Something else happened on Day Two of the Zoo 2 Zoo ride. In my early morning rush to get ready, I lost my Garmin. At first I was distraught, not so much at the thought of having to cough up $300 for a new one. More that this was the biggest day of the whole thing and here I was at the start in Lithgow with no GPS to record it for posterity. Woe was me. Or so I thought.
I did manage to record some of the day’s riding through my phone…until its battery died about 15km north west of Bathurst. That said, even before it died my phone was tucked snuggly in my back jersey pocket so I had no way of knowing my speed or cadence or gradients or heart rate in any case. After the battery gave up the ghost, for the final 85km I had nothing at all.
Apart from racing on the track during winter (where I was too lazy to set it up on my track bike) this is the first time I’d ridden ‘technologically nude’ in a very long time. And I liked it. Suddenly I was forced to listen to my body – really listen – and not rely on numbers and thresholds being spat out on a LCD screen on my stem to measure my efforts. As it turns out, I survived the day just fine. In fact, in many ways I rode more strongly than ever.
This story has a double happy ending too. For at the end of Day Two I found my Garmin buried amongst energy gels and sweaty gloves in my overnight bag in Molong. Question is, will I keep using it?
(Answer: yes. But I certainly won’t fret should I ever forget it again).
Carbon Addiction 
I haven’t ridden without the Garmin for an age, but I *have* at least weaned myself off an overreliance on the HRM and cadence sensor. For a while the zone numbers were governing how I paced myself, where the terrain probably should have been a greater factor. I’ve also found I can have more fun if I just ignore the numbers a bit.
Still won’t race without the full suite though. No chance.
Yep, it’s pretty darn handy in a race. No arguments there.
I’m actually the opposite on this. I’ll use heart rate zones to train ( rarely) but definitely won’t have my heart rate monitor on when racing. I don’t want to know how much I’m suffering in a race and either you hold on or you don’t.
Clearly did the trick on Sunday mate. Well done!
Handy tip when using the Iphone Strava app to record the ride, turn the mobile data off. You can still get calls and SMS but no internet. Iphone lasts for days that way. Once the ride is finished turn on mobile data again and hit save ride.
Loving the blog and updates on Z2Z as well Pete.
I knew there must have been a way. But I couldn’t figure it out. Doh.
(Day Three update coming as soon as I get a chance to sit down and write it up!)
Pete, are you sure your head didn’t take more of a knock than you first thought. Lets see, Lost Garmin, Found Garmin, Forgot to charge i phone, Inadequate equipment to inflate a tyre. Glad you are home safe and sound mate…….. Take a rest you deserve it. Oh, only after day 3 posting though….