Technology, a distraction from the experience....?

[Crackle]

Prompted by an article I read I thought about this very thing but not for the first time.

So the broad question is, does it enhance our experience, accompany it or distract from it?

Are we too focused on zeroing the bike computer, making sure the SD card is in the camera and the phone tracking is on before we clip in and push off. Then, do these just become part of the background of the ride or do they dictate what we see and feel, head down, not up, driven by the stats or the need to film that car overtaking or stop and snap that view.

What do we remember when we finish and do the figures and pictures help us recall our ride or mask it behind the concentration needed to manage the technology. Do your most memorable rides become memorable because of what you've recorded and uploaded or because of what you've experienced?

Do any of the things you've recorded ever even have a proper place in our lives beyond the clutter of collected data, are they just for us or are we deluding ourselves that others might be interested in the mundaneness of what we record. Is it about memory, self-promotion or is it about a shared experience which we might otherwise not have. Maybe a shared sociality without the inconvenience of needing to compromise our own activity to accommodate another.

Who would miss this data if it wasn't there?

 

[biggs682]

whats technology !

its only as good as the person using it

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I start the app before I set off and stop it when I get back.
The data is just for fun for me, and to show a friend I'm still riding.

I seem to have stopped using a camera on holiday, the mobile is switched off and stored for the duration. I'd rather have an experience than a facebook album.

And this is just because I thought it looked good...
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[IDMark2]

Don't you think though, that if the technology as you describe it was a pain to use or take on a ride, then you probably wouldn't? It seems to me that, if I get dressed up as I did this morning for showery and windy conditions and go down to the shed to check my bike over before I set off, that reaching for my phone, setting the GPS app to record and then put it back in my pocket is just another part of the ride 'ritual', no different from doing up my shoes.

It won't stop my enjoyment or otherwise of the ride, change if I feel good and strong that day or not. It's easy and no, it doesn't change anything. I can still stop for tea and cake, chat with friends on the way, even stop to take a photo with the same device, the app auto pauses and starts again when you set off.

I haven't got any of my own pictures of the Tour of Britain though, even though I've been to watch it pass by five years on the trot. Can't see how people can watch and enjoy it for those few seconds with their faces stuck to a screen making sure to 'get the shot', and I was managing a proper camera shop for over twenty years!

 

[rich p]

Hmmm, good question. I was always pretty laissez faire when I ran a lot while some of my companions noted every run, time, distance, weather, terrain etc. I'm too lazy to do that level of detail especially as my cycling is largely non-competitive.
Photos I regard as slightly different as they actually make me stop and force me to notice my surroundings as well as providing a useful aide memoire to supplement my fading inbuilt RAM.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Recently upgraded my phone to a Galaxy S4 Zoom. Basically a pocket digital camera with a smartphone built-in rather than vice versa. Because sometimes you see stuff that makes you stare in awe and you want to record it, and yes, share it too.

Use a Forerunner when running to set time and pace, and although I capture the stats I don't review them, I just like looking at maps of where I've run.

Use an Etrex when riding for fun. Capture the more memorable rides for the same "looking at maps" reason and because I embarked a few years ago on a pretentious piece of nobbery, a mixed media art project under the working title of "Where do I go when I ride my bike?" to try to express how some of the destinations aren't physical and the tracks are a useful aide-memoire.

Have started using a helmet cam on my commute. Don't review the footage unless reporting it to plod (not happened yet) just gets deleted by the loop record.

 

[JoeyB]

It improves the experience for me when I don't know the route I'm on!

 

[asterix]

It's three years since the battery on the cycle computer went flat and I haven't replaced it.

The only things I take are a mobile and a camera. Maybe a map but not always.

 

[Doseone]

Good question Crax. I reached snapping point with tech the other week. I bought a new headtorch, and you need a flaming phd to work out how to use it. I just want to turn it on and off FFS, I don't want to connect it to my pc to download lighting profiles, I don't want to download the app and I certainly don't need any more chargers knocking round the house. I'm going to have to build a new shed soon just to accommodate all our chargers.

