GEAR OF CHOICE: Always a dilemma, do I need it or not?
Can you really enjoy your ride if you forgot any of your favorite tech for your ride, a few things to consider.
Hey All! I wanted to throw a little short here and discuss something that feels both necessary and unnecessary at the same time. Every time I go out on a ride I feel like I need to have all my gadgets to feel accomplished, does it happen to you as well? Better not forget that head unit! oh and if I’m going to be on the road I need my radar to alert me of incoming traffic, but if I’m doing that, might as well take my heart rate monitor to bring it all together and have a bigger picture. What about a power meter? that’s something that I want to believe most people don’t tend to own, and I say most with a grain of salt.
When I first started riding all I cared about was to “just get out” and ride but as I kept feeling better about my riding and improving my skills, I felt that I was missing something, specifically something that would tell me how good I was doing. You see, I know people who are just starting on their cycling journey and they don’t care about a head unit or even a subscription to any app that tracks their miles, they just want to go out and ride, it should be that way most of the time. I was like that at first too, I just wanted to get on the bike and GO, but something changed little by little and it came a moment when I needed more. I have always been a data geek, always liked math and keeping track of things, numbers, money, countdowns, and being able to be organized among other things, get the idea? and when it came time to track my ride efforts (and after some deep research on the best apps for tracking exercise) well it was pretty easy for me to sign up for the most popular app and use my phone for this purpose. I think most people go this route because it’s the easiest to do and it’s FREE unless you upgrade to a premium subscription for more metrics (yup! guilty 😉 ).
If I go riding, it feels kind of weird not wearing bibs, or not having gloves because you know, “they’re necessary”. And if I go alone then I need headphones to listen to music and not get bored (why would I get bored? I love cycling). The thing is, sometimes we get so caught up in trying to have all these gadgets and to have all these metrics but for what? unless you have a clear goal and are training for something where you need the data to validate your efforts, most of the time all this stuff is unnecessary, especially when just riding for joy.
Just take the basics!
I would argue that you only need a few things to get out and bike whether you’re starting or have been cycling for a while are a bike, a helmet, a regular/standard rear light, hydration, and your phone, honestly. If you have regular flat pedals, great! you’re covered. For some of us that need the extra gadgets for whatever reason, it can sometimes be burdensome, did I charge my phone? did I charge my lights? do I have gloves? headphones? heart rate monitor? radar? — get met? it can be even annoying sometimes and God forbid I forgot something and happened to remember while already on my ride, ugh… it is what it is.
If you think your ride will go into the evening/night, do take a front light though, it’s basic safety, so you can see. 👀
I like what I am doing now and I am not complaining here don’t get me wrong. My primary purpose was and still is when I go riding is to have fun, enjoy the time outside, and clear my head. Nowadays I am taking a small action camera to record some parts of my ride and even a digital camera (this is a topic for a different time) but the truth of the matter is I don’t need to. I think it’s just the FOMO effect of not being able to capture a great moment, a great descent or landscape, or to know how I did on that crazy climb and how my heart endured it. I think none of this tech matters but we chose to make it matter. Some of my best memories while riding are when I don’t have to worry about taking that photo, or video and simply enjoy it, LIVING IN THE MOMENT, and remember it that way. My recommendation is this, just get going and enjoy the ride, go basic, and more times than not, you will know that you made the right choice.
What are your thoughts? can you enjoy a ride without all of your tech? or do you feel like you’re missing out?
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