@Criminal, I agree with most of your questions—I find myself asking the same ones all the time.
When I got my first Garmin ( Instinct), it was a basic, used model with no bells or whistles. I remember riding 20-30 miles to pick it up since it was a Craigslist purchase. For safety, I completed the transaction inside a police station.
To be honest, I never look at my heart rate and still don’t fully understand training HR compared to other metrics.
I also don’t check my sleep graph. I always joke that I’ll know how well I slept based on how I feel the next morning—no graph needed.
When I’m riding long distances, like hundreds of kilometers, I avoid checking my watch or distance. I prefer to distract myself from the long day ahead. Seeing that I still have 50 km to go can be pretty discouraging.
At the end of the day, though, I enjoy looking back at how far I’ve traveled and how many mountains, forests, or states I’ve crossed. So, my GPS watch is helping me give me with that pleasure.
Now, the task of picking up that new/refurbished Garmin is giving me an excuse to visit Nepal and meet friends from Boston—so that’s my motivation. So, that GPS watch is my excuse to cycle to Nepal and back.
As for nutrition, I stick to plain water, except on days over 40°C when I lose a lot of salt. Then, I use WHO-recommended Oral Rehydration Salts for dehydration.
I’m not trying to win any races, so I don’t see the need for extra chemicals or fancy gadgets on my bike.
(05-19-2025, 10:30 AM)Criminal Wrote: So have any of these things made you a better cyclist or improved your health?
If you did not have the device would your cycling experience be dimished?
You were particularly concerned about your heartrate before these devices hit the market?
Where does one draw the line? Is there a glucometer, oximeter, or urine testing on these things? Pregnancy test?
If you have definitive proof that you are a better, faster, and healthier cyclist with by using an electronic device than without one then by all means spend your cash on them. It should thus stand to reason that the more features it has will make an even better, faster, and healthier you by using it, right? Wrong!
My advice to general cyclists, who are not having health issues (generally those exercising under a physician's guidance) or are not planning on making cycling (specifically competitive riding) a career path, is to save your money for other uses (and no, do not spend it on energy crap either unless you are cycling under the previously stated conditions: dying or racing) like bike improvements or a better diet.