CYCLING PLUS UNPLUGGED

Despite being Cycling Plus’s chief product tester, Warren Rossiter’s best days on the bike are when he dials back the tech

There I am, getting ready to ride a bike on a cold March morning. My first pre-ride checks are the essential ones. Tyres inflated, brakes checked, clothes fit for the weather. So far, so simple…

But this is 2018. Pre-ride checks these days resemble launch procedures surrounding a missile test in their technological tinkering, with every moment of my riding being logged, controlled and monitored, an Orwellian nightmare on two wheels.

Some of these ‘enhancements’ are useful. Most, however, are superfluous and in our audited society this is becoming the norm. Obsessing over Strava by craving kudos from people you barely know, or don’t know at all, along with logging or blogging rides on Instagram or Twitter. Riding has become just another facet of social media in society’s endless quest to validate vicariously its own existence.

Last year Cycling Plus turned 25 and I can just about remember how simple things were back then in 1992. It was state-of-the-art in its time, granted, but the wired Cateye computer that told me how far, fast and long I’d gone – and little else – did me fine. Post-ride I would write down in my Ron Kitchin cyclist’s log the pertinent facts and figures; not to share, not for validation from my peers but just to know. I still try and keep my riding that way.

Riding is and always was about myself, on my time and for my enjoyment. My best days are when I can eschew all the connectivity, disconnect from the world and get out and enjoy the great things technology can bring – not getting lost when exploring thanks to GPS, slick electronic-driven shifts without crusty, corroding cables and confident, disc-assisted all-weather braking. We should embrace what technology can bring without becoming a slave to it.