genejockey 

There's a difference between having the various training aids and using them on the one hand, and obsessing over them on the other. I ride 3 times a week, 2 x ~1 hr rides midweek where I push really hard, essentially going as fast as I can for the whole time, so that when I do my long Sunday ride I'm less limited by fitness.

My bikes all have 16 or 20 gears because I don't want to limit myself to riding in the flats. Riding only in the flats is not as much fun.

I have a cyclocomputer with speed and cadence. I pay attention to them on my midweek rides, because on those I'm 'training', while on the Sunday ride, I don't.

I have an HRM, which again I pay more attention to on the midweek rides, while on the Sunday rides, I primarily use it on long climbs to keep an eye on effort.

All of these data-collecting devices, I used much more when I was learning how to ride long (for me) distances. I built up to having a smooth 95-105 rpm spin by paying attention to the cadence meter, but now I know what if feels like, for example. With the HRM, I use it as a check on effort, because I've often found myself zooming along on slight downhill sections thinking I'm not pushing very hard, and found that I'm actually surprisingly close to lactate threshold. Now I am better at matching perceived effort with actual level of exertion.

All of this is to say that I have a number of the things the OP mentions, which I have used to make my rides that I do for fun more fun. The idea that you can't have these things and ride for fun is a false dichotomy.