliminating with gadgetry the most difficult part of being a tandem team: knowing that it's always a team effort.

The camera:
is of course to share photos with fellow riders, always fun and good memories.

The Polar 725X:
recorded our snowshoe. We like to know how much we climbed, how long it took, all that stuff. We upload the data and save it in a database for future planning.

The calculators:
just hang around the desk. Sometimes I use them for various business calculations which are inconvenient to do on the computer.

What else do I have on the bike?
I have a small computer for my use, but all it reliably shows and all I really need is my heart rate. I need heart rate because that's how I titrate the pain. Just a couple beats continuously higher, and we'll blow up or get too tired to keep up the effort. A couple of beats lower and we could have gone faster and come in with the group instead of getting spat out the back. Precision really makes a difference. I'm not about to spring for a power meter because the extra outlay just isn't worth the possible performance improvement to me. For the tandem it would be a couple thousand bucks. I'd rather spend it on touring and travel. The HRMs give me all the information I really need to make pacing decisions. If I were younger and the amortization would be much longer, I might go for it though.

The other gadget we have on the bike is a Shimano Flight Deck. All I use that for is the gearing display and cadence. On a tandem, it's just impossible to see the chainrings or cassette. It's really helpful to always know what cog and ring I'm using.

I never look at speed or distance. Stoker handles distance. She doesn't look at speed either. I do watch cadence closely, though. It's similar to watching HR. I know what cadences are most efficient for us under various conditions and the closer I'm able to hew to those numbers, the better and longer we go. "Feel" isn't the same. Feel can change with time, terrain, and exhaustion. The numbers don't lie. It's like people say when they get tired, they start pedaling squares. But you know that's not efficient, that's letting laziness drag you down into the depths of despair. Cadence is kind of like that. You hold your cadence. You probably won't actually fall off the bike.

Anyway, that's why we do what we do, and I think it makes sense. We are riding well as a team and having fun with our cycling buds. That's our goal and we're there.

OTOH, if I were just a solo guy, didn't ride with others, didn't want to push my limits, didn't really care exactly where I was going, etc., I might not have any of this stuff except for the lights and chargers. I wouldn't even need a camera.

USB lights? Could you provide a link - something new to me. Tx. I only know of LED lights, so great to know of new technology!

[EDIT]

Maybe these??

https://www.serfas.com/products/index/lights/usb-lights

Nope, they only measure accomplishment itself not the feeling of accomplishment.