To be or not to be... a gear head...

To be or not to be... a gear head...

Today was the 10th annual Pumpkinvine ride, and a friend and I decided to ride. This was to be my first organized ride, and while anxious is too strong a word, I wondered what it would be like with all those people.

We agreed to meet at 7 - when the hard-core 104-milers were taking off. My friend was a little late, so I watched all these really serious gear heads ride away. They had all kinds of expensive and flashy gear - from the cycling skull caps to clip on shoes, and really, really high-end bikes. I clearly wasn't in their league with my 20 year old second-hand road bike, tennis shoes, a normal tee-shirt and 'cages'.

Once upon a time I had a cyclometer - a little gadget with sensors that measures your speed and distance. It died on me a few years ago, and last week on my ride I pondered replacing it. I had concluded that I really liked not having all that information; I felt then that it would have distracted me from the pleasure of the ride and the countryside.

Today my riding companion had one and, as I suspected, I really wanted to know how fast we were going, and how far, and what our average speed was, and how many RMP we were cranking. You can get all that stuff. And you know, it really was a mixed blessing.

Our route took us up and down the Bristol Hills, and it was a blast. But our focus turned from the exhilaration of the ride to how fast we were going, and could we go faster.

It was as if we believed knowing our speed made the experience better.

But you know what? It didn't.

All that information competed with the feel of the wind in my face, and the beauty of the landscape flying by.

So I don't think I want one.

But it was helpful, for example, knowing how far we had traveled. ("OK - we're at 34 miles and it's 13 back. Shall we do another loop, or head for Shipshe, or home?" "Um... 47 is enough for me today.")

So I want one.

Hummm...

By the way - we hit 32.6 on one hill. Then a couple miles later, with the wind to our back and pushing harder to beat our previous speed, we hit 38.4.

In the end my best guess is that I put in about 49 miles.

Hummm...