The Joy of riding without a GPS or bike computer

[nickyboy]

Guess it depends on what you use the gps for. I'll upload all my rides to Strava so people I know can comment how slow I am etc etc. I also use cycling as my main fitness tool so recording it lets me know if my fitness is where it should be. I hardly ever "just go for a ride". It's either social with friends or solo for fitness

 

[GoldenLamprey]

Same. Although my Wahoo has an annoying little triangle thingy next to the current speed, that indicates whether I’m going faster or slower than my ride average. Doh!

Why don’t we have a facepalm emoji?

Bugger! I have a Bolt and never even noticed this I'll not be able to unsee this now.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Ive recorded every ride since 2011, but don't get upset on thw rare occssions that it doesn't record properly or at all.

Now up to 10 miles?

 

[MntnMan62]

I never ride with a GPS or any kind of device that is displaying data to me during my ride. I always turn on the Strava app and start my ride with it on and stick it in my saddle pack under my seat. It stays there until I'm done with my ride. I might take it out occassionally to take a picture or two. But most of the time it's there until I take it out to turn it off. Then as I'm relaxing after my ride I can sit and look over my stats for the ride. I'm not racing and just ride for fitness and the enjoyment of it.

 

[rockyroller]

cycling without my computer

truly liberating

 

[accountantpete]

No, I don't bother unless I need a cruising speed test. The legs will no longer take me out of my comfort zone and I have probably been down 90% of the roads in that area at least once before.

 

[fossyant]

I just leave the GPS running - don't really look at it.

 

[byegad]

I had 9 bikes/trikes at one time and a cycling computer/speedo on each.

One day, one of them packed in. I found my ride more enjoyable and didn't replace it. Then my balance issue struck and I sold, gave away my bikes, keeping my recumbent trike, and took the computer off that. I bought another trike and it has never had a speedo on it.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

The last gadget I used on a regular basis, was an Avocet 40
I think that dates it....

Although, I did try a ride last year, with my running GPS/watch, a Garmin Forerunner 305, but that was simply to see if it still worked, as I was going to offer it 'FOC' to the first member in my running club who wanted it

 

[bagpuss]

Bought a Garmin in 2014 for a ride to Austria. Only used it a couple of times during the trip, as I much prefer a good old paper map. Far better for engaging with folk you meet along the way. ie, Finding things through local knowledge. I have never used it since even though I left it on a bike. So an expensive paper weight gained.
I have a basic computer on my various bikes but never record each and every ride . The days are now my own, so I can spend all day in normal times going somewhere .To me riding is just about having a day out .How far or how fast is irrelevant . It is what I see that counts for me.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I just have a basic computer on the bike, the only thing I record on the ride is distance, when I get home I record mileage and where I've been on my home computer.

 

[gavroche]

I take my Garmin with every ride because I like to be aware of three main things:
- distance covered.
- gradient of hills I climb.
- Heart rate.
The latter is very important when climbing hills so I can control my HR.
I download all my rides on Strava , not for competitive reasons but to check my yearly mileage.

 

[Drago]

I never leave home without a wifi link to a GPS ground station and an atomic clock, backed up by vector sensitive inertial naviation unit, with a sextant and quill pen as final back up. After all, if its not on Strava...

 

[numbnuts]

Without a computer or GPS, must be like riding naked
I like to know where I'm going and where I've been

 

[DCBassman]

I never ride with a GPS or any kind of device that is displaying data to me during my ride. I always turn on the Strava app and start my ride with it on and stick it in my saddle pack under my seat. It stays there until I'm done with my ride. I might take it out occassionally to take a picture or two. But most of the time it's there until I take it out to turn it off. Then as I'm relaxing after my ride I can sit and look over my stats for the ride. I'm not racing and just ride for fitness and the enjoyment of it.

This, this exactly.