It's a hobby, not rocket science!

The other day I volunteered at a triathlon. I had to park myself at an intersection on the bike course and tell people which way to turn. I got out there at 6:50AM like I was told, but the first bikers weren't expected to come by till 8AM.
Luckily a police officer that had been assigned to work the intersection for the race showed up at about 7AM. We started chatting and eventually the conversation moved to my road bike, which was on the back of my car. He asked me what my Power Tap sensor was and as I tried to explain it to him I had this moment where I realized how absurd all of this is!
Me: well, it's a sensor that gets data from this hub and measures how many watts you are generating. It's another way to measure your training, like, you know, um, heart rate monitors?...
As I am saying this I am looking at an overweight, non-athletic police officer and I realized that I was an idiot for trying to explain this to him. I actually felt embarrassed and joked with him about how all us triathletes take ourselves WAY too seriously, which is true. I don't need a damn power meter! It's overkill for what kind of athlete I am. I don't need my expensive bike with it's high-end components. It's ridiculous! I do love my bike, and I love training with watts more than heart rate, but what would happen if I just RODE? If I just rode my bike and enjoyed it? I would still get better!
I love moments like that, when you see things from a completely different point of view, through someone else's eyes. It helps you back away from ideas and behaviors that you are attached to without awareness. In other words, it gives you perspective.