Most days when I ride, I start by descending a hill to the west, then after crossing a major street, I ascend a gradual climb (2 -3%) to another traffic signal. That ascent is often where I hear a beep and see a Performance Condition screen. It usually tells me I'm +5; sometimes it will say +4 or +3. Some days I don't notice a beep or see this screen at all. I'm not sure if I miss it, or if it doesn't appear.
I looked at Garmin Connect, and performance condition is graphed for my ride. After that positive start, it gradually descended to -8 or -9 for the majority of the ride. I was riding somewhat short and easy. I looked at Monday's ride, and after a +5 start, most of the ride was at -3 and -4. I felt I'd ridden hard that day, and was tired, hungry, and thirsty most of the afternoon.
For comparison, I looked at a friend's recent rides. I discovered she isn't wearing her heart rate strap.
I did some research, and watched a Garmin video related to running devices. I have added the data field for performance condition to one of my data screens. I have a long ride planned for tomorrow, where I plan to monitor the data field from time to time. This ride will start in a different direction, going (south) downhill to begin, then heading east on flat streets for quite a while. There will be some climbing on the way to the coast, and a nice climb to our lunch stop, followed by rollers along the coast to our destination.
Are there things related to performance condition I should watch for on such a ride?
Do any of you pay attention to this information? What does it tell you?
