Unplugged (Gadgets, The snake oil of a Good Ride).

How many gadgets do you need to go for a ride?
Me, I think one is enough, but I'd really like to know your thoughts. Last week I rode with a friend, and because he was visiting he used one of my bikes. I had charged the Blinky lights the night before, which is business as usual, and I don't consider these in my count of gadgets, but he brought some of his own bling and, because I believe he could not ride without these, I looked the other way when he added them to the kit. One was a Garmin, the venerable 700 or some such... He had a rear radar light with it, which he said let him know when an auto approached from behind. Smart?

The road to race-ready may be littered with new technologies, but at the race, the trophy is handed to the best fit and most cunning challenger.

I'm sort of a purist, and would likely prefer to leave my phone behind, but for the GPS whilst in strange lands. With the phone GPS running, I use a pair of cheap headphones to guide, with the occasional audio book or pod-cast, and I always ditch the phone in a Z-Packs Waterproof pouch in my jersey back. I have no need nor want to look at it whilst riding. In fact, if suffering from a barrage of Group Texts, one may DND all contacts until arrival. I hate to squirm with each ping, as if something were more important than my peaceful sojourn For me, (and it seems to be me alone); I don't count Watts, nor Cadence, nor Calories, or any such, I just ride, and it has done me good. I don't falter in a club-ride, and don't get left behind in a race, as I thought I may -- because I don't benefit from the same kit as my brethren. I do OK without the "benefits" of these mod devices.
Here is the strange thing. My buddy got his GPS running, and we briefly set our course to Madison from Waterloo, and I dropped my ear-buds in my head to hear the voice directions, but skipped the music or book to be closer to my riding partner, and to chat. What I didn't quite understand, was that I was getting directions from my phone in my pocket and leading the charge, whilst he was the one with the "Official Garmin GPS". Garmin after all is a GPS Company first and foremost right? So he benefits from the rear radar, I suppose, but the blinky light on that thing was shit, and he was only using the GPS to log his ride, and post it in the inter webs. (Something about, if it doesn't happen in Strava it never happened, correct?)
Well...That may be true and compelling to kid about, but if you go fishing, catch four nice smallie's, and throw them back, because you are too far from camp to keep them fresh, did you catch anything? Nope.
I believe that a cyclist can have a great ride, or even season without a battery, but for safety, brought by a good light, lest we not forget a few riding basics.
One: It is Desirable to be seen.
Two: It is preferred to not get lost.
Three: A phone in an emergency, is helpful.
Besides these three basic tenets, gadgets which run on DC voltage, excepting that you are not a true pro competitor, you may not require more tech. Let’s begin with Watts. In the Stone Age, slightly post development of the carbon frame, there came to be “Computers” which provided basic data. They incremented each kilometer, and averaged speed, and even counted the ratio of speed to Pedal Rotation, called Cadence. Cycling existed for nearly a century prior, but didn’t concern itself with more data. Cyclists performed at the pinnacle of their threshold, and dominated each other, factoring only the following metrics:
A: They were riding as fast as their bodies allowed.
B: They were slave to their caloric intake and natural ability.
​C: They were Faster / Slower than the other rider/s.
Fast as analog cyclists were, we can concede that people got faster with evolutive technology, much of which was the benefit of identifying genetic and physical markers and limits which would benefit/ inhibit their performance. Most performance variation not attributable to genetics, diet, rest, and training were gained by the steady improvement of the athlete's fitness level and of the bicycle itself.
Tech notwithstanding, it can be assumed that analog athlete's prowess improved through improved sport's nutrition and strategic training, but the Bike's tech may have tendered the largest tactical merit.
Tech was lightness, and light was/ is faster.

