There are moments in cycling when everything comes together.

The legs are good. The weather is perfect. The road climbs through one of the most spectacular landscapes on Earth. Snow-covered Alpine peaks rise in every direction, a tiny village sits far below, and switchbacks curl down the mountainside like ribbons.

After hours of climbing, our cyclist finally reaches the summit.

He has conquered the Alps.

And he is absolutely miserable.

He missed his personal record by three seconds.

Not three minutes.

Not thirty seconds.

Three. Seconds.

Never mind that he just rode a bicycle up a mountain most sensible people would prefer to cross in a motor vehicle. Never mind the scenery. Never mind the accomplishment.

The computer has spoken.

PR: MISSED BY 3 SECONDS.

Naturally, an investigation must begin.

Was his cadence too low on kilometer twelve?

Did he consume the second energy gel 90 seconds too late?

Perhaps the problem was the banana. Twenty-seven grams of carbohydrates seemed correct at the time, but now questions must be asked.

And what about that suspicious 150.2 on the scale this morning?

Meanwhile, a riding companion has discovered an alternative approach to Alpine cycling.

He sits on a stone wall, eats a croissant, looks across the mountains and concludes:

“I think we may be experiencing different Alps.”

Even the local goat seems skeptical. Having eaten part of the carefully calculated nutrition schedule, the goat has determined that it tastes mostly like sodium.

The Cyclist's Paradox

Cyclists are funny creatures.

We ride because it makes us feel free—and then measure practically every second of it.

Miles. Speed. Heart rate. Power. Cadence. Elevation. Body weight. Training load. Recovery time. Personal records.

There is always another hill to climb, another watt to find, another pound to lose and another three seconds hiding somewhere on the road.

That desire to improve isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's part of what keeps many of us riding. Goals get us out the door. Numbers show us that the work is paying off. A little friendly obsession can turn yesterday's impossible climb into tomorrow's warm-up.

But occasionally the bicycle computer deserves to be ignored.

Because someday we may discover that we traveled halfway around the world, climbed one of the great mountains of the Alps...

...and forgot to look around.