Facts and Data

Just one short month ago I didn’t even have a bike computer.  I just rode by feel and at the end of the day I didn’t even know how far I’d ridden (unless I could poach the data from a riding partner).  Now here I sit with my new Garmin 505 linked to a Strava account pouring over my data and comparing how I stack up with the local competition when it comes to riding up hills (not too good as it turns out).

Biking, whether it be commuting, fitness, recreation or racing should be about having fun.  I mean biking is just simple plain old fun.  I was worried that too much tracking of the minutia associated with riding a bicycle would begin to erode the foundation of why I ride in the first place – because I like to damn it.  I’ve seen this in the Ironman world – folks get so wrapped around the axle of meeting some goal that they forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun, this is how we recreate.

So far I seem to be keeping the data in its place – as secondary to the actual riding.  I’ll just have to be careful not to have a heart attack going up Zoo hill just because I want to have the 160^th fastest time instead of my current 167^th status.