I don't neeeeeeeed the Garmin, but I do use it to track my heartrate and cadence (except I lost my cadence magnet during yesterday's ride). I guess I could switch out and rely on my polar to track heartrate during the ride.

I don't use the Garmin to look at routes while riding; it records the ride info (elevation, heartrate, cadence, speed) and I can view it on the map. I thought it would be cool to have that info for the AIDS/Lifecycle ride. Not a necessity, just a really cool thing to have recorded for posterity. (If you're a geek like me.)

OTOH, there's something nice about being unleashed electronically for a week.

wavedancer, thanks for the link to the Solio site. That could be just the answer if I decide to stay plugged in during the Ride.

-- Melissa