I think more Hivers might not have the inspiration to create a complete blog about cycling.I'm glad you like the idea @mrprofessor & @strava2hive
With this initiative everyone can share their ideas in the comments, engage with other cyclists and maybe get inspired too.
Let me kick off...
I have bought several cycling gadgets over the years. Some are good, some not as good as they seemed 😀
I have a tool to get my tire back on the rim (useful when you dont have a lot of strength in your hands).
And I have a tool to measure my chain length to see if it has worn out.
But my best gadget by far is my Garmin 530 navigation.
My sense of direction is really terrible, so I really need my navigation so I dont get lost. It's great on holidays, but I also use it in the proximity of my home.
And it shows me a lot more information than navigation only.
Speed, heartrate, cadence, percentage, climbs, disrance etc. It also notifies me when there is a sharp corner coming up and I have notifications to remnind me to drink and eat.
It was quite an expensive gadget, but totally worth it for me.
What about you guys (and girls)?
Believe it or not, I use zero gadgets except my phone and some tools. A nice gps unit would come very in handy, especially for competitions and KOM hunting but they are (as you said) quite expensive =/ when I'm travelling I rely on paper maps hhahaha
I'm a bit of a Strava geek though. I used to spend a lot of time hunting koms until i lost a bunch of them. It's still a great tool to analyze training and compare times with other ppl.
I'm using Strava as well, but I don't hunt KOM's. They are way to sharp here. And mostly in urban areas, so too dangerous to try.
Unfortunately they have put a lot of cool features in the paid version a while ago.
Those damn urban koms, that's how I broke my leg (still it wasn't my fault since the guy cut me off when I was in the main street). The worst thing about koms is losing them hahaha
Hmm, I use the paid version, it's pretty cool; would be better if I used all the sensors though.
Ouch, that is exactly what I mean.
I have a heatrate band and a cadence meter. I don't look too much at the cadence since I mostly keep that above 80 automatically. I do watch the heartrate. Especially in climbs.
Do you set the HR zones in your Garmin? It's cool to monitor your effort after uploading to Strava.
Yes, I even did a fitness test last year to determine my zones, so I know the value which I should stay under.
Niiiice, that's really cool. I'm always curious to know my ftp