Technology Overload!!!

Hello again. Here's my life lately in a brief report. School is going well, three weeks ahead on my assignments so no stress there. Raced the Santiago Canyon Time Trial last Saturday and managed an 8th place finish, with a time of 30:17. Not good considering my goal was 28:30. Don't know what happened, some days you have it, some days......I've still been managing to get out on the bike 10-12 hours a week lately, but I have to admit my motivation to ride hard has been low. I just don't see the point this time of year. My diet has also been on the "easier" side so to speak. On a high note, I will be picking up a new frame sometime this week. A full-carbon Bailey Bikes ride. I've decided to go all carbon for the comfort factor, the bike will still be stiff, but vibration muffled more then my current aluminum frame. I'm hoping the new ride will help motivate me a bit to get out and pound the pedals. Now to the topic of this post...No more technology-based riding for me. As you know, after much research I ended up pulling the trigger on a Powertap about four months ago. At first I loved it (new toy syndrome), and thought I would use it to maximize my training, but here's what I learned about myself. That approach doesn't work for me. I'm not knocking powermeters in any way. I do believe that coupled with a coach or an individual who loves to crunch numbers after rides, they're extremely beneficial. But for someone like me, who's always ridden by feel, and doesn't have the funds to employ a coach, they're a crutch. I've been letting my heart rate and wattage dictate my rides. Frequently being dropped because I've been checking the meter and telling myself, "You better let up, you're going to hard!" I've noticed some of the guys on the team who typically have trouble finishing races, post in their race reports that at some point during the race they looked down at their powermeter and decided they couldn't keep going at whatever wattage was showing, so time to quit! What if they didn't have the powermeter to look at? Would they of quit? Time for me to get back to the basics, listen to my body, and let that dictate how I'm going to ride on any given day. Anyone want to purchase a powermeter? Until next time.....