Marketing Madness

Summer vacation means skimming back issues of Bicycling Magazine for helpful tips on nutrition, training,  and gear. Some little tidbits are most helpful, like the suggestion to line up the tire logo with the valve stem, in order to make it easier to search for bits of glass or metal. (Why didn't I know that?) It's always gratifying to read a suggestion that you already follow, based on intuition, but there's always helpful knowledge to be gained, that will improve the quality of your riding.

Of course this glossy magazine couldn't exist without substantial advertising revenue, but the ads are the part that really gets me down. I paid $1500 for my bike, a generic, very comfortable carbon fiber road frame (made in Taiwan along with 90+% of all contemporary road bikes) equipped with ultegra components, FSA hollow carbon crank, and entry-level Mavic Aksium wheels. Sure, my ride isn't nearly as fancy as the majority of bikes that I see at the races, but aside from the wheels, it's certainly not slowing me down and I have no complaints whatsoever. If I wanted to substantially improve my bike, I would have to invest somewhere between $600 and $1600 on a new ultralight wheelset, and that pricetag doesn't include tires and a cassette. If you didn't do research and used Bicycling Magazine's reviews and ads exclusively to guide your purchasing decisions, you'd think that you'd need to spend 3 grand or more on a road bike or just deciding to buy much less bike. Sadly, I believe that many would-be cyclists are scared away by the daunting pricetag.

It seems as though the big bike manufacturers are determined to keep those of us with limited bank accounts just out of reach, but I guess someone has to subsidize those expensive glossy ads in Bicycling Magazine! First time buyers or those people looking for their first new bike in many years can be easily confused by their visits to local bike shops or researching online. The forums such as roadbikereview.com can be equal parts helpful and confusing, and if you're like me, parting with $1500 or more on a product sight unseen is a worrisome prospect. Fortunately those of us living in the Finger Lakes region have a shop like Swan's cyclery, where we can get a reality check and have access to much more reasonable options and some thoughtful advise from the most avid cyclists around. And if Swan's is too long of a trek for you, the best option is to seek out lots of advise from friends or folks who publish independent reviews online. I finally make my decision after a very helpful e-mail exchange with someone who bought the same bike that I was interested in. Knowing that my bike was all I was hoping it would be removed all stress except for the obvious concerns about damage during shipping.

So don't let the ads and reviews get you down—you CAN get lots of bike for under 2K. Just keep your head on straight, do good research, talk to your cycling fanatic friends and don't believe the hype.

I Just Can't Help It

Gentle Reader,

I'd like to preface my post today by stating clearly that I am painfully aware of my many character flaws, and am constantly reminded of them. These include, but are not limited, to being prone to hyperbole, having strong opinions about things that I don't know enough about, changing my mind frequently, obsessing about a wide variety of interests, refrigerator blindness, and spending other peoples' money. The list doesn't stop there, but I'd like to elaborate a little on that last item. 

A certain dear friend, who shall go by the name of Sunny, is in the market for a road bike. I keep encouraging her to spend just a little more than she wants to spend, and my powers of persuasion are frequently compromised by my aforementioned character flaws. I've tried all the arguments I can muster to encourage her to move up one notch on the component ladder...slightly better derailleur, bottom bracket, crank, etc., but she's not quite buying it. Today I thought I had an ironclad argument about how we don't think twice about paying an unexