124Spider

Hi,

First post.

I have recently become a serious recreational cyclist (meaning that I ride 3-5 times a week, average close to 100 miles per week, work hard to go faster, but will never race). I'm 63 years old, and not getting younger.

I only started taking cycling seriously last summer, after my knees finally made me stop running (life-long serious runner). I rode with a Specialized Sirrus Sport while getting in cycling shape, and deciding whether this is an activity I could like.

As an important data point for those trying to help me out here, the turning point was when I bought a Garmin Edge 25 cycling computer; I loved the real-time data it gave me.

After five months of becoming convinced that I'm going to be doing cycling steadily for the foreseeable future, I bought a Cervelo R3, on end-of-model-year sale.

I love the bike! I also bought a Wahoo Kickr smart trainer, which my wife and I use when the Seattle weather is too gruesome to be out.

The Kickr has introduced me to the concept of power; my FTP apparently is 225 watts at this point.

I have a heart-rate monitor and a cadence monitor, which read out directly on my Garmin 25.

I'm thinking that knowing the power I'm generating while riding outside would be very helpful, as it would eliminate the variables of hills and wind that make it difficult to tell if I'm just not with it, or if conditions are conspiring against me. And it would allow me to pace myself better over long rides, with objective data.

I'm pretty much convinced that, if I were to take the plunge, the Garmin Vector 2 is the way I would go.

Doing so would require buying a new computer and new shoes. Total cost, including sales tax, would be about US$1400.

That's a pretty staggering sum for me. I'm confident that I will be able to use the data appropriately, but I have no idea if it really would be useful for someone like me, or merely fun. $1400 could be justified if it would be really useful; not so much if it would be merely fun.

Any insights would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

Mark