Question: Recently, I had a bike crash that distorted my front wheel. I was unhurt, but the fact that it occurred while I was glancing at my GPS bike computer has my wife alarmed. We often ride together, and she insists that I spend too much time looking at my cycling data while riding, but since the crash is my first after several years of riding, I think her concerns are overblown. What can I tell her to allay her fears? —Steve V.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: If you are hoping for an easy out on this matter, you’re asking the wrong guy. My most injurious crash happened precisely because I was paging through the screens of my cycling computer looking for some detail I thought I needed to know right then, when I should have been watching where I was going. I don’t know how long I was looking down — I think only a few seconds — but when I looked up, I was rolling into the rear of my buddy’s bike ahead of me. My knee-jerk reaction was to yank my handlebars to the right, which threw me to the left and hard onto the payment. My bike was undamaged, but I ended up with a broken collar bone and at least one broken rib. It took surgery and a couple of metal plates and several screws to reconstruct my collar bone and a few months of toughing it out for my ribs to heal.
For what it’s worth, I did not get rid of my computer, but I did set it to the screen displaying the info I most often wanted then while rolling and vowed to wait until I was stopped to look at any other screens — a practice I have adhered to through several upgrades of my computer.
It may be of interest to you that the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), which is the governing body of competitive cycling, recently announced that as of January 2028, no computer larger than 126 × 71mm, which corresponds to the largest bike computer currently on the market, will be allowed on the bikes used by professional cycle racers.
“This decision was taken in light of the impact of on-board technologies on the cognitive load experienced by riders,” the UCI said. “Several studies have shown that the increasing volume of data available to riders during competition can contribute to an increased cognitive workload, a key factor in the occurrence of accidents” (emphasis added).
As far as I’ve been able to find out, the UCI did not identify the “several studies” but here’s one I found on my own regarding cognitive load while cycling.
Here’s the UCI’s fuller rationale: “Limiting the size of bike computers is intended to prevent an excessive increase in the amount of data available during races, which could significantly compromise rider safety.”
Often, the UCI is seen as a spoilsport in the competitive cycling world, and this decision has its share of critics. I’m not taking a side, but the reality may be that this rule will eventually play out on your handlebars, since bike computer makers have less incentive to make devices in sizes and with features that professional cycling teams will not purchase because they are forbidden.
Cognitive load is a sneaky thing. A key part of cognition is the ability to focus on specific information while filtering out distractions. When I recently added a rear radar system to my bike, I chose the one from Lezyne because it does not require another screen to watch. Rather, it causes the rear lens on the included headlight to glow when traffic is approaching from behind, and at the same time, the light emits a beep. All well and good, but I’ve also discovered that I can overlook even those warnings when my cognition is engaged in yacking with my riding buddies. In effect, my cognitive power can treat the radar’s warning as a distraction from the conversation.
The studies that seem apropos to your question have to do with multitasking —doing two cognitively demanding tasks at the exact same time. Those studies show that multitasking is biologically impossible for humans. What feels like multitasking is actually rapid task switching, which fragments attention, drains your working memory, and drastically lowers your overall productivity.
If I were you, I’d accept that your wife is speaking wisdom, and admit that the time spent interacting with your data while riding is time not watching where you are going.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
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