Where Else Can I put my Garmin and my HRM where they will work but I can't see them.

[kajero]

I rode 28 miles in the Wounded Warrior Ride Today!

And I crashed coming back but still did the whole ride. I am a little bruised but okay! But I was looking at my Garmin and hit some railroad tracks. The police said that people wipe out on those tracks all the time and they need to be fixed. Maybe if I had been paying attention I wouldn't have wiped out.

My accidents seem to happen when I look at Garmin and don't pay attention to the trail. I have pretty much broken the habit of looking at the HRM, but I can't seem to keep quit looking at Garmin. I always want to know how fast I am going and how many miles I have ridden or have left to ride. Even if I turn the Garmin backwards, I know I will look for it.

I really would like to keep track of the miles I ride and don't know how to do it without the Garmin.

I didn't have the worst ride though. There was a rider that broke his thumb.

It seems I crash when there is a certain person riding on the ride. LOL. I don't ride with her/him at all. I don't even ride close to her/him! He/She is just way too fast for me! It just seems when he/she is on the ride, I crash.

[zoom-zoom]

Stick it in a back pocket on your jersey. It will still work just fine back there.

[Eden]

Yup - it doesn't even have to be exposed to work. I have been taking mine kayaking and put in in a pocket on my PFD where it works just fine.

[OakLeaf]

Pocket is fine.

But, it sounds like you really need some work on visual skills. If you're that easily distracted by your computer, you're likely going to be just as easily distracted by other things. Things that you do need to be aware of while riding, like other vehicles, animals, potholes, etc. The number of crashes you've had both on and off bike really suggest that. Distraction, target fixation, tunnel vision, are all aspects of the same thing.

It's an issue for me that I have to work on constantly, so I don't really have any good suggestions other than to keep checking yourself for whether you're seeing everything in your fields of vision, like very often, like once a minute or even more, as often as you'd check your mirrors in a motor vehicle. That's what I do on wheels, any kind of wheels, and just typing this makes me realize I need to do it on foot, too. Take a bike skills course, since a whole lot of bike handling is visual. Maybe page Wahine who mentioned in another thread that she had some drills.


ETA: I have a friend who says some of the best advice he ever got on a moto is to pick his eyes up 10 degrees. To me, that's part of it, a big part, since most people spend way too much time looking down and not enough time looking at the way forward - and if your computer isn't on the very periphery of your vision while riding, you're there - but to me there's more to it than that. The diffuse center of your focus is really, really important, but just as important is keeping it extremely diffuse. You know when you go to the optometrist and do the visual fields test? That's how "turned on" your brain has to be any time you're moving through space. If you're not used to it, it will be very tiring at first, since it takes a LOT of brain processing power. That's okay, just know to limit the length of your rides so you won't be overcome by fatigue, and you will build mental endurance the same way you build physical endurance.

[Helene2013]

I don't know for the location of your things but I know on my bike I have all I need on my road bar (iPhone as I need my music while riding) and my Polar. And both I have extension so I can look at those without lowering my head too much. So I only need to lower my eyes a bit and my numbers are there. I don't play with my iphone while cycling. If I want to change a song I wait until I'm really slowed down, or stop (while taking a sip of water). I try to look ahead and use all my peripheral vision all the time and anticipate my next move, if one needed. Only then I will look at my "toys".

[kajero]

This is wonderful advice. I think I already knew I have this problem. Most of the time when I get into trouble is because I am not looking where I am going. I think if I hadn't any distractions I probably would wouldn't have it those railroad tracks the way I did. I know the few the times the Garmin or HRM monitor batteries have been dead, I have payed MUCH, MUCH better attention to my surroundings.

It may not matter anymore though. I am probably going to sell the bikes and give up riding. Oh well. I hate walking so I hope I can find an exercise I love as much as I do riding.

[Crankin]

You just need to work on it, not stop riding. I have the same issue, in that I found I look down, as Oak describes. I already knew I had horrible visual/spatial skills, so working on looking up is just something I do to improve it all. And, I second what Oak said about peripheral vision; I am always scanning to the sides when I ride, especially now that I commute through my town center at the end of rush hour. I constantly check my side and rearview mirrors when driving, too, and use only my mirrors for changing lanes. I have had friends yell at me (sigh) for not turning my head and looking when I change lanes on the freeway. My experience is that here in Massachusetts people never use their mirrors, and either whip their heads around to change lanes, or worse, don't look at all and just go. Although this is slightly off topic, I think it speaks to the fact that a lot of people don't use their peripheral vision.

[thekarens]

Totally OT but if you only use your mirrors when changing lanes how do you check your blind spot? I don't know how many times I've almost hit someone doing that. Now I check mirrors and a quick glance over the shoulder for the blind spot.

Back to the subject on hand, I agree with Crankin, don't stop, just practice more and be more aware.

[thekarens]

Sounds very handy! Might have to get one for our son, who is a new driver. He's good about checking mirrors, but terrible about the blind spot.

Thanks for the info!