Ever feel like a fraud....?
bristolpete
Posts: 2,255
Funny thing self doubt.
In March 08 I bought my first 'serious' road bike, an 07 coloured Merida 901 reduced from 700 to 500, which has been a brilliant bike but is now starting to shake a bit but it introduced me to the love of high cadence road work and speed. It is funny though as I never thought I would end up doing it but I bought some 105 pedals, the shoes, then the leggings and a decent jacket. You can only understand it when you ride and some people think you are a plonker for it but we know it just works when you are putting the miles in....
I am ready to upgrade now and have a few bob to drop on a bike so hopefully I will reap the rewards of the upgrade but sometimes I feel like a fraud. The other day I was going up a hill and this guy on a Orbea dropped me like I was not there and sort of humiliated me in a way....
I always say that the only person I am racing is myself and I love it, so why not enjoy it while I can.
Make any sense?
Pete.
In March 08 I bought my first 'serious' road bike, an 07 coloured Merida 901 reduced from 700 to 500, which has been a brilliant bike but is now starting to shake a bit but it introduced me to the love of high cadence road work and speed. It is funny though as I never thought I would end up doing it but I bought some 105 pedals, the shoes, then the leggings and a decent jacket. You can only understand it when you ride and some people think you are a plonker for it but we know it just works when you are putting the miles in....
I am ready to upgrade now and have a few bob to drop on a bike so hopefully I will reap the rewards of the upgrade but sometimes I feel like a fraud. The other day I was going up a hill and this guy on a Orbea dropped me like I was not there and sort of humiliated me in a way....
I always say that the only person I am racing is myself and I love it, so why not enjoy it while I can.
Make any sense?
Pete.
0
Posts
If it was an Orca, well so he should. If YOU beat him on an Orca though.......LMAO
That's the pressure of joining other people on a club run with a super light carbon racer bike that cost a huge amount.
Do poorly and everyone will laugh at you, do well and you don't get the credit for it:P
At least that's the "siege" mentality (together with an accident that freaked me out over carbon delamination) that led to me picking a Van Nicholas over a carbon Cervelo, I can say that my bike is not an out-and-out racer, rather a bike that is equally capable of doing anything you want.
Why not make another post and we can guide you as to what to upgrade to.
Ride what you want and bloody well enjoy it. You're only here once.
Thanks; wise words.
I have done in the buyers guide.
I do and so what if I get dropped as I frequently do on hills.
Just keep telling yourself "Mark Cavendish" can't climb hills either 8)
Yeah, there is always a bigger fish for sure....
If you've got the spare to treat yourself to an upgrade do it - if you enjoy it what else matter
I will be getting an Orbea Orca in the next 2 months, but there will always be people out there who drop me. C'est la vie!
Now in my mid fifties I ride like a lame carthorse on an expensive high tech bike, and if I could afford a Super Record groupset on a Colnago Extreme I would have one tomorrow and bollox to what anyone thinks. Life is too short to ride rubbish, the last thing you will be saying on your deathbed is that you wished you had never spent all that money on a bike.
For sure.
You gotta love that feeling when you hammer past motorists and you see em thinking 'wtf, how fast are they going...?'
Love it!
You don't have to be an elite level road racer to be allowed on a road bike, I can't imagine any of that level got there oher than by going through the same process (quicker maybe) but the same all the same.
We all have our own level, enjoy it.
Yeah, agree on that.
I went from getting a bus to work to thinking there has to be a better way. Then moved house and started doing 18 miles a day round trip and now doing 40-60 mile local rides with a mate. Like many forms of exercise, once you start and are hooked thats it and naturally, you cant really explain the feeling in your legs, people just need to try it for themselves.....
I do remember last year some young lad absolutely flew past me! I was going about 16 or 17 and was nackered, he must have been going 25 plus on a windy day. I think he was drugged up, or possibly fuelled up on bananas?
The only time I feel a fraud is when the misses says how much did that cost, when I been and brought something new for the bike! Yes I lie. (but I know she does all the time, especailly when I see a new handbag) I started with nothing, but think with all the kit and two bikes am way past the £3000 in lest than two years. I could of easily spent that on a car, or clothes, down the pub, or watching City play censored etc. So if you want to spend your bucks on your bike, fill your boots, its your hobby for crying out loud.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/3517156549/
I have a pre-conception that everyone (especially at races) is better than me. That forces me to try my absolute hardest all the time. It's a great way of improving!
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost;
Than never to have loved at all."
Alfred Tennyson
There will always be someone better than you, like the guy above says, but also- there's someone worse than you too.
Thanks for the replies, i cant wait til my next ride on Friday.
Pete.
Even better when you just freewheel past them in a traffic queue:)
A few hundred yards later I slowed to let someone coming the opposite way turn right across the traffic and since there's a roundabout about another 50 yards on I just took it easy for that stretch, nice sunny morning etc. no need to rush when she came barreling up behind me ringing her bell to get past and sailed out onto the roundabout, barely slowing down or looking at the traffic.
She was wearing earphones and no helmet I mean c'mon pay some attention...
Oi..less about vintage steel......
My best bike is 18 years old, custom handbuilt with DA 7400 - it's ace....
No too sure how i'd react to it!
Christ you must be Superman.........
Seriously, I started a similar thread a few weeks back thinking that I wasn't good enough for a carbon bike and had to get better first. All the wise words from the other posters made me realise that its about you and your enjoyment and not what other people think. At 53 I have just ordered a new carbon bike and am so excited I can hardly sleep. I am now frantically practising hills as it would be a bit embarassing to be overtaken pushing a carbon bike up hills!
Go for it
I used to ride a steel...my first road bike was...I love them but prefer aluminum.
Now that is embarrassing!!!
Seriously!