It's the condition that befalls me every autumn... days get shorter, temperatures get colder, and for some inexplicable reason, I get the urge to mess with the bike fleet. For the longest time, I thought it was just me (and so I kept this shameful condition to myself), but now blog-pal bikelovejones has also admitted to a case of Seasonal Bike Disorder.
So what causes it? Well, this is the season of post-industry trade show gadget lust. All the sparkly new stuff has been displayed at Interbike, and photos have trickled down through the bike media to everyday schlubs like me. But despite the amount of "here's some bike gadget I bought that I'm going to review to hear myself talk" that you see on this blog, I'm not much of a "must have new thing" gear-luster. If anything, I'm a curmudgeon who leans more toward "new thing evil! burn the witch!" I won't speak for bikelovejones, but I have to imagine that anyone still running a mechanical odometer isn't exactly prone to plunge blindly into this year's latest and greatest either.
Is it some urge to buy performance as the season winds down? Not really. I've long since given up on the idea of being fast, much less the idea that I can spend money to get fast. I was given this body and, more importantly, this almost-imperceptible level of motivation to "train." I'm as fast as I'm gonna get, and have zero desire to get any faster. Plus, my SBD (no, not Silent But Deadly... stay with me, Beavis) is just as likely to manifest itself in an urge to get rid of gear as it is to add to the collection. Heck, this year's oddball thought has been, "If I like the Raleigh so much for commuting, why exactly do I need the folding bike?"
If you think I'm driving at some sort of point/grand revelation/enlightening epiphany here, I'm sorry to disappoint. It's only this year (after doing the bike thing for the entirety of my adult life and a good portion of my larval stage) that I even saw the pattern in myself. It make take a few more years (and a few more SBD cycles) before I figure it out.
So what causes it? Well, this is the season of post-industry trade show gadget lust. All the sparkly new stuff has been displayed at Interbike, and photos have trickled down through the bike media to everyday schlubs like me. But despite the amount of "here's some bike gadget I bought that I'm going to review to hear myself talk" that you see on this blog, I'm not much of a "must have new thing" gear-luster. If anything, I'm a curmudgeon who leans more toward "new thing evil! burn the witch!" I won't speak for bikelovejones, but I have to imagine that anyone still running a mechanical odometer isn't exactly prone to plunge blindly into this year's latest and greatest either.
Is it some urge to buy performance as the season winds down? Not really. I've long since given up on the idea of being fast, much less the idea that I can spend money to get fast. I was given this body and, more importantly, this almost-imperceptible level of motivation to "train." I'm as fast as I'm gonna get, and have zero desire to get any faster. Plus, my SBD (no, not Silent But Deadly... stay with me, Beavis) is just as likely to manifest itself in an urge to get rid of gear as it is to add to the collection. Heck, this year's oddball thought has been, "If I like the Raleigh so much for commuting, why exactly do I need the folding bike?"
If you think I'm driving at some sort of point/grand revelation/enlightening epiphany here, I'm sorry to disappoint. It's only this year (after doing the bike thing for the entirety of my adult life and a good portion of my larval stage) that I even saw the pattern in myself. It make take a few more years (and a few more SBD cycles) before I figure it out.
2 comments:
hmmmm.... sounds a little like a cry for help.
and why does the phrase "binge and purge" come to mind?
Or is the acquisition and sale of nifty bikes just the Search for Truth?
Steve in Peoria
(p.s. hey buddy, wanna buy a Hetchins??)
I've gotten rid of some stuff this fall, either by selling or taking it to the bike collective. For me, this is the time of year to swap bikes and get some maintenance done on the parts of the fleet that have seen the most use during the year.
This year, it also means building the wife's new bike, and getting one of my fleet put back to stock form and ready to sell soon.
I'm not quite ready to spend lots of time riding in the cold, so it's a better use of my time than sitting around (although I'm doing my fair share of that right now too)
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