Boris Bajic
Guest
One reads on these threads the odd dark and negative reference to cars being some sort of consumer fetish item in an imagined world where every motorist vies with all others to have the latest registration, the biggest motor, the most airbags or the glitsiest wheels.
I dare say that is so among some, but as a reluctant convert from the 2cv to swifter, quieter 4-cyclinder machines I am not in their number.
However, many of us who have cycled since Noah was building boats have noticed something similar among cyclists in the past 10 years or so.
How many posts do I see on CC where someone is 'loving their 2012 Cube' or 'loving their Di2 Specialized Whizzbang 7'?
There is a sneaky fringe of cash-value snobbery and carbon one-upmanship in every hobby, pastime or fetish.
Whenever I read the outpourings of cyclists about how grasping, acquisitive and BHP-lusting motorists can be (making us into latter-day Mr Toads) I am reminded of the cyclists one sees on these pages and hears out on their gel-fed training rides, discussing carbon this and Ultegra that - as though their 'investment' has made them the rightful best mate to Mario Cippolini.
If this seems far-fetched, go to Richmond Park on any Sunday.
Just an observation, but in light of some of the anti-motorist writing on here about snobbery, entitlement and using 2 tons of steel to replace what God gave us a small version of... it seems appropriate.
Thoughts, anyone?
I dare say that is so among some, but as a reluctant convert from the 2cv to swifter, quieter 4-cyclinder machines I am not in their number.
However, many of us who have cycled since Noah was building boats have noticed something similar among cyclists in the past 10 years or so.
How many posts do I see on CC where someone is 'loving their 2012 Cube' or 'loving their Di2 Specialized Whizzbang 7'?
There is a sneaky fringe of cash-value snobbery and carbon one-upmanship in every hobby, pastime or fetish.
Whenever I read the outpourings of cyclists about how grasping, acquisitive and BHP-lusting motorists can be (making us into latter-day Mr Toads) I am reminded of the cyclists one sees on these pages and hears out on their gel-fed training rides, discussing carbon this and Ultegra that - as though their 'investment' has made them the rightful best mate to Mario Cippolini.
If this seems far-fetched, go to Richmond Park on any Sunday.
Just an observation, but in light of some of the anti-motorist writing on here about snobbery, entitlement and using 2 tons of steel to replace what God gave us a small version of... it seems appropriate.
Thoughts, anyone?