I'm sure you'll get some excellent philosophical replies from the group, so I'll just give you three quick thoughts:
1. No time spent on or with bicycles is a waste of your time, regardless of how you approach it. 2. Good on you for thinking about this at a reletively young age and recognizing there might be a better way and for having the maturity to be willing to not follow everybody else. 3. Learn about fit and, especially, what works for your own unique body type, and don't get caught up following fashion trends that will (inevitably) conflict with your needs! After brief experiences with road bikes in the 1970s and early 1980s, most of my bike life has centered around mountain bikes and has corresponded with their historical timeline. After a good start at being useful and good tools, mountain bike design has made more wrong turns than good ones and, more than anything else, I regret following the trends ignorantly. If you're not 100% comfortable as priority#1 (hunched over, weight on your hands, numb hands, stiff shoulders and back, always tense worying about going over the handlebars or having to unclip your pedals, numb groin, sore neck from craning your neck upward, chafed privates, etc.), then you'll ultimately end up riding less. The fact that people "can" get away with awful saddles, narrow straight bars, short and twitchy wheelbases, too-low handlebars and stack heights, hard and tires- especially when they're young and flexible - doesn't mean that they're better riders or riding better bikes. They are suffering for fashion's sake because they don't have the self esteem to be seen as different. Or they are an elite, professional racer where the microseconds gained by improved aerodynamics matter, and someone else is buying their gear. My feeling is that If you can't spontaneously hop on your bike and do a multi -hour ride without having to regularly stop and stretch, then you're probably doing it wrong. The best thing about being your age, and figuring this out early, is that you can be stronger AND more comfortable than most riders you'll encounter, and will continue riding longer into your years, because you'll actually ENJOY putting in the miles. On Saturday, March 5, 2022 at 9:48:32 AM UTC-7 lkbr...@gmail.com wrote: > Dear RBW Owners Bunch, > > This is my first post here, so hello! I have been struggling with my own > perception of my interests in bicycles lately, and I thought you might be > able to help me parse out my thoughts and ease my feelings. > > In the past year, my seemingly unattainable fascination with bicycles > quickly solidified into a more practical part of my life than I could have > imagined. It began as I vowed to stop driving and speculated some updates > to my first bike, which was an old mountain bike I received from a friend > five years ago. I gave up on the updates when someone at the local bike > co-op said the changes wouldn't be worthwhile, and I internalized it. A few > months later, I took the plunge and bought my first big kid bike: a > new-to-me Velo Orange Polyvalent. During the summer, I embarked on a > thirty-day-long tour across Montana, where I met brilliant people, saw a > new part of the world, and shook down my new bike. Soon afterward, I > departed for a research project to measure the impacts of wildfires on > trout and stream invertebrates, and I discovered the joys of bike fishing > in my spare time. In the fall, I began to work as an advocate for > alternative transportation at my university, but I was disappointed in the > fact that I was the only student advocate who rode a bicycle. Then, I gave > my old bike, complete with alternative handlebars and a basket, to my best > friend, and it is so joyful to hear stories of their adventures. Most > recently, I read Grant's book *Just Ride*, which clarified my > understanding of his ideas, and I began to volunteer as a mechanic at my > local bike co-op. I have been struggling to fulfill my desire to tinker > with my own bikes, so it is awesome to put my time toward my community and > help others fall in love with bicycles in the process. > > All this to say, I stumbled across Rivendell during my search for > alternative handlebars, and I was quickly drawn into the standards of > optimism, utility, and beauty that you, or we (please interject if I > missense the collective attitude), embrace in bicycles and the world. > However, there are a couple of issues I have been struggling with lately. > > My first concern has to do with my own consumer habits, which I often > excuse as curiosity. My journey into more “serious" cycling has involved a > number of significant purchases. I don’t see an end in sight because there > are so many neat things to try. Albatross and Towel Rack bars have been > calling my name lately (I can’t decide which one to try because their > suggested stem lengths are inversely proportionate). Don’t get me started > on all of the bags and tires, bits and bobs. Will it ever end? > > The other issue is less immediate, at least in a physical sense. I’m > relatively young. I just turned 20. If I lean into the unracer's mindset > now, will I miss out on something? Did I skip my formative bicycle > experiences and arrive at the ultimate form decades too early? Will I watch > my athleticism and socially demanded competitive spirit slip away? > > Anyway, enough about me. What do you think? > > Sincerely, > > Brother “the Instagram algorithm made me fall in love with bikes” Bunny > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4c7e8bc8-e220-467d-8ae5-8c00cd131767n%40googlegroups.com.
