If you want to be a geeky gadget man, try a GPS bike computer.
Garmin are the market leaders and run this excellent site: [url]http://www.motionbased.com/[/url] Its database service is rather strained at the moment - due the increasing popularity of GPS particularly in the US. They claim to be ugrading their systems this week.
In the bottom left hand corner there are ads for latest models - the Garmin Edge 305 (cycle only) and Garmin Forerunner 205/305 (running and cycling). They are quite pricey at the moment, but the old Forerunner 301 is till available and Amazon has it for £144 (if you can stretch that far, and not forgetting you are getting a heart rate monitor too) ... [url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007W5LJQ/ref=pd_rhf_p_1/202-8534697-3842261[/url]
There are cheaper non-heart rate monitor versions of this - Forerunner 201 and 101. I have the 301 and fairly pleased with it (read some of the blog comments about it on Motionbased site).
There is also some very good freeware software to upload your data into which overlays your tracks onto maps, show charts of your heart rate, speed, elevation, etc... [url]http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/[/url]
...just in case you wanted to join the world of geeks!!!