shootingstar made me think about electronic gizmos.

[shootingstar]

I've never worn a heart monitor. Cycling regularily for many years now. Would only wear a heart monitor if a doctor told me I had to monitor my heart due to a heart problem. (Is that another proper use???)

I can usually tell by my breathing, effort, etc. how fit/unfit I am when doing certain hills.

I gave up the bike computer several yrs. ago. But bike computer was helpful to me during first few yrs. when returning to cycling since it was a motivator. But now, I know my approx. mileage since I do some set local routes regularily plus for trips out of town, that I do with dearie, I find out from him what we've done for those days. ie. I know I've done over 1,000+ kms. in last 4 wks. But no need to know precisely.

By comparison to all the posters above, I'm a lazy bum about my own cycling performance in general.

But in thinking about all this, HRM would drive me nuts, because for us, cycling is a necessity since we don't have a car. So for me, to do stuff, go somewhere, cycling is a constant reminder to self. So having a HRM, would feel like psychological deadweight, like another "reminder" to our whole lifestyle since a long, fitness ride, flips into an errand ride before the whole ride all ends.

[OakLeaf]

if a doctor told me I had to monitor my heart due to a heart problem. (Is that another proper use???)

Yep. I know two people who do that with ordinary fitness HRMs. One of them is a doctor so I guess he knows what he's doing.

[TrekTheKaty]

Gizmos are good when you start--teach you to pick up your cadence and keep your HR in the correct range. I don't look at the cadence much anymore, I can do it on my own. Same with the HR--I only put it on every several months to see if my fitness is improving. So it is liberating to free yourself from these gizmos.

However, I'm with Silver--I won't give up my mileage and avg speed. I'm addicted. I bike for fitness and it's my motivation to keep moving!