I’m a big kid. I love toys and gim-cracks. I have an analytical bend. I’m geek enough to get really involved in the numbers. When bicycle computers first became available, I rushed to get one. When Vetta brought out a combination heart rate monitor and cyclocomputer, I was one of the first in line. I loved the thing. It was great. I suddenly had access to all kinds of data. That I didn’t know the first thing about what to do with it was totally beside the point.
Folks will sometimes see my touring/brevet bike and marvel at all the instruments on the “dashboard.” I have two computers, a GPS reciever, a cue-sheet holder, a generator hub, and a pair of headlights. But it’s the multiple computers that seem to grab folks. The usual question is, “Why?”
Bike computers are pretty reliable. They do, however fail. So do GPS recievers. Riding brevets requires navigation, and often in country that is completely unfamiliar. I have been reduced to navigating with only a watch and a single cue-sheet that was turning into papier-mache in the rain. After that incident I vowed it would never happen again. All that instrumentation is a multiply redundant navigation system. And I like playing with all the stuff.
I can get too caught up in those numbers and those toys.
There is a reason why the two bikes I seem to enjoy most have no computers, no mounts for heart rate monitors. They are fun machines. It pays to remember that. It’s supposed to be fun!
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