Just got my first XC mountain bike and I’m wondering what data field would be useful on my edge 530. I have my road profiles dialled but don’t have a clue what to have on it for Mountain biking. I don’t have a power meter or other sensors on the bike yet so won’t need these fields.
Thanks
I go simple on my mtb. Can’t read many fields as I’m bumping around, and speed/cadence/power is incredibly variable, so I just use HR, Time, and Distance on my main screen.
I have a second screen with 3s Power, HR, Grade, Speed, Time, Distance, TSS, and NP for when I want it (like on a long climb)
Heart rate, time, and lap time if I’m doing loops. I don’t have a power meter on my MTB.
I go with the minimal stuff as it’s hard to look at much on the MTB. Lap time, distance…
I do however have other data screens with more information that I might use that I can scroll too.
-1 screen with lots of information, time of day, sunset etc to help me out planning my rides, and night rides, any battery fields that apply so I can check them at the start of a ride. I don’t have cell coverage where I usually ride so if it’s not on the Garmin I’d need to remember it.
-Some screens similar to my road bike if I do end up doing something on the road and want that information. Example I’ll sometimes do a lap of the park road near my local trails or just feel like riding my MTB bike in town, more useful with power and or HR information
I look at the grit/flow/air stuff sometimes on my phone after a ride but not during. I kinda like hearing the beeps for air and it’s interesting to see it total up air time but not that useful during. I don’t know if I was riding a lot of different trails regularly if the grit/flow stuff would be more useful? I’d probably still primarily reference a power file and afterwards but not during a ride.
Speed, miles, time of activity and power 3 secs avg. and or heart rate. That’s my simple one that I use
I tend to do a lot of my interval training on my XC bike and there are also a good amount of relatively steady climbs on normal rides, so I keep power on my main screen.
Elapsed Time
3s Power
Distance | Tot. Ascent
HR | Cadence
Rear Gearing | Lap NP
For racing, I like seeing my 3 second and NP and heart rate. I have other data available, but that is all I pay attention to. For normal trail riding, I only care about moving time.
I use one of the dashboards. Edge Cycling Screen or something.
For no power meter or cadence sensor maybe just:
HR, Timer, Time of day, Total ascent
I have power and cadence and my normal screen is:
3s Power, HR, Timer, Time of Day, Lap Power, TSS, Cadence
For marathon racing I use:
HR, 3s Power, Cadence, Lap distance, Distance, Lap Time, Elapsed Time, Lap speed, Lap HR
Elevation can be nice to know depending where you ride.