New bike computer
 

Bike computers exist to tell you how fast and far you have ridden, what your cadence is, how much power you've produced and how many calories you've burned. I think they'll even tell when you are at sea level. What they don't tell you is how much fun you're having. I'm thinking that would change everything.

So if you were developing an algorithm for how much fun you are having, what additional inputs would you measure. How many people you pass vs. how many pass you? How many people return your wave or greeting? Downhill vs. uphill (either distance or time)? Maybe some kind of sadistic or masochistic factors (I don't judge)? What makes you happy when you ride? What would you measure?

FWIW, I'm also working on developing a time machine but there's no hurry on that one.

How long you chatted up someone, how long someone hung with you, how many chased you down and caught you vs. how many you left in the dust, how much advice you gave whether they wanted it or not, how many hipsters you showed up as they tried to show off. All of these are just from yesterdays ride! All added to the fun.

Adding up the number of people who pass me? That would take one hell of a battery! For my enjoyment, it's temp, wind speed and direction, sunshine, whether or not Baker Boys is open (a local balery), no rain, energy level when I get home, planned vs. actual miles ridden....

I like a metric on how much I enjoyed chance conversations with people I met on the ride. I'd also include a metric on how much I enjoyed the coffee or pastry stop. Has to be a way to measure the neurological response to those very important parts of any good ride!

My best rides are when I leave the bike computer at home. If there were a metric for my rides it would be the number of times I stopped to take a photo.

For some of us, speed and climbing are part of the fun.

For us, measuring speed and climbing adds to the fun and takes nothing away from enjoying camaraderie or scenery.

I can walk and chew gum at the same time. It isn't either/or but the best of both.


-Tim-

I use a "Wow!" meter. As in, "Wow, that is beautiful!"

The only cost is sweat equity.

I keep this statistic in my head ( I call it the "passed-em : passed-me ratio"). - I'm pretty sure a computer function would yield different results.

I think the same happens when I use a computer vs. estimating how far and fast I rode.

I did my ride yesterday and kept track manually, and the ride was no fun at all :(

Chatted up: 0 minutes
Someone hanging with me: 0 minutes
Chased me down and caught me: 2
Left in the dust: 1
Advice given: 0
Hipsters: 0

All in all not a very good day. My regular stats weren't very good either so it wasn't a good day. The only positive stat is that I was ready to give up after 3 laps of the park (3.3 miles each, some up and down) but ended up doing a 4th climb of the 3.5 to 4% grade hill because I couldn't just let it go as a terrible day.

Maybe if it could measure the number of bugs in your teeth (from smiling so much!)

People probably think I am some kind of simpleton because I grin so much riding! I love it! I whistle while I ride, too!

I use a simple Cateye Velo 7 with a wire. I just write down time and distance in a cheap notebook.

Let's see how the NYC Century did:

Chatted Up: 6 hours
Someone Hanging with Me: 7 hours (it was only after the first rest area that we started chatting, but she was in the pack with me almost the entire ride.)
Chased me down and caught me: 6 jerks going way too fast for the road that all ended up on the ground when one hit a manhole cover and flatted both tires. It was a tour not a race! (they were all ok, but one had to call an Uber since he cracked his frame.)
Left in the dust: The above mentioned 6
Advice Given: "Stay away from the jerks"
Hipsters: 0, although my partner for the day lives in hipster Bushwick

All in all an OK day, 107 miles too.

I wold factor in temperature, amount of sunshine & the company I'm with

A camera to capture facial features and use AI to determine rider's emotions.

that would be good, but it would have to be calibrated to understand that a painful grimace, blood sweat & tears = cycling joy :D

Just enable "Guitar Face" option.

I was thinking maybe electrodes implanted in strategic places in your helmet to record pleasurable thought activity. Maybe the saddle?

For some reason I don't ever get positive feedback from the saddle area.

A good saddle probe might change that.:fred: