I am not a fan of conspicuous consumption.  I have never wanted to purchase an item simply to show it off, and have others ogle it and then ask me how much it cost and where I go it.  I am also someone, with a few exceptions,  that has ever really envied what others have.

Yet, this past spring I decided that I wanted a new bike before the next cycling season.  This gave me a year to save for my big purchase. The bike that I ride is an entry level road bike, which coast around $700.  Those of you that are not into cycling might think that this is a lot of money for a bike.  However....

If you get into cycling and are a roadie (someone who rides a road bike) like me, you will quickly learn that bikes can be very expensive. I am sure that this is true for all bikes ( I know that Mountain and Tri bikes can be very expensive.  But, since I ride a road bike, I tend to only read about road bikes). The most expensive bikes manufactured are made of carbon.  And, they can be very expensive.  I have seen bikes advertised between $8,000 and $20,000.  They are beautiful machines. But, Although they are the "super models" of the biking industry they are not expensive because they look great on the runway.  These bikes are built for speed.  The belief being that the lighter the bike the faster your ride. The carbon is not restricted to the frame.  I can be found on the derailleurs, brakes, and rims  to name a few.

I would never want to purchase a bike that cost $8,000.  I would be afraid of breaking it.  Then I would never be able to afford fixing it with the same quality part.  I just wanted something between $2,000 and $3,000.

I belong to a cycling club.  Many of my fellow riders ride these beautiful carbon frames.  I often find it hard to not drool over them. Yeah, I admit it, I envy other peoples' bikes.  Some of them ride Trek Madones (For the non-cyclists think Lance Armsrtong), Serrotas, and Cervelos.  I wanted one.

Then reality hit in.  I still work part time at a minimum wage job.  The chances of me being able to save enough money to purchase a new bike were not very good, and it would have required some sacrifices that my wife and daughter were most likely unwilling to accept.  I also realized that in an attempt to make my argument to my family that I wanted a new bike was the reality that my bike works fine.  Every once in a while it needs a tweek or a new part, but overall it was in good shape.

Then something else started to happen.  I became fast on my bike.  All of a sudden I was pulling (this is when you lead a ride.  Think of the lead bird in the V formation heading south)  more and longer than I had in the past couple of years.  I was also not dying at the end of a ride. Often I was hanging with and out-riding my fellow riders with their very expensive bikes.

I also started reading some books on cycling adventure and culture such as The Lost Cyclist, Off the Map: Bicycling Across Siberia and It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels.  The last of these books, Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels, which is about a man that had spent most of his adult life riding a bike--including a trip (it might have been two) around the world--building a dream bike.  His choose to get a steel frame!   Unless one is getting a custom frame bike, which the author did, I know of only one company that makes high quality steel frames, which is Jamis. I am sure that there are many more that I don not know about.  Usually consumers are given two choices if they want a road bike, aluminum or carbon.  This guy was using steel on his dream bike.  Steel--the material that was four generations back of the bike's evolution (steel, aluminum, titanium and carbon).  The other two books that I read also began to make me think about my "new bike" quest.  Both were stories about long distance cycling--one a failed attempt to ride around the world (he was never found) in the late 1900s and the other about a group of cyclists riding across Siberia in the 1980s.  All were riding steel bikes.

Why did I want to buy a shinny new carbon bike, which I knew I really could not afford, when I was getting tons of enjoyment and exercise out of my inexpensive bike. And, was carbon something that I really needed. Or, is it trendy because it is what all of the pros who ride the grand tours ride on.  For them, the difference between yellow jersey (the most prized possession in all of cycling) on the Tour de France and an also ran can be made with the type of bike ridden.  For me, and the millions of others that ride for the simple joy of riding, it makes little difference.

So, I decided early on that a new bike was not in the picture.  I did buy some new stuff for my bike.  Yet, these purchases were made more out of necessity than desire.  I learned a lesson about maintaining my bike when the mechanic told me my hubs (the axle of the wheels) were pitted, and to fix them would cost more than the wheels were worth.  This occurred because I did not lube the hubs. This will not happen again.  The upside was that I got to buy much nicer wheels. I also had to buy some new shoes because the Velcro on mine them was not longer working, and a big chuck of leather was missing from one of the heals.  I never did figure out how that happened.

It is December, and because of the much warmer than normal weather, I am still able to get outside and enjoy a good ride on my inexpensive bike.  The other day I got a strong tailwind and was able to ride at 26mph on a flat road.  It was exhilarating and would have been no more exhilarating if I was riding a new carbon bike.

And, my mood, which is kept in check with my bike rides, does not care what I ride, as long as I ride.

Peter