If my post grabbed your attention and made you pull out your wallet and tugged on your heart strings then today is your lucky day, I have discovered that one piece of gear that will make you ride like the wind, and sprint like lighting. (ok ok, tons of sarcasm here).
I just read a post over at cyclocosm that left me shaking my head and thinking how so many people turn into gear heads because of the constant marking hype, the post was about speedplay pedals. The problem is like with anything, when truth is mixed with fiction, it makes it hard to know what is what. I do believe that performance cycling gear, and advances in gear technology certainly help with riding faster and with more comfort and control, but too many people make this a compensating mechanism, they fool themselves into thinking that some expensive cycling gear will make all the difference in their riding performance. I think gear is a critical part of the cycling performance mix, as there really are benefits to some gear, but I’d say physical and mental fitness is 90% of the equation and 10% fit and equipment, but a lot of people get these reversed in priority. For the average club cyclist, a 10K bike and all the latest bike gear isn’t going to do much, they only gear I endource is gear that are training aids like, heart rate monitors, power meters, power cranks, stationary, etc. and not buying the latest carbon tid bit that will save you 0.0005 grams of weight. As much as I love gear, I know it’s place in the cycling performance mix. Of course if you’re a pro at the top of the food chain where every second and advantage counts, then yes little gear changes like this become more important, but for us mortals, I think you’d be better off spending your money a month of coaching etc.
Being a cyclist is starting to make me hate people and become a “bitter biker” since almost every ride I go on somebody does something crazy and dangerous on the road that puts me and or their life in danger. 90% of drivers either speed up or maintain their high rate of speed when they pass, and every single ride there’s always a couple drivers that either pull out in front of me, or pass very close, or pass me when there clearly is no room etc.
Drivers treat you like you’re an obstacle in their path, some garbage that blew onto the road, that they need to navigate around by either straddling with their tires or maybe even running over for fun to see what happens, a suicidal rabbit or something, not a human being, a person that would like to go home in one piece to their family, and certainly not a motor vehicle with the same rights and considerations as a car, including 3 foot minimum passing distance.
And some of the worst offenders, are commercial drivers, guys that should know better, ambulances, tractor trailers, box trucks, dump trucks, oil/gas trucks, school buses, people who make a living out of driving.
It will be interesting when gas is $10/gallon in the next few years and all these inconsiderate uneducated hillbilly assholes up here have to ride a bike to get to the their temp jobs and to the bar, karma is a bitch.
It never fails to amaze me when someone does something nuts, here’s a short list of of the last two season’s near misses
1. a block from home after a long ride, I’m coming up my street in the middle of the block not even an intersection, and a car darts crosses over the opposite lane to park on the sidewalk on the other side of the road, facing the wrong direction. I had to lock my breaks up and skid sides and came inches of getting run over. If I wouldn’t have reacted faster I would have surely been hit.
2. In the middle of raining thunderstorm I got caught in, I’m racing towards home, I’m coming down 8th street, for you locals that know the road I’m talking about. I’m hauling ass because I’m freezing and I have to stay warm, so I’m actually doing 5+mph over the posted speed limit. I’m taking over the whole lane, which I’m legally allowed to do, esp. if I’m at or over the speed limit. An old fuck passes me around the worst possible blind corner when we’re both going over the speed limit, he swings out in the opposite lane to pass me. Now this is a very busy road, and there’s always people coming up and down, luckily nobody was coming up the hill around that corner at that exact moment, or it would have been a real mess. I was infuriated, and road super hard and caught the guy a minute later at the next stop light at the bottom of the hill, I rolled by and yelled a couple warm greetings at him, i was just glad to be alive and shocked at what just happened. When the light turn green I went straight through the intersection, and he passed me again 30 seconds later, I was mad and riding really hard now, the next light was about 2 miles a way, I did +400watts all the way to the next light and caught up with the guy right away again, this time when I coasted by him, he rolled down the window and an astonished driver proclaimed,”you’re faster then me on that bike” with a mouth missing half his teeth and a sheepish half drunken grin, I said, “you’re dumber then any driver I’ve ever seen in that car” and rode up to the line and rode away when it turned green.
3. Last March, I’m riding and I’m even in the shoulder which here is the “glass, gravel, etc bike lane”, and an elderly driver swerved and into the shoulder and clipped me on the side and almost sent me off the bike, I was at least a foot into the shoulder, I would have probably been run over had I been in the lane slightly as I usually am to avoid the glass and gravel and potholes and garbage on the shoulders up here in “low maintainceville”.
4. This summer, climbing up a hill which has two lanes i.e a passing lane, on route92, a minivan stayed in the right lane and passed me at a high rate of speed and came within inches of hitting me, there was plenty of room to seem me from at least a hundred yards away, I think there was another car in the passing lane, but they could have slowed down or even sped up and moved over. I wish I had a helmet came and could have gotten their plate number.
5. My Friend Sean almost got killed last summer while out leading a group ride, some idiot cut him right off on the intersection, guy had no license and tried to switch positions with the passenger after the accident I heard, needless to say I think this guy is behind bars right now.
Anyway thanks for reading, I feel better now getting that off my chest.
