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The other day I was cleaning something at work and went to get some sort of cleaning fluid...as it turned out, we had several to choose from. I selected one that said "new and improved" on it...cleaned a little, it worked fine...then later I was cleaning something else and grabbed a bottle that had "fast-acting formula" written on it...it, too, worked wonders....and then later I was cleaning something and I grabbed a bottle that was about ten years old...it was just some generic that someone had found in a dark corner in a dark closet...I used this to clean up something messy, and it worked well. In fact as I discovered throughout the day of cleaning, none of the cleaners, including the old bottle, truly outperformed any of the others. I am sure that in a lab, in 10% of situations, some of these new fangled cleaners worked measurably beter...but in most conditions, in the real world, for most people, the differences are probably negligible. Same goes with bicycles. What I have been amazed at, after only just a few months of riding one gear....is how little it has actually affected my real world speed...I am still about average...but I was average before. Interestingly enough, in most conditions, 85% of the time, I have found that much of the traditional bicycle wisdom, that I have always sworn by, fails. When I first got the 29er I ran the 2.2 Nevegals...heavy-ass tire...but in 85% of conditions it was fine (awesome on downhills, but it did suck climbing up dead woman's hollow, however). One gear seems to be the same, 85% of the time there is little difference, and in the remaining 15% it is sometimes faster, and sometimes slower. All this is just to clarify something...how one should select a bicycle...there are only three factors that should determine your next bicycle purchase...how the frame "feels" and "fits" and what it looks like...everything else...including wheel weight, number of gears, materials, yada yada, is pretty unimportant in the grand scheme...you have to love the way it feels under you, it has to feel like it is was meant for you, and you have to love to look at it.....and quite honestly, my slutty green Salsa feels about as awesome as the day I first rode her and looks even tougher. Had an awesome ride up at Rattling Creek last weekend. Five of us ventured out from the west lot and enjoyed a three-hour tour of some fine trails on a sunny-chilled day. |
