Jon, I can understand how you feel, but if you don't ride, you don't know the ins and the outs of the appearances.
You have a point about conspicuous consumption, but as a rider, I have to note that silly clothes have a purpose. If you wear a cotton t-shirt for a long ride, it is not pleasant. If you wear normal shorts, you get all sorts of problems, etc., etc.
And the colorful shirts are a way of keeping motorists aware of your presence.
It looks stupid, I know, and it evokes strong emotions, but so do a lot of
things. For example, SUVs; vans, pickup trucks, automatic transmissions,
Corvettes, all GM products, vigans, steakhouses, Wonder Bread, TV, gays and
straights, you name it.
Now before I end, I have to tell you about a bike I had for sale. It's a 10-year-old
Pinarello, an Italian steel bike that I bought for a fraction of what it should have
cost. A couple of years ago, I thought I'd sell it. I wasn't riding much and thought it
was time to let it go. I asked a modest price and got an offer of $100 during the 8
months it was at a friend's bike shop. I refused the offer and started riding again.
Every time I go out on it, I say to myself, "What a great bike!!" It rides
smoothly, climbs well, is pretty to look at without being garish, and moves quickly. I
think to myself about all those riders who spent five times as much as I would have sold
my bike for and I think what fools they were because they had to have the latest in
cycles: carbon frame, highend addons, but then I think to myself that I'm becoming a
curmudgon. Leben und leben lassen ist doch am besten.
Doug
