Whether being GPS-less on the ride made a difference or not, I can’t say. What I do know is that afterwards I felt just as wasted as usual, and things hurt as usual. One positive, I suppose, is that I spent less time poring over my PC afterwards, trying to make sense of what happened out there.

I got my first heart rate monitor, a low-budget Polar, about a decade ago, and by 2005 I was using a GPS watch. It appealed to my inner geek, which is just as well, because it only a geek would wear that kind of thing in public.

When I took up running seriously, it soon became clear that – compared with cyclists – runners were pretty much in the technological Dark Ages. Despite what Lance Armstrong might have thought, cyclists seem to believe It’s All About The Bike. And The Gadgets.

I mean, it’s obvious. There’s only so much technology you can pack into a running shoe or a vest. Bicycles have become rolling test beds of aerodynamics, materials and training methods. Sometimes you wonder, though, whether we just buy the stuff because it sounds good. Like power meters. Those who buy into power measurement reckon that their method is better. Heart rate monitoring is unreliable because it fluctuates depending on ambient temperature, state of health and what not.

Well, at least one sports scientist disagrees. At a cycling workshop last week, the SA Sports Science Institute’s Dr Jeroen Swart said that, in comparing heart rate training with power training, they’ve been shown to produce similar benefits in the end. Interestingly, I had Dr Swart set up my position on the bike a couple of years ago. Hooked up to computers, measured, prodded, and questioned, we eventually got me sitting perfectly for comfort, efficiency and power. What’s amazing is that two weeks before I’d gone to see a fellow called Jan Opperman. He worked out my bike fit in his garage at home, with a couple of implements and an hour of genial chat. His and Swart’s settings were almost identical.

Maybe we do put too much faith in gadgets. So, for the next two weeks (my sports watch repair turnaround time) I will head off on runs and rides “naked”. I’ll listen to my body instead of checking my wrist. Come to think of it, after 2 ½ hours in the sun on Sunday, despite slatherings of Factor 50 sunblock, the 2 cm pale tanline on my left wrist is already starting to blend in with the deeply tanned skin on the rest of the forearm. You know, I could get used to this.

Or then again, maybe not.

PS: The Garmin Training Centre analysis software is OK. But since I started using SportTracks in 2005 I’ve never looked back. Besides great analytic tools, it offers the options of looking at tracks on road maps or satellite view. It’s also compatible with a range of devices from Polar to Garmin and, yes, power meters.