..... or are we deluding ourselves that others might be interested in the mundaneness of what we record. Is it about memory, self-promotion or is it about a shared experience which we might otherwise not have. Maybe a shared sociality without the inconvenience of needing to compromise our own activity to accommodate another......

I think this is what Twitter is for, together with the proliferation of blogging. Trouble is, amongst all the guff there are some genuinely interesting people doing genuinely interesting things and writing about them in an engaging manner.

Two things I rarely go in to the hills without - my gps, which gives me that most wonderful ability to wander into unknown territory and get completely lost, and a camera because it forces you to stop and look. And with my camera if my gps fails I can record my last moments as my dog eats me.

 

[Crackle]

An interesting few responses. I've always kept journals, simple ones. There was one time I didn't and I regret it. One summer I just ran, sometimes a long way, no prescribed route, no pace, no target and it felt great but I have no memory of where or when, just the feeling. Perhaps that feeling is better then the mundane scribbles but it's a nagging hole in my notes, was I running better then than two years later, I'll never know.

I also remember going to watch the Tour the 2nd time it came to Britain. Boardman I think or Yates, was wearing yellow at the front of the bunch as they came through. I didn't see them though, I was watching the approach through a viewfinder, a viewfinder blotted out by someone else who dashed forward and did see them. I have no memory there. Other pictures though are a great reminder of things I've done and I'm glad they are there. Pictures sometimes go missing or get deleted and they too form a missing hole.

These days a GPS accompanies me and like Greg, even if I don't look at it, I look at the line later. Sometimes I'm disappointed that what felt like a great ride was actually quite slow and of course, if I'm recording something, well I tend to stick to a route I've worked out, it's a wrench from the stats to go off piste. I do often contemplate not taking it for that reason but then there's that hole of not knowing what I've done or where I've been when I look back in future years.

Then recently there's online uploads. I am torn again by these. They act as a spur, seeing others putting the miles in makes me go out but in all other ways, they are empty and pointless.

When I look back, the best memories are just that but sometimes I can tell you how fast i was going when I made them.

 

[asterix]

Your Ride Today often has some brilliant photos. I prefer them to video clips usually.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I have a computer on the bike, I record distance and thats it, I just enjoy the ride, I recon I prefered it years ago when we just rode our bikes.

 

[coffeejo]

I think it's down to who you are and there is no right/wrong answer, just what works for you at that moment in time. Would Boardman, Cav, Wiggo, Froome etc have had their successes if not for the benefits of technology?

Personally, I know that my memory is invigorated by having something to refer back to, from photos and posts in Your Ride Today to the stats, weather report and brief route notes that I make on my spreadsheet.

I read an article recently about digital photography and memories - it suggested that those who just point and shoot and walk away aren't making memories and the photos won't necessarily hold any meaning to them in five, ten, twenty years but those who take their time to set up the photo, zoom in, zoom out, take multiple shots etc are taking it all in whilst seeming to be fixated on photograph rather than the landscape and when they see the photograph in years to come, it will act as a trigger for the scene and the sights and sounds they experienced, plus any associated memories of that day.

 

[CopperBrompton]

To me, the great thing about today's technology is it's so quick and easy, it doesn't get in the way of the experience at all - but enhances the memories.

When I start a ride, it takes seconds to snap both GPS and camcorder into their cradles. Press start at the beginning of the ride, stop when I get there. For utility riding, I record the whole ride - just flipping a switch at each end of the ride - and any idiots out there just wash over me as I know I can do something about it if I want to (I never bother, but knowing that I can means I don't let it wind me up). For social rides, I record snippets here are there and put together a quick video, which those on the ride with me seem to enjoy too.

For cycling holidays, I really enjoy looking back on the videos.

 

[albion]

I start the app before I set off and stop it when I get back.
..

Exactly the same, though I do check the time at the stop point.