Benefits of Cycling #27: Freeing Yourself from the Coffin of Electronics Our Modern Lives Have Become

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 —
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The Wide Open Road Awaits

near Onyu Pass (おにゅう峠）north of Kyoto, Japan

Ah, the wide open road, one of the great benefits of cycling, getting away from the stress of the city and immersing oneself in
nature, freeing oneself, at least temporarily, from the coffin of electronics that our modern lives have become.

Cycling lets you leave the electronic shackles behind, and connect with nature and friends.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100 —
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Whether Cycling Alone...

at Mt. Norikura (乗鞍岳)

(Japan's highest paved road)








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 41mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 —
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.. Or with a Friend...








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 —
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... or Two









iPhone 6+ — 1/125 sec, f/2.2, ISO 32 —
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... or Three









iPhone 6+ + front camera — 1/120 sec, f/2.2, ISO 40 —
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... or 100

Don't get me wrong.... hiking can be great, as can motorcycling. Both get you away from the rat race, but
cycling seems to hit the sweet spot. You can see a larger variety of different scenery than you can on foot,
yet you're still “raw” with nature, unlike when on a motorcycle.

But the biggest benefit may be in freeing your mind from all the modern hassles, leaving all the electronics behind.

Well, except a light... you should have an electronic light.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 —
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One Bit of Electronics Not to Ditch

for safety, to be seen








Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO 5000 —
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Okay, One More

arguably more important than the first

I'm pretty anal about safety, so I run with lights on the front and back at all times, even during the middle of the day. So, I do have to make sure that their internal batteries are charged before every ride.

Actually, in my case, my bike's shifters are electronics, so I need to make sure they're charged as well.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5600 —
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Shimano Di2 Front Derailleur








Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 —
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Shimano Di2 Rear Derailleur

It's not fun when the derailleurs run out of battery, as I
found out on a 225km ride last month. The entire Di2 system is
charged via a control box under the handlebar stem:

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 —
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Shimano Di2 Control Box

and the SM-EWW01 wireless unit piggybacking below

The problem when the battery ran out, I realize now, was that the wireless unit takes a lot more battery than the unit
itself. Without the wireless unit, the battery lasts for months, but with it, weeks. I'd added it just prior to that long ride,
and hadn't yet realized just what an electronic toll it takes. So now I make sure to charge its battery much more often.

The wireless unit transmits the current status of the derailleurs to my cycling computer, which I guess is another bit of
electronics I rely on...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 —
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Garmin Edge 820

cycling computer

Now that I think about it, I do need to bring my phone with me just in case...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 —
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Pretty Much Required

for communication and mapping in case of troubles

... and going along with that, so I can be alerted to messages and such...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 —
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Apple Watch

vibrates on the wrist so I can be alerted even if I can't hear









Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 —
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Sunglasses Need a Good Charge

or they wouldn't be very good as sunglasses, would they?

I need to write up a post on these sunglasses (CTRL One), which can instantly convert between tinted and
mostly-clear, at the touch of a button. I find them very useful because I can maintain eye protection (from bugs,
raindrops, etc.) even when plummeting down a mountain in dark forest shade.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 —
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I Usually Bring a Camera

either this Panasonic LX100 or a Nikon D4

And while we're on the subject of cameras, as both a kind of “insurance” and just to have the cool footage, I like to have cycling cameras on both the front and back...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 —
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Rear Camera

Cycliq Fly6








Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 —
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Front Camera

Cycliq Fly12

These Cycliq products are poorly thought out, poorly designed, and poorly supported, but they more or less work and don't have
any competition in this product space, so I guess it's the best I can do.

In the photo above the camera and cycling computer are attached to the bike with a K-Edge mount that I wrote about recently, about how it broke under stress and
how K-Edge came through. Since writing that post, another copy of the same mount failed in the same way. I wrote back to the
company, but haven't heard anything for more than a week. Sadly, I guess the trust the mount had regained is lost. I'm no longer
using it.