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A steel frame recently raced at the UCI worlds without any gadgets, save some sleigh bells or perhaps a cowbell.
The road to race-ready may be littered with new technologies, but at the race, the trophy is handed to the best fit and most cunning challenger.
Our ride returning from the Waterloo race was a short jaunt back to Madison. The pace was brisk, as was the autumn headwind. No place along the route did either of us need to know out wattage. If a car were to crush us, there isn’t yet a Garmin Forcefield to stop it. We enjoyed the countryside, the changing trees, the feed corn drying on 8 foot stalks. The sun was setting and blue faded to a baby aspirin orange, as we slid into Madison along their city path. We circled the Lake trail to our hotel, and chatted along the way. Later at Dinner my compadre shares with me our stats, reciting them from his Garmin. Essentially the same as Google Maps reported before the return ride began. So, there you have it... we really only needed a map.

Recollecting a trip from Minnesota to New York as a faster analog to my current self, I loaded up a bike with packs, tent and bag, and rode out of town at dawn, one Saturday in June. I didn’t plan much, except basic provisions, and camping. Predating cell phones, and personal GPS, I rode into the rising sun, heading east through St Paul. I really had no idea how to get there, only the destination was Eastward.
As as I exited St Paul, I stopped at a gas station for directions and a road map. Maps are now relics, which if still in circulation, stand cleverly folded in racks collecting dust at each roadside attraction.
I bought a Coke, and asked for directions to Madison WI.
the clerk took my 60 cents for the beverage, and told me to "take the interstate". With a lycra mesh covered white foam helmet on my head, I said, “actually I’m on my bike, so I can’t take the highway”.
The clerk said, “hmm, where is your motorcycle?", glancing out the window.
I restated, “Bicycle”.
The Gas station attendant paused, and leaned to look again outside, near the pump, then looking leftward seeing my fully loaded mountain tourer, with a Scott Bull-horn bar.... She Paused again, and looked me dead in the eye, and said, “Bicycle?, you don’t have a car?” -- “what about taking the bus?”
Knowing that my story was lost on them, I payed for a Minnesota and Wisconsin road map, and left without any more insight than when I'd arrived.

Handlebar packs had a clear view map zip pocket in-stead of one for a smart-phone
pouch. I used this window the the world to follow minor highways through the hot sun toward LaCrosse en route to NY.
My whole trip's tech package was a paper map, wrist-watch, and an occasional pay phone.  Interestingly this still seems to be enough tech to enjoy riding.

​I know what you are saying -- Strava is social (media), or perhaps the venerable 'Group-Text' for those not regularly uploading their breakfast cereal onto social Media. It's great to stay in contact and even flaunt your accomplishments in cyberland. What not to love about cycling as art form and as a general tribe.
We all are social animals, and our villages and tribes appear to be fenced with GIF's, JPG's, and "Likes", littered about our encampments like a rummage sale holding back a flood.  Piles of detritus out on our lawns betray what we used to keep in our basements and closets packed away in mildewed dusty boxes, sorted onto the driveway for pier review.  In hindsight, Strava will serve to show how strong you once were, and how you've improved, or wound down, and lost interest, ... Fizzled out, as all social media does. 
So the Gadgets which bring us here, to the rim of a large caldera, where we sacrifice our privacy for a few "at-a-boy's" before the big fall, bring us together?  Do our cyber-friends enjoy us airing our dirty laundry and half-read books out front, as they ride by?  You'd suppose the answer was yes, by the sheer numbers participating.  If the gadgets we use today to be cyclists, and not (necessarily) better cyclists bring us together, and build allegiance to the tribe, then I will concede that they are a natural evolution necessary for the survival and growth of our species... However i will also say that most of the fuss with Watts, VR, Social Posting of our Strava etch-a-sketch lines shading the upper lip of our Girlfriend's portrait, (while clever), are far removed from the pure joy of a good ride. It's also possible that we are creating a somewhat diluted version of cycling, whereby without a registry of wattage and V02 stats, we are lost. If you are struggling to find an edge, and a new gadget does it for you, then dive in.

If you've never rendered an image of Abe Lincoln on your Strava, and you generally ride well without a Garmin, Watt Meter, HR Monitor, and Handlebar mounted iPad, then please raise your hand.