A few weeks ago I had a chuckle to myself at how ridiculous I was being setting off for a ride with all my gadgets.

I noted I had my GPS, as I was heading to a lesser explored spot so had marked routes on a map online. I got my phone out and started up strava to track my mileages. Then, as I would be out past dusk I switched on my spot tracker to keep my wife from worrying too much about me being out alone in the hills.

Now I know I could have not bothered with the phone strava and uploaded it later but it still struck me a little crazy. 3 devices tracking me.

I gave it some thought while I was out and also wondered if sometimes I rode just to put the miles in, rather than for the ride itself.

I didnt have a definitive answer to that last one but the last couple of rides I've left all the trackers at home and it felt quite nice to be honest. I wasn't out for long as I've a busy home life just now but it felt nice not to worry about it and to just ride without considering the miles.

So, anybody else got fed up with all the devices? or fed up with tracking themselves? or never started tracking?

Just curious.

I do the tracking, but when I'm actually out I don't look at my mileage. I just have my cadence and heart rate in case I think I'm frying myself on a hill.

I will say that tracking has caused me to ride in a way that was generally detrimental to my enjoyment though.

I track and although it does bore me sometimes the long term feed back it gives me out weighs it.

My memory's also rubbish so it's nice to be able to look back on a ride and remind myself where I've been or a particular section that I'd forgotten how to get to!

I only have my GPS doing it's magic. I don't share any data at all but like to see how things vary on (especially my commute) due to punctures, trail conditions and err... fitness.
Going new routes my GPS will be tracking, but I'm mostly interested in it showing where I need/should go. Once at home it's more likely I load a new route onto the device than bother about the tracked data.
Phone comes along, but if it's in use, it's just playing music.
Spot only comes along when I truly go off grid. My girlfriend and I stick to old school rules (where are you going, when will you be back/call in etc.).

I've never really bothered, just can't be arsed with it all. I don't care how far I rode or high high I climbed ... only really interested in whether or not I enjoyed myself

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I've never really bothered, just can't be arsed with it all. I don't care how far I rode or high high I climbed ... only really interested in whether or not I enjoyed myself

You could track that...

I use my phone for maps, but in general it just sits in my bag for emergencies, only checking the maps at major crossroads

Most of my rides are just exploring and directionless, and sometimes that's the best way to stubble upon great routes (or pubs)
And I mainly ride local, ofcourse the rate my daily mileage is increasing my definition of local is growing bigger and bigger:)

I do however always ride with a computer on all my bikes, its tiny and mostly unnoticed, but tracks mileage and the time
I use its alarms for injections/blood tests/food breaks, and mileage to track overall wear and lifetime on the bike.
So I know I changed my chain after 700mi. Breaks bled after 1000mi. ECT ect

I track my commute to work, and back again, everyday on Strava

I like to see, afterwards, how quick I was if it felt like I was working hard

Nice to track overall mileage as well. I don't bother doing little rides with the dog or to the shops. Just anything over a few miles

I record most rides on my gps. I suppose I like it on to see where I have gone especially when I am going somewhere I haven't been before. I post only a few to strava, Although its only a click away it just doesnt bother me to post them all. I use strava to see where people have gone and if its worth a wee explore. I do look at milage and meters but more as a gauge of the route.

As long as I don't find myself going beyond idle curiosity I'll stick with it.
It's interesting to see how some chains last 1800 miles and others only 800, etc

My main mission now is to see if I can bump up my Eddington score beyond 52!

GregMay wrote:

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I've never really bothered, just can't be arsed with it all. I don't care how far I rode or high high I climbed ... only really interested in whether or not I enjoyed myself

You could track that...

If this forum was STW, then he'd have an excel sheet showing this...

Use a GPS and strava in most rides, mainly to track distance. Never bothered until this year but as I'm riding less, I need quantity in miles (well, not quite quantity but you get the idea). Less time out in the week means my rides are longer as a result.

Still go out without a GPS at times and the enjoyment is still the same, but it does give me s smug feeling no one else in strava knows what I'm up to! Never track my runs though, it's bad enough running without some device telling me I'm slow

I have my Edge500 running on all rides. I can ignore it if I want (especially at night, where I can just turn the backlight off).

But I like playing with data , so I data log. That's more a post ride activity though, and depending on my mood I track metrics or not on the ride.

My GPS comes with me on all rides but lives in the sack so it's purely for logging data. Gives me a rough idea on how much hammer any component gets which can then be used in increasingly anal internet bun fights about which is better

whitestone wrote:My GPS comes with me on all rides but lives in the sack so it's purely for logging data. Gives me a rough idea on how much hammer any component gets which can then be used in increasingly anal internet bun fights about which is better

I was doing that for a bit - measuring chain stretch on my commute - so a fairly controlled set of parameter with a more realistic testing regime.
Came to the conclusion that it's all about the type of muck that flies about and you're maintenance regime.

I'm with Stu, never really bothered. Indeed, I don't even possess an electronic tracking device. I do however spend hours pouring over paper maps plotting routes and estimating distances/riding times. Have to say though that I am becoming more tempted to dip my toe into maybe a gps device. We'll see...

I use a basic Garmin edge for my road bike. Although I'm not totally convinced by the accuracy on some of the stats.

I did use it on the mtb a few times but found I end up looking at speeds etc rather than having fun.

Now for mtb stuff I focus on the view when I'm cruising and the fun when I'm playing.

Unless I get in the car and go somewhere to ride there is really only one decent ride I can do from home.
I know the route from pre GPS days but I still use my GPS so that I can get used to how it works, what happens when I make a deviation and monitor battery life. Plus I have data to play with back home.
For me its just familiarisation and set up so I dont have to cover this at the start of a longer ride.
(Phew almost said short rde).

I once did a couple of hill repeats, I put a lot of effort into the last lap attempting to get a PR on the segment.

When I got home I found out that Strava hadn't tracked anything for whatever reason.

I caught myself thinking that the ride had all been for nothing, as if the ride hadn't happened because there was no data to show for it.


I don't like to have numbers on display during my rides, as this takes my attention away from the ride itself.

I don't have a computer on the bike itself, so don't care about speed, distance etc.
I do use Strava on my phone, but only for pouring over the route / map later on to see if there were alternatives, variations etc.

I was the same with SCUBA diving, barely ever logged a dive, couldn't be bothered, never saw the point.

Funny you mention that Dave, I forgot my GPS tonight, and I was most of the way through th ride before I noticed. I generally put it in my back pocket, or it is on Tom's bike.

I do like to keep track of mileage though, I find it motivating.

Track rides and keep files, don't do anything much with them. Occasionally load them into bikehike to figure out how new bits of trail link together...

GPX is set to show time of day and distance above the map as I use the same device for audax stuff too.

I've never tracked anything though I used to have a compooter on my road bike that I never reset because I was rather proud of the top speed I hit on a decent in France. I only lost it when the battery died. I've now got a Garmin Tour that I use on road tours and sometimes when Im off road exploring, but tend to only refer to it if I see the same land marks more than once and realise Im going in circles.

johnnystorm wrote: My main mission now is to see if I can bump up my Eddington score beyond 52!

58!

I've been obsessed with cartography since I first saw a map, and I'm a data nerd, so stuff like strava gets me pretty excited. Not the competitive aspect though, like KOMs etc, more tracking mileage, noticing changes in fitness, and like jonnystorm said, how long chains last etc.

Elements of strava are well creepy like flybys, which you can now opt out of being found on!

I will admit two things, I would ride less if I didn't use strava. And strava does suck the fun out of some rides when you know you're in a segment and you push it when you could just being sitting back and enjoying the view.

Each to their own I guess.

I really like the flyby thing. Quite often I've met someone out on the hills and wondered where they were cycling that day / where they cycle normally. That said, I don't have my real name on Strava so I'm less concerned about the whole privacy aspect of the feature.

Thought it was really cool on the BB200 too, where I got to see where other people were faster / where they took a break etc.