And to continue with speaking of disappointing products, I currently use two products by Wahoo, but
they're both pretty bad.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/4, ISO 6400 —
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Wahoo Speed-and-Cadence Sensor

horribly designed; already broken

The Wahoo “Blue SC” speed and cadence sensor seems like a great product at first. It's both ANT+ and Bluetooth,
which is super convenient. It's the only one I know of that can talk to both my iPhone and my cycling computer
at the same time. But it's got the most moronic design.

It attaches to the bike with a big rubber band. The band hooks to one side of the unit more or less
permanently, is stretched around part of the bike (the non-drive-side chainstay), then hooks back onto the unit on the other side.
This is a common way of attaching stuff to a bike, but the way Wahoo
implemented it is fantastically bad because they put the “hook” side
facing in, so you really can't get at it without taking the wheel off, and even then it helps to have small hands. Then, to make
matters worse — much worse — the “more or less permanently” attach point is anything but... the band barely fits into the tiny shallow notch, and immediately pops
out the moment you put any strain on the band (such as when trying to attach it to the bike), unless the planets are aligned
just so.

If you are able to get it to stay as you stretch the band, you've then got to figure out how to get the band to the
rear of the unit, something that would perhaps be easy in the best of conditions (inside a workshop with the bike mounted
and the wheel off), but it's the mother of all frustration out on the road. I would never try to work with this unit
within earshot of my parents or child.

Luckily my parents and child don't often ride with me, because one needs to deal with this piece of crap out on the road from
time to time because the band has a habit of just popping off for no apparent reason. I ended up adding twist ties as backup attachment, just to keep it from getting lost, and this has saved it
a number of times. But even with the band and the twist ties, it's still a hot mess... it has to be positioned within fairly tight tolerances, but the poor mount deign makes it easy
for it to slip out of alignment. I even used some Dycem (amaaaazing stuff) to keep it from
slipping, and it helps, but Wahoo's bad design trumps all.

I truly can't believe that they actually tested this design in the field, using real human cyclists.
It's an unfathomably-bad design. It's a gratuitously-, wantonly-bad design.

But that's okay, I won't be using it much longer. The speed sensor has recently stopped working for
no apparent reason. I can hear the leaf switch close when I bring the magnet
near, but the data never makes it out of the unit. It's a piece of crap.

And along the same lines, the Wahoo heart-rate sensor is also poorly designed.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
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Wahoo TICKR X

heart-rate sensor

Plastic has broken off both ends of the strap, in a way that seems to be inevitable given its stupid design. So far it's still working as a heart-rate sensor, but given that Wahoo apparently has no problem selling stuff
whose basic design is so very bad, I don't think I'll ever buy one of their products again.

At least I don't have to recharge these two Wahoo products before each ride... they work off small batteries that
last about a year.

I'm an ultra data geek, so I don't want to lose the data for my ride if my
cycling computer has “issues”. So, I also
record my rides on my phone using the most-excellent Galileo Offline Maps app. (The
app is great, though Apple dorks activity tracking on their phones.)

As a further backup, I also record my rides with a separate stand-alone GPS/GLONASS unit:

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 —
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Bad Elf GPS PRO+

it's not very accurate, but better than no backup

And finally, with all these things with batteries that can run down, on long rides they can need a
boost, so I often bring along a spare battery:

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 4000 —
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Extra Battery

to top off my phone, cycling computer, lights, cameras, etc.

I used to have a power meter, which also needed to be recharged, but it was so inaccurate that I returned it,
so at least I have that going for me.

Okay, so other than all that stuff, cycling frees you.

Of course, you have to be able to recharge it all, so you also need a basket full of chargers and
cables. Here's the floor of my hotel room during my Norikura trip earlier in
the year...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Home Sweet Home

for an electronic rat








Panasonic LX100 at an effective 33mm — 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
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Cycling at its Best

nature... friends... I guess you don't even need a bike!










iPhone 6+ — 1/750 sec, f/2.2, ISO 32 —
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The Wide Open Road Calls

just be sure your battery is charged, or it'll go to voicemail