Masochism with a data gizmo

See, you don't have to be a wannabe pro to enjoy the data side of it, or the community aspect of Strava.  I have Strava friends who I have never met, or bumped into once in a while.  One of them rode across France and Switzerland last year, he's got me thinking about (maybe ) riding to Pescara.  Another guy did an Everesting near Portsmouth, so I made the 100 mile round trip and did a couple of climbs with him.

I've logged every ride since 2012. I regularly did 8000km a year, then I crashed and broke my scapula so had two slack years around 5000 km.  The next year I tried for 10k...and that made me rethink.  10k is roughly 30 km a day, which seems reasonable.  Until you don't ride for 3 days, or a week. I am now focussed more onenjoyment, doing rides that are more of an adventure, than just logging another 2 km here or there.  If you put the right key words in the title its really easy to look up old adventures, plan new ones. 

I did Ride London over the Whitsun bank holiday with no more than my 35 year old sports watch. It was gloriously liberating watching so many others poking and prodding various expensive looking blocks of plastic strapped to their handlebars rather than taking in the wonders of day.

When I got into serious (meaning of the word certainly subject to definition) cycling twenty years ago I bought a cycle computer and, a little later, a heart rate monitor.
After a while I figured out that these devices always show the same numbers, so that there's really no need for them, at least at my level of cycling, and stopped using them.

Navigation happens on maps. Sometimes I photograph them (from paper or the computer screen) with my phone (I got one when they got rid of phone booths here in France), that's about the only kind of digital navigation happening here.

Strava and whatnot I haven't even so much as looked at.

Before I had a Garmin, I used to record all my runs (time and distance) in a notebook, then in a spreadsheet and eventually with a Garmin. I was mostly concerend about not getting injured - "too much, too fast, too soon" is a very common cause of injury for runners.

I also found it useful for working out when to replace my trainers, making sure I ran my slow runs slowly and pacing myself during races. The HR data was sometimes useful for longer races (10K, Half Marathon), but less so for shorter ones.

Now that I've stopped trying to set PB's (my last attempt to run a sub-40 10K was 6 years ago) I pay a lot less attention to my Garmin. I know I'm gradually getting slower and slower, and I don't need to be reminded of that. Quite often I don't look at the data once it's uploaded, I find the end of year stats interesting though.

For cycling, I like to know how far I've gone, but I'm not that bothered about anything else. I've never raced, except for a couple of low-key Duathlons, so I don't feel that I need to anaylse anything very much. I had a cadence sensor at one point, just out of curiosity, but I prefer to go by what feels right.

The most efficient way to avoid angst related to running - the exercise choice of the Guardian writer - is to not go running. 

I'm too tight to pay for Strava, so miss out on some of the payment-only features that I previously took for granted, such as clicking on my fastest segment time and seeing when I completed that ride.

Other than that I record rides in part to signpost them to others I think might enjoy the routes.  I'm beyond worrying about my decline in performance and stop to take photographs of what I think are nice views.  And a bike ride is a perfect excuse for, say, a sausage sandwich.   
 

I would say that you & I are at different ends of the spectrum here.

I use a GPS head unit on rides, currently a Garmin Edge 1040 Solar (replacing over time previously 1030 Plus, 1030, 820, 520, Wahoo RFLKT). This is paired with multiple sensors on multiple bikes (speed, power, HR, radar, camera). I record every ride with Garmin Connect and Strava, and analyse particular ones with VeloViewer. I track distances on every bike, and using Strava's component feature, distance on each component, allowing me to forecast wear and tear. I use ActivityFix.com for a rules based "if this then that" workflow to automatically update Strava activities to have the correct bike and title depending on sensors connected and/or GPS data. 

The data collected (along with steps, stairs and sleep data from a Garmin fitness watch) helps me track calorie surplus/deficit for my ongoing battle with weight, I look at Strava segments to track my own performance (it's fun), and also, I just find data very meaningful. The old adage "you can't improve what you can't measure" applies for me. I don't feel any pressure similar to the Grauniad article's author, at my age and ability I know no matter how well I do on a bike there will always be someone faster/better, and I can live with that. Rather the opposite, I find it easier and more comfortable comparing say, average power and average HR on a particular activity against how I felt or how much I'd ate or drank.

So in summary, if one likes data recording and analysis and does not suffer with the anxieties described in the article, it's absolutely fine and makes things more interesting.

In my (distant) youth, I was an orienteer and enjoyed the competition. I bought my first Garmin GPS watch & heart rate monitor and began my tracking. I now use a Forerunner 45 and track my commute. I also use it to track my runs.

If I hadn't been tracking this information for so long, I would have sought emergency medical care after my first Spin class, when my heart rate hit 205bpm. My heart rate has always run (excuse the pun) very high.

I find it really useful to track my entire day on the watch. It gives me a heads up when I am heading towards a cold (my resting heart rate starts to creep up) I use it to alter my run/cycle cadence to see what differences it makes with my speed.

However - since it is a watch, I can't/don't check it while cycling. It buzzes every 5km, but I have no idea how long it has taken - so feel I am more focused on my surroundings, rather than a screen. I believe it would be similar to a driver checking their phone - I wouldn't be paying attention to the road (granted - different outcomes if a pedestrian stepped out in front of me, rather than a driver)