2) Is it a necessity to have the “Best” bike / part / kit
Or “The Laws of Physics can’t tell the difference between Kalloy and Thomson”
It seems that more and more people have to have the best. For them it is selling them selves short or jeopardizing their standing as the “fastest up the climb to the pub” rankings (* see the first rant) to have anything less. Is your fitness so great that having, say, XT over XTR would really adversely affect your race results?….oh, you don’t race?
When cycling your main opponent is one you will never beat, they never tire, never give up and never, ever pay for the café stop. They are the laws of physics, including but not limited to: gravity, wind resistance, friction, and inertia. Well, you say, I can try and get one over on gravity by building a light bike (is that a beach ball under your shirt?) or fitting skinny tyres to reduce rolling resistance (don’t want to corner then?) Light wheels will “reduce inertia”…I read that in a magazine! (What about the inertia of your body? More of a factor I feel!) No matter what you do, physics will drag you down, slow you and bring you to a halt, whimpering and sweaty thourghly beaten by Newton’s discovery. Don’t let the ad guys and gals tell you otherwise!
Again a simple recreational pastime has turned in to a race, a race on which £millions is spent every year, on which your life starts to revolve around.
Then why do light weight, maximum performance parts matter? It matters for Lance Armstrong, it matters for Travis Brown, and until you match those guys for fitness and skill forget having to have the best, more miles is what you need.
3) Talking about Vs. Fixing Vs. Riding
Or “If only you could ride as fast as you type”
I will put my hand up to this one! While my typing is still pretty slow I do spend way too long on the ‘net reading the various spouting of know-it-alls, er, um anyway….
Bikes are great, I love them and while I can talk endlessly on frame design, suspension tuning, drive chain maintenance but I try not to as it bores the pants off most people. At the end of the day it really does not make a whole lot of difference (unless Rock Shox, Maverick or Shimano offer me a job)
Now I love a good discussion on the merits of a new part / design / set-up, I really do….but I don’t let it detract from the fundamental reason of having a mountain bike: getting out in to the hills! Too many people spend a massive amount of their (and their employers) time wrapped up in hand-wringing discussions about “the best XYZ” (See parts 1 and 2!) Many (me included) would benefit from getting out more, riding different trails, actually meeting new people (face to face!)
Second to talking on the ‘net is fettling your bike, now its fun (and good practice) to check your bike over and correct small problems before they turn in to big problems halfway through a ride. Some people, how ever take things too far…..servicing Marzocchis every 10hours of use, stripping, steam cleaning and polishing the entire drive chain after every trip! A bike needs to be looked after, cleaned, lubed and loved. It does not have to be clean enough to take in to an operating theatre! Perhaps that is where part of the appeal of a rigid singlespeed comes from…very little to worry about, no funny noises due to some dried mud on the chain, no slurp-squish-slurp every time you hit a bump…..all of which gives you more time to type on the ‘net how you just have to have a £2k single speed frame, with £300 hubs and £150 steel forks.
Which makes me wonder if all the marketing driven hype for the latest and greatest has driven the design and execution of the modern bike (road / MTB / hybrid) beyond the simple form of transport that it was designed as and in to a fragile, not very durable bauble?
Stay tuned for more badly constructed, grammatically challenged rants…
