Take Lance as the counter example. Lance used pretty much EVERY gadget out there. He dedicated an entire team to gadgets - The "F1 Team." And he won 7 TdFs. As you said, Chrissie is the only woman who really meets the "elite" time level relative to the men. I will be interested to see what happens if (when) Norden, Moffat, Snowsill, or any of the other women who currently meet the time standard in ITU come to long course. Then we'll see some real racing, if only because they won't give interviews saying "well, at least she won't beat us by as much." Those girls are like Chrissie. They expect to win.

But as to the question at hand. Do you need gadgets? Absolutely not. But if you are talking about trying to maximize performance, then I think they help a lot. Lance used a powermeter in training every year he won a Tour. The vast majority of pro peloton racers use them now, even in racing (since the weight penalty is now not really there with the ligher PMs and lighter frames). I think that's quite compelling.

I guess it's up to you if you want to take Lance or Chrissie as your role model for technologies role in helping you train and race. Lance was the ultimate techno-geek. Personally, I'll take Lance, but I don't think it really matters which way you go. You just have to believe in the path you choose. If you have gadgets but don't trust them that is just as bad as not having gadgets and wishing for them.

Trust how you train. THAT is the most important thing. After that, decide what your limiters are and figure out how to address then. Maybe a gadget will solve a problem. Maybe it won't. You don't need a gadget on your bike to use the best gadget around - your BRAIN.

whoa... blast from the past. I actually did have some pretty good advice in there though that I should have listened to myself. C'est la vie... The Lance part is fairly ironic though. Reminds me a lot of the whole "marginal gains" nonsense from SKY. Yeah, "marginal gains" ... and corticosteroids.