Technology, missing the good of being a triathlete

I got caught up in this for years and it felt good to let it all go and focus on the exercise and discipline of it and enjoyment.

some previous thoughts on this in the forums..

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=100446&start=1

When it comes to TT's (or in this case, Tri), it's not JUST about being the strongest cyclist out there. It's also about being the smartest, and improving your aerodynamics is a great way to do that. Sure it costs money, but if bike setup and aero goodies can make you 2mph faster than you otherwise would be, why not take advantage of it?

 For what it's worth, I'm a total techno-geek and ride a far fancier bike than anyone would probably say I "should" be riding, whatever that means. I also finished my first multisport event today, and while the aero bike stuff was nice, I was still wiped at the end and felt the enormous satisfaction of doing something I'd never done before--something I was physically incapable of doing just 4 months ago.

It's fun to tweak my bike and buy techno-goodies, but the euphoria of competing, of overcoming, of pushing faster/further/longer will ALWAYS be the most satisfying thing. 

 Just this tri newbie's $0.02.

Wow, that is a pretty provacative thread!  Sounds like the guy that started it really thought about the topic!

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that.  What I would bring up is that very few people know how to set up those goodies to properly take advantage of using them.  And in some cases, where they think they are gaining speed, they are actually inhibitting it because of that!

Some of my gadgetry serves merely to give me a distraction and pass time.  It probably doesn't make me any faster on its own but rather makes it easier for me to get out the door by breaking up monotony.  As a consequence I train more and get faster (HR monitor and Garmin).  When it comes to biking that is where the bling is.  It is easy to get caught up in the latest gadgets and forget that it is the training that is mostly respoonsible for making you faster. 

My HRM pooped on me while swimming during last March break while we vacationed in Orlando. I was devastated, because, "how can I continue training without my HRM?!" 

Now, 6 months later, I still haven't replaced it, and I had more "fun" training and racing this past season than in previous years. I'll be replacing it soon, but knowing that the toys & tools are not absolutely necessary will change the way I train in the future. 

I did spend the last season, however, completely obsessing and tricking out my bike - 'cause deep down I really love my toys!

I will confess that I suffered PowerTap burnout when I was racing road. All the info was great, but eventually I got sick of it and just wanted to ride. I ended up just selling the thing because I hated riding with it and for some reason couldn't ride without it.

I think it's like anything--become overly dependent on something and it'll suck the fun out of everything.