So I have lots and lots of just really brilliant ideas and thoughts while riding my bike. But by the time I get home, I forget all about them. Surely other people have this problem. Can anyone recommend a device or technique to record thoughts, things to do, etc. while riding? I'm thinking maybe a smartwatch, but any specific model or app I'd need? Or something small and cheap that attaches to the handlebar? Thanks.

A voice recorder?

You aren't going to want to enter text on a smartwatch.

(Most things are going to require you to stop.)

If you have an Iphone, you can say "Hey, Siri. Take a note." It opens the Notes app. Speak your really brilliant ideas and they'll be captured in Notes.

So you know they were brilliant but you just can't remember them?

Ha, you and me both. Bicycling is so mind clearing that I do my best thinking while I am riding. Like you, most of it gets away from me by the time I get home. I have stopped and sent myself an email, but that's pretty impractical.

Maybe go old school and carry a small Dictaphone? Or the "Hey, Siri" suggestion above, although I've not tried that.

If you forgetting them, then they're not brilliant ideas.

Get a tandem.
Hire an Executive Assistant that has experience with shorthand and as a stoker.
Problem solved.

When can we expect your book of brilliant thoughts to be on Amazon?

Ride with a group and then yell your ideas out as they come to you. If the group is large enough, someone should remember what you said and there’s the side benefit of being with friends. Or take along a pissed off ex, they remember everything.

Carry a note book, pull over and write it down.

Ya could always tattoo them into your body...

Memento - 2000 - R - 1h 53m

Good idea. And I use a Plantronics blue tooth. Press the button on the ear piece to wake up Siri. An M60 or M100 series works. But need to be going less than 16 mph or there is too much wind noice. Also need to be were one have cell phone service. An Android phone will work too and it may have the internal smarts to work out of cell phone range.

Pencil and paper?

The “hey Siri” thing works. It’s best if your phone is upside down in a shirt pocket so the mic is exposed. I’ve used “hey Siri” to make hands free calls while riding too.

Record your ride(s) on Strava. When you get one of the brilliant ideas, ride your bike in a manner to form your words on the map. At home…zoom in and see what you wrote. Problem solved!

Dan

If you can distill the idea to a memorable phrase and then sing that phrase to a tune you know, you will find it much easier to remember.

Otto

Is this a new Messiah coming? I Hope all those "brilliant ideas and thoughts" not coming to You from the great beyond

Hilariously accurate quote of the day!

Say it out loud a few times and you'll remember it better.
Or take your phone with you and record/type in a note.

Name one of these brilliant ideas.

With me, I get really brilliant ideas when I'm drunk, then I forget them when I wake up in the morning 😅

AirPods Pro (Secure Fit for Fitness) or AirPods (Not as secure fit for fitness) + iPhone. Hands Free.

Just say "Hey Siri, take a note", and then say what you want. It logs everything in the Notes App.

For the last 10 years I've been riding with an earbud with a mic and Android. I have it set up so that when I squeeze the mic button I can issue a command to Google Assistant, who like Siri will take a note...well, not always.

Google seems to futz with functionality constantly. It used to say "note to self", but that wasn't reliable. So for the last four years I say "Email myself." and then I can dictate whatever and it gets emailed to myself, which I can always find.

I can also make and receive calls, texts, emails and other messaging audibly while riding, although again, google keeps messing with the way these work and they are not totally reliable.

I can make appointments and reminders for both times and (once again) locations, like "Remind me at home to put the trash can at the curb."

For a few years the location-based reminders worked well enough that if I had to stop at a store on the way home, I could say "at the intersection of 4th and main remind me to pick up perscription", and when I got near that intersection I'd be reminded so that I could turn off and head to the pharmacy.

I'm sure I could get "note to self" to work agani on my phone, but "email myself" works just fine for now.

He forgot them.
Hey, it's a well know historical fact that the idea of the light bulb was actually conceived in 1870 by Sir William Dimwhitt. Unfortunately, he was riding his penny farthing at the time and completely forgot all about it by the end of his journey. In 1879, Edison, who never rode a bicycle in his lifetime, was credited with the light bulbs invention.

Many years ago I and a colleague of mine outlined an argument for an issue of first impression we had to brief for a federal district court while on a Saturday morning bike ride. We both billed the client some time. Made it look like we were working on a Saturday.