Yep, I used to bike-measure routes (and map-measure them) because I "needed" the data. When I got my first gps watch (the Timex model with the separate receiver unit you wore on your upper arm) I felt so liberated, because I could now choose routes on the fly (and even go off-trail) and still "get credit" for the distance. I'm not sure exactly where the need for numbers comes from, but I think mainly I distrust my subjective assessment of things, and hard numbers like time, distance, and heart rate tell me objective truths. All those other numbers from current watches, though... I mainly don't even look at them.
If you map-measure something then you're really going for it - that's real love (or something different 😁) - I started with this Garmin watch (https://www.garmin.com/de-DE/p/230), but I sold it after some weeks. It was so clunky and not realiable, that I stayed with the bike-measurement.
![never not [thinking about] running!](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zByA!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e145abe-7461-4961-8b78-8e3e21c1e9ce_582x582.png)
![never not [thinking about] running!](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zByA!,w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e145abe-7461-4961-8b78-8e3e21c1e9ce_582x582.png)
Yep, I used to bike-measure routes (and map-measure them) because I "needed" the data. When I got my first gps watch (the Timex model with the separate receiver unit you wore on your upper arm) I felt so liberated, because I could now choose routes on the fly (and even go off-trail) and still "get credit" for the distance. I'm not sure exactly where the need for numbers comes from, but I think mainly I distrust my subjective assessment of things, and hard numbers like time, distance, and heart rate tell me objective truths. All those other numbers from current watches, though... I mainly don't even look at them.
If you map-measure something then you're really going for it - that's real love (or something different 😁) - I started with this Garmin watch (https://www.garmin.com/de-DE/p/230), but I sold it after some weeks. It was so clunky and not realiable, that I stayed with the bike-measurement.