Speed and time or just enjoy cycling........

[ray316]

l have a digital speedometer on my bike and l'm constantly looking down at what speed l'm doing and the time it takes me to do the same cycling route so l'm never really looking around at the country side while out .
So do you think speed and time is important when cycling or should you just relax and take in the views around you and in my case stop speed watching..

 

[summerdays]

I don't watch it all the time... if I'm looking at it ... it is usually because I think I'm going particularly fast or very slow... and just want that confirmed or more likely to see what time it is as to whether I'm need to speed up. If you want a continuous record of your speed get one you can download all the data at the end instead. Enjoy the ride.

 

[chillyuk]

Why not both. Do some riding just for the sheer pleasure, even leaving your speedo at home. Stop now and then, have a drink and admire the scenery, then other days go out and do a training session with your speedo.

 

[yello]

During the ride, speed and time (as numbers) are perhaps not so important. Main thing methinks is to ride as you want to; either as fast/hard as or to enjoy the scenery (not that the 2 are necessarily mutually exclusive). Ride according to your aims. AFTER the ride though, the numbers may be of greater interest.

I'm definitely a pootler, an enjoyer of scenery and surrounds, albeit a rather quick-ish pootler. I don't look at speed when I'm riding. Hour of day, yes, and sometimes cadence but not speed. When I get home though, I am interested in average speed and metres climbed.

 

[ohnovino]

I find riding without a speedometer quite liberating. I don't feel guilty or disheartened when I'm going slowly, nor do I feel I have to go flat-out on downhill sections to see how quickly I can go. The only need I have for a computer is to measure distance, which helps with navigation and managing my effort over longer rides.

 

[GrasB]

Which type of cycling to go for, that's a purely personal thing no one can tell you that you have to work it out for your self. However being a slave to the trip comp in terms of looking at it all the time means you're neither pushing hard enough to be a real speed merchant nor relaxed enough to be riding casually. You can do both, at the same time to a certain extent. You can push hard & take in the views, though the views will be fairly narrowly perceived. Assuming you've not got a power meter (& if you're asking this question you almost certainly haven't) the trip comp doesn't tell you anything you can't get from your legs, this frees up your eyes to at least look to beyond the edge of the road & see some interesting things.

Interestingly as I've developed in the last 18 months I've mostly gone completely away from looking at the trip computer & the information it mostly displays is not what you'd expect: time of day, ride time, power output, cadence & heart rate.

 

[Dan B]

Whichever you prefer. I enjoy pushing myself a bit: if I want to look at the scenery I'll go for a walk (which I also enjoy)

 

[Salad Dodger]

I only look at the speed readout if going particularly fast, say down a hill. Just for the fun of knowing I hit 32mph or whatever. Mostly I just want to see the distance covered.

Since I am a slow and unfit rider, I get plenty of chance to look at the scenery going slowly by....

Unless I am going uphill, in which case I prefer to just look at the 10 feet of road in front of me, as I get too easily discouraged if I look further ahead, and see how much more there is to climb!

 

[asterix]

For me looking at scenery is much more important. I have a very good idea roughly how long my rides will take and get the time off the mobile phone if I need it.

At the moment I am getting my fitness up to do a sportive in the Dales which will be hilly and although I do have a computer that reads the gradients it never seemed to work that well on short steep hills. In the mountains it is better with their long ascents that it can get to grips with. I don't think I will use it in the Dales - my main concern will be finding my way round!

 

[TVC]

Put a sticking plaster over the display when you set off, then just look at the scenery and analyse the data when you get back -simples.

 

[citybabe]

I only use my speedo really to see how far I've gone. I enjoy looking at the scenery as I go along

 

[HLaB]

I only really pay attention to my speedo post ride; there are too many distractions both positive and naegative on the ride. I ride how I feel, fast in some stretches but leisurely in other sections. I find defaulting the speedo to the clock setting helps me judge without getting too wrapped up in it.

 

[corshamjim]

I do find it useful to know what my average speed is, so I can plan for a ride and most importantly suss whether I'm likely to be caught by the broom wagon on a sportive. 12mph is about usual for me, so plenty of time to admire the scenery.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm a relatively recent starter on a bike - and I don't have a speedo!

I use cyclemeter on my iphone, put it on before I leave home, and stop it when I get back. It gives me a fair bit of data, but it is subject to some glitches particularly if it isn't picking up the GPS signal properly.

For my birthday I got a heart rate monitor, a polar watch based one, and I do check it occasionally, particularly if the going gets hard due to a headwind or climbing.

I've been thinking about getting one of the Lidl speedos tomorrow morning, particularly as I'd like to try some TTs and I'll need to get some kind of plan for my pacing.

James

 

[monnet]

I used to be a slave to it. Funnily enough the more serious I've got about cycling the less concerned I've been about speed. I tend to measure effort by feel/ HR etc. I ride mostly in groups so keeping up is most important.

The great joy of not having a speedo is the summer extended commute home. Nothing beats dawdling along admiring the countryside (especially if I'm skiving off chaingang!