Unplugging and Enjoying the Great Outdoors

By Erica Barnes
July 25, 2014 Last Updated: August 8, 2024

12 comments

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Staying connected through a number of platforms is common these days. We use Strava to squeeze out every last detail of our rides, post selfie pictures of our sweaty, smiling mugs during our epic feats of athleticism on Instagram, and showcase it all on Facebook so the world can rest in assurance that we are doing our best to stay fit. But it’s not just on the rides that we are tethered to the ether, it’s apparent in just about every minute of every day of our daily routines. We have the inability to turn off the phone, hide the screen, and look up to see the world around us.

Remember the days of our youth, when it was possible to grab your bike and ride from friend’s house to friend’s house, playing and living in the moment? There was freedom in the ability to just roam and enjoy the day. When it got dark, or you got hungry, you made your way back home. Your parents had to ask you what you did for the day. There was personal interaction. They couldn’t turn to a play by play detailed account of the last 8 hours, including how that Big Mac affected your digestive system. When is it too much? At what point do we cease to avoid living in the present world?

Enjoying the moment on the Green's Creek descent. Photo: jeff. — Enjoying the moment on the Green’s Creek descent. Photo: jeff.

There are many personal reasons for mountain biking. Some do it for fitness, stress relief, and various other health reasons. Some mountain bike to deal with the adrenaline addiction that comes with mimicking the greats like DH champion Aaron Gwin. Yet still others mountain bike as a way to commune with nature and get a healthy dose of Vitamin D–myself included. Yet all too often on the trails, I’m noticing more and more bikers whipping out their phones and electronic devices. Sure, it’s fun to record every last pebble I ride over with my GoPro, but I’m always left disappointed at how easy the trails look on video compared to the video in my head.

Even now, I’m typing up this rant instead of enjoying a sunny day on the saddle. While it’s great to be able to express thoughts, wonders, and events with the rest of the world, effectively at some point I need to unplug and take in the sights around me. Worry less about whether I regained Queen of the Mountain from “ThunderThigh57,” and enjoy more of the scenery. Heck, maybe even catch a glimpse of wildlife while out on the trail.

You never know what kind of wildlife you may encounter on the trail. Photo by: M. Eich — You never know what kind of wildlife you may encounter on the trail, like this Western Diamondback. Photo: Matt Eichenfield

For just one ride, leave Strava off, keep the phone in the pack for only emergencies, and commit the gorgeous views of mountains, trees, and wildlife to memory instead of converting it to 1’s and 0’s in the great ether.

Your turn: What are your thoughts on unplugging during rides?

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12 Comments

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Michael Paul 2010
Jul 25, 2014

I personally struggle with this. I rarely ride without stopping to take a photo. However, I love taking photos, as much as I love rallying down Chunder Mountain. I love it even more when I'm able to look back and capture what it felt like to ride a certain segment of the trail. Still, I too long to just unplug and ride, enjoying the trail...even if that means stopping to admire what's around me. So, my compromise is this: take photos like crazy on rides you rarely do, and little to none on local rides you do a lot. I try to get at least one photo on every ride, because rides, and life, run together, and it's nice to separate the moments in the blur of chaos...otherwise you look back in 5 years and ask where the time went. Isn't this why we took photos to begin with, before strava or Facebook or instagram. This is a great article, because if you read it carefully, you realize that it addresses a problem that is eroding the very experiences that make us human...

1 reply

AUTHOR

Erica Barnes New Mexico // 2014
Jul 26, 2014

Delphinide, you do capture the very essence of the article. It's not that technology is bad, it's that we're forgetting to look up and enjoy the world around us. We're too busy taking pictures to document events to fully soak in the experience. I love looking at photos from road trips and biking trips, reliving those moments. But there are also plenty of moments from those trips that I purposely didn't take pictures of and can remember quite vividly.

mongwolf Mongolia // 2011
Jul 26, 2014

Maybe it's just me, but without the photos, I would probably forget way more than half of what I have done. And it's the time with nature and others that I least want to forget. I also keep a riding log, and find that so very nice for recalling good times past.

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Greg Heil Colorado // 2008
Jul 25, 2014

/\ This. I've struggled with this before, since taking photos is part of my job, but once I've shot a thousand photos in the Arkansas Hills... there just aren't that many more shots to take, unless I'm reviewing some new gear.

Cool to hear that we've both come to the same compromise :)

Michael Paul 2010
Jul 26, 2014

I'm glad I took my time on MCT last weekend...the only other time I rode it the weather was overcast and all my photos were blah. So, thanks for waiting :) As for Strava: I agree, nothing wrong with taking a moment to 'record' a ride if you use it for a journal like me. I think it's pretty clear the way I ride that I'm not getting KOMs anytime soon, especially if I stop to take photos. But it IS nice to keep track of what you ride, the miles/vert you do, calories burned, etc... It's also a nice way to track your improvement after riding mid-season, getting some new gear, losing weight, or just having a good day. I can do the same thing with my Garminconnect software, but I can't link it to anything, so I prefer Strava. If you treat Strava like Peter Parker (great power=great responsibility), you should be copacetic.

Julie Hughey 2009
Jul 25, 2014

I try to make myself "unplug" on some rides. No Strava, no pictures, just ride and enjoy it. There are SO many ways to involve technology into every aspect of our lives, including biking, that the bigger (and maybe more worthwhile) challenge is the one you're talking about: leaving the technology out of it!

Preach it sistah! :)

Out here in Mongolia, my technology is a Google Earth sat image and a compass =) and of course a camera to take some photos of the land and friends. One thing that helps me is with mtbiking I don't carry my big SLR, so most photos are just point and click ... not the best for photography, but it records the moments for the memories and keeps me more connected with the moment -- friends, nature and the Creator.

Now that's back-country mountain biking!! Sounds like every ride is epic

We’ve gone back and forth about Strava and cell phones on the trail here on Singletracks time and time again, so I feel like I’m only going to trot out the same old arguments that I’ve made time and time again. But what’s wrong with just turning on Strava, forgetting about it for 5 hours while you ride, and then just clicking the “finish” button at the end of the ride? You already just mentioned leaving the cell phone in your pack “for emergency purposes.” Well, that seems like a digital tether to me! What’s the difference between hauling your phone in your pack and having it just sit there, and spending literally 5 seconds to click “record” at the beginning and “stop” at the end?

Because contrary to popular belief, you DON’T have to race at top speed every time Strava is recording. You CAN stop and smell the flowers, drink a beer at the top of the climb, or session that rock garden. I think our enjoyment of the outdoors and our ability to be in the moment has more to do with our personal demeanor and the way we approach life than it does with the fact that we can now surf the internet from the top of a mountain. We just simply need to choose to NOT surf the internet from the top of said mountain.

All that said, I’m NOT going to stop and tweet from the trail about that rock garden I just nailed. And if some other people come out to ride with me, and I see them browsing Facebook instead of riding, consider thyself dropped!

Dustin Gaddis South Carolina // 2007
Jul 25, 2014

Yeah that's what I do too. Hit record, put my phone in my jersey pocket. Maybe pull it out for a quick pic, but never to consult Strava. Unless I'm on a road ride and need to look at the map, then it's quite handy.

Wait, so neither one of you are claiming to be a Stravasshole? ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJm1y0o7MHc

I definitely agree that there's a time and place for everything. And as a writer for Singletracks, it requires frequently taking pictures while biking. But at least for me, it feels refreshing to cut the cord, and it's something I'm trying to do more often.

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