Inertianinja

in the past two years i got really into tracking miles, power, top speed, average speed, calories, cadence, feet climbed, etc. i was totally religious about it and didn't touch a bike without the Garmin started.
Then i got injured, and started to feel the anxiety of "falling behind" since i haven't been able to really start training in earnest.

Then i thought, screw it. I'm ruining the fun of this year's riding before it even starts.
I need to chill out with the metrics and just enjoy the ride.

so i popped the garmin mounts off my stems. i might bring the garmin along on races or days when i want to challenge a strava goal, but in general i think i'm going to just roll. i took the first ride today, and it was...good.

i realize that most people may not give a crap about this. thought i'd share.

blogs.bikeforums.net/inertianinja

ColinL

I think it's cool. I'm gathering data now (with a Sigma 2209) and at first I thought it was a bummer it didn't have more details.

But then I think, I might obsess about those details. Worrying about the numbers more than the ride is definitely not where I want to be.


Anyway, glad you're getting over your injury. Keep on riding.

chadteck

I crashed about a month ago and my Garmin broke. I haven't decided if I'm going to repair or replace it, so in the meantime, I've been riding computer-less. I don't mind it at all for races or group rides. I think I would prefer a computer for solo rides though.

Seattle Forrest

I didn't know you were injured. I'm sorry to hear it. And I hope you get a quick and complete recovery.

You're not the first person to say this, and it always confuses me. I mean, you can have the cyclocomputer and not stress about the metrics. The info is there to serve you, not the other way around.

Doin Work son

I'm considering doing this as well. After training hard all summer, i ended up with a stress fracture (from running). So after 6 weeks recovery, went hard for two weeks to try and catch back up, starting having odd chest pain, then I was off of the bike for another month recovering. I finally got back o the bike and was so discouraged at my lost training that I almost took a break. So, I am really considering ditching the computer for a month or so until I get back to my better form.

Inertianinja

thanks!

the injury was from overuse. i was trying to hit 5000 miles in a year, and so i never took rest days or recovery rides. too much, too often, no rest, ended up with tendonitis and IT band syndrome in both legs. kept me off the bike for about 6 months and i lost my fitness, gained some weight, and i'm way behind now.

and yes, i know. i own the tech, not vice versa. easier said than done. it's hard to not get a little obsessive, especially when i'm going for the "high score" all the time. then something like Strava comes out and i can compete with people i don't know and will never even meet. i have enough room in my storage bottle to stuff the garmin in there. i might just keep it in there and leave my stems clean.

current plan is to sell my almost brand-new power meter and put the money towards a nice handmade steel frame, and put on some happy miles.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ions-(big-pics)

adriano 

i have been computerless for a year now. i gps track with my phone in my pocket and check it out after. a screen of data readout takes you away from the experience. garmins are a waste of money.

Seattle Forrest

I don't know anything about IT band syndrome. Tendonitis can be incredibly painful - I got some in my ankles from kayak pedals, the ones that control the rudder, and it felt like someone cut my feet off with a chainsaw - but it heals well. I hope IT band syndrome isn't permanent, either. The fitness will come back, and the weight will (slowly) come off.

tagaproject6

Yikes, over training injury? Hope you recover well and enjoy the ride more than the info.

UCIMBZ

5000 miles a year is less than 100 miles a week and it shouldn’t be that hard to achieve without sustaining injuries. I wish you a speedy recovery. Were you doing something wrong?

Inertianinja

well, according to the doctors, it was more the intensity and lack of rest days than it was the number of miles

kimconyc

What software did you use along with your PM? If it was WKO+ it should have been pretty easy to see if you were not resting enough (TSB) and ramping up the intensity (ATL/CTL) too quickly.

5,000 as a number is not that many miles in a year so maybe you were packing in too much with too much intensity?

Also, if you are selling your PM, how much, what model?

UCIMBZ

I can't do without some kind of numeric data while I ride. My schedule is Wednesday 45 miles. Friday 30 miles. Sunday 45 miles and Monday and Tuesday rest. Been doing that for a while with some intense periods in between. That does not include long organized group or charity rides that I happen to participate in. Touching wood no issues yet. But human body behaves differently from person to person. My coworker who trains with me on the same schedule has sustained severe hamstring injuries and is out of commission for a while. I don’t know what gives.

dalava

What happen to Thursdays and Saturdays?

UCIMBZ

They are still there.

dalava

Rest, like Mondays and Tuesdays, or recovery ride?

Just wondering.

rangerdavid

How many stems do you have on your bike? Mine has only one

glad you're healed up and ready to ride again. without the garmin, it can be fun, but it takes some getting used to.

UCIMBZ

One hour on trainer if I get a chance.

dalava

I am lucky enough to be able to commute to work (12 miles each way), so for most weeks, I ride hard on Mondays and Wednesdays, and take it easy on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Fridays. Then I will do either a group ride (~50 miles) or solo longish ride (~60 miles) on Saturday, and rest on Sundays. It has worked well for me.

khatfull

You can put the Garmin in your pocket to...

dnuzzomueller

You know as much of a numbers geek as I am I really dont even find my garmin [Edge 800] to be that distracting, I used to obsess over tracking every ride, then I didn't really care, just sort of lost it's luster. The only time I really worry about numbers is when I am doing a structured interval, and then I just look when the "You suck" beep goes off.

I more enjoy having it on a ride because of the maps and when I want to try a new route.

Hah! That is why the 800 is better then the 500! So when you dont want to obsess over data you can obsess over getting lost!

roadiejorge 

This is my view as well. I've ridden with computers and without but either way it wasn't a big deal, but the info from computers added some measurable qualities to my performance.

adriano 

and a phone will do the job for much less and a dedicated gps tracker will do the job much better and for much less.

znomit

Set the display to grade/heading/heading/time of day? Turn off the beeps and laps. All the data is still there if you want it later.

alpha_bravo

Dedicated bike computers still have their place IMHO. Have you seen some of the Strava segments out there? Elevation data from phones is making that service silly because there are tons of cat 4 climbs popping up all over Iowa.