Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
...last week I splurged and bought a Garmin Varia. Its a super cool bit of tech that is well worked thru at this point so my late adopter mindset was at ease. It picks up on vehicles that are 150 yards away and gives both a visual and audio cue which allows me plenty of time to move out of the center of the road. Really neat tech. And the rear light reacts to vehicles by flashing a different pattern when it detects a car, in an effort to help make the cyclist noticed.
Totally agree, I love having the visual and audio cue to approaching vehicles. It never fails to pick up an approaching vehicle. Has completely changed my comfort level on the road.
Also, I was going to reply earlier, not sure why I didn't. Anyhow, the rattling from the washboards, or root, or rocks, or cobblestones is never comfortable, and as you've alluded and many others have offered, finding the smoothest line is always most desirable. For a variety of reasons, first being reduced fatigue, and second being its easier to control the bike and ride faster when it is not being violently bounced and hit by the surface it is being ridden over. A piece of good news, I also doubt you suffered a TBI, I don't doubt you had a headache, but if it had been a TBI, there'd have been a bit more going on than just a headache.