In the few years I was away, pretty much everything about cycling technology changed. The last time I rode seriously was 2014, and it's stunning how much has changed in just a few years.
Power meters cost half what they did, and you can choose between cranks, pedals, and chainrings. Almost no one is using hub-based systems anymore.
Brakes are all disc now. Caliper brakes are almost unheard of anymore. They are supposed to stop way better, but none of my old wheel collection will work with them.
The wheels are carbon all the way through now. Before, they were an aluminum rim with carbon farings on them.
Drive trains are all 11-speed now. I can't even find new bikes with a 10 anymore. On the plus side, more gears but on the bad side, they seem more spread out.
There is radar for bikes now, so you get a little warning when cars
are approaching from behind and you get more of a warning if it's coming
fast... I guess so if you are about to get hit, you know.
Sunglasses just all got hideous. They look more like facemasks than sunglasses, and that was before the pandemic started. They are just not my style.
Helmets have crash sensors and can text your location to your loved ones if you are in an accident.
Heart rate training is now being supplemented with heart rate variability training.
The one tech change I am totally loving is the improvement in power data analysis. WKO3 was nice, but WKO5 is a whole other world. To start, it recommends power and duration for interval training, helping you be more efficient in your training. Then it gets crazy with analysis, telling you things like "how much does my 20-minute power drop on a long ride, after the first hour and after the second hour" to help you find strengths and weaknesses for the events that you're training for. It's completely insane.
I know, I sound like a grumpy old man yelling for the damned kids to get off my lawn.
It will mean a little bit of a learning curve as I come back, and I'm excited for all the new options to help me get fitter and faster again.
