Quote Originally Posted by redrhodie View Post
I felt the "my bike's too good for me" feelings when I first got it, but now, I'm just so happy on it, it was money well spent. I figure most of the guys you see on fancy bikes are in the same boat, riding for reasons other than competetive racing, so their all too busy with their poseur-ing (is that a word?) to notice mine.
I had an epiphany while riding today. Like most ephiphanies, it doesn't sound profound, but it felt profound. Who cares if my bike is better than I am? So I'm not an amazing rider. Does that mean I don't benefit from better shifting under load? Does that mean I don't benefit from a better fit? The hand-picked components, where I chose SRAM shifters because they allow me to more comfortably shift -- just because I'm not an awesome rider, does that mean I don't deserve to have my shifters where I can reach them easily? And if someone really does have an attitude about whether I deserve this bike, why should I care? The only reason I would care is because I would share something of that attitude. But I think, as of my epiphany this afternoon, I don't care.

On the other hand -- riding such an awesome bike does inspire me to become a better rider. And I'm okay with that.

Oh, yeah, and I love me some nice jewelry. I have a few relatively cheap pieces I adore, and a few "real" pieces that I also adore. I don't feel bad about spending the money on the nice pieces. They give me pleasure. But somehow I feel like spending on jewelry is more culturally acceptable than on bikes, so somehow we feel that the only "excuse" for being so wasteful would be to be so incredibly amazing as to be pro-level or something.

Screw that. I just want to ride.