I love my live-streaming community. I mean it. They have brought so much into my life that wasn’t there before. But after turning off the camera and leaving the IRL streaming rig at home for more than a week of cycling and doing other things outdoors, I recognize how much continuously live-streaming everything has changed my psyche, not in a bad way, just differently. Here’s a list of how.
I lost five kilos. Lower weight translates directly into power on the bike (which is why Zwift uses watts/kilo to directly set the speed of the avatar cyclist). My belabox IRL streaming messenger bag, even with all my optimizations for weight still weighs five kilos. It took me almost two months to lose fives kilos of body weight. Leaving the rig at home makes me instantly faster and able to climb better. How much more? About one minute per hour (according to Zwift). That doesn’t seem like a lot until you imagine that in the context of a race. Imagine waiting a full minute for the heavier rider to finally come across the finish after the winner. On a five hour endurance ride or climb that would be five full minutes. In a world where people shave 200 grams to gain a single watt of efficiency, dropping five kilos is a really big deal, so much that I really feel it. Once dangerous sections of road where it was hard to keep up with traffic are now safer because I can climb nearly as fast as traffic in those places.
I can sprint and climb without a bag annoying me. Another problem with that messenger bag is how it weighs on my lower back and right shoulder. I could even detect changes to my posture because of it. When putting 20 hours on the bike outside such things are not good long term on my body.
I can dress like a cyclist. While streaming I was always concerned with keeping things interesting and that meant wearing clothing that could be used to walk through pubs and stores and such. I don’t wear any of that now. I just wear cycling kit and gain all the benefits of comfort and aerodynamics.
I am a lot more aerodynamic. Clothing is one of the greatest losses of wattage while riding at higher speeds. Being able to just wearing cycling bibs alone provides a speed difference that is very perceptible. Wearing my lighter, stiffer cycling shoes instead of my high-tops with cleats (DZR) also adds a lot of wattage and less power loss.
I set new Strava PRs all over the place. Strava is a fun way to compete against yourself and others. It provides motivation, and nothing motivates me more than blasting all my PRs on everything just by dropping the streaming rig.
I enjoy the sounds of nature instead of talking all the time. Sometimes I like to talk. Other times I just like to shut up and soak in the sounds of nature all around. I can do that so much better without the IRL rig. It makes for my own personal ASMR experience, and with the GoPro, a better ASMR YouTube video as well.
I can explore more. Without being concerned with mobile reception and “dead” zones, I can go wherever I feel like. This was a real change of mentality. I have been specifically limiting myself to areas that are beautiful but also have mobile reception. This is ridiculous. Most of the reason to get on a bike — especially a road or gravel bike — is to explore those lonely roads out in the middle of nowhere. The cows don’t need mobile reception there, and neither do I so long as I don’t care about streaming. I was shocked how much I had mentally black listed certain areas avoiding them even without my IRL rig just out of habit. That has to stop.
I can ride longer. Aside from the weight savings and ergonomic impact of wearing a pack all day there is the mental limitation imposed from paranoia about battery life and bandwidth costs with IRL streaming. Not having that means I can ride more whimsically, which is how I ride. “Where does this go?” That is most of the fun of riding outdoors for an explorer like me. Unlocking/discovering completely new routes and areas and then mapping them on Strava for others to enjoy is most of the fun of outdoor cycling.
I ride more safely. Having a five kilo messenger bag makes me less able to bunny hop, corner, and just maneuver safely. But beyond the physical affect on safety is the fact that streaming forces me to be constantly thinking of something besides the road in front of me and the traffic all around. This is a recipie for disaster. One YouTuber broke a hip just by grabbing the GoPro to get a different angle shot on a ride. Every time I have had a close-call it has been while looking at my phone to read a message I couldn’t hear.
I can be in the moment. This lack of distraction has zen-like advantages as well. As yoga tradition teaches, I can “be in the moment” without thinking of anything else. I’ve noticed myself hearing so much more when I do.
I can think up new ideas. I used to justify cycling on Sundays as a young Mormon as not being a violation of the Sabbath because I was able to commune with God better and think new things, philisophical things. My head is just more clear and able to focus on receiving thoughts and ideas instead of jabbering on.
I can truly enjoy music. When I want to, I can put on the bone-conducting headphones and add whatever soundtrack I want to the glorious scenery playing out in front of me. It’s like I’m the star in my own private movie. I don’t have to necessarily share it with everyone, and when I do want to share, I can selectively edit a copy of that movie from my GoPro.
I get much higher quality content from GoPro. The 4K video with stereo sound from a GoPro is the industry standard for capturing outdoor experiences like this. This is why even movie production uses GoPro now. I have two of them and struggled to use them for live streaming, but why swim upstream with swimming with the current and using GoPros as intended makes so much more sense. I might even get an Insta360 with long arm to get drone-like shots of the landscape with only a negligible weight impact.
I can get wet and enjoy a good thunderstorm. A big beautiful thunderstorm started brewing the other day and I immediately paniced. Then I realized I have nothing to fear. Everything I have is fine with the water. When it started pouring during hour four of the ride that rain was glorious! It felt so amazing and had almost no impact on my experience (like it might if I had been running instead). Now when the weather says rain is predicted possibly — especially afternoon warm rain — I see it as a gift from Mother Nature to speed me along instead of a curse to be avoided.
I’m not constantly fearful and paranoid about those who don’t like cameras. Going cycling and shopping and even just into a pub with a camera on my chest has been something to which I’ve had to mentally adapt. Tricks like talking into my phone as if on a call aren’t needed when there is no live streaming happening at all. Instead I can record those events in my mind and write about them. Perhaps take a selfy or two to get the idea across. (In fact, my Instagram will be coming alive much more now.) When I do want to create video content, it is considerably easier to produce stealth content with a GoPro tucked into a pocket or in hand.
I don’t go over my streaming bandwidth for the month. “Am I using too much bandwidth? Am I not using enough bandwidth to justify the cost?” These questions are very annoying. Considering I spend $200/month on live streaming data possibilities this matters. By relegating myself to one five-hour IRL stream a week I can make sure it’s a good one and answer both of those questions at the same time. I tend to save the IRL content for things that benefit from being really interactive, like the Critical Mass event, urban cycling, or a well-planned rural route that has beautiful scenery and not so much traffic.
I’ve concluded that I will definitely keep IRL streaming, but that I’ll put a lot more thought into what I actually to stream IRL when I do. It should make for much better content and will continue to provide stress-free health benefits while I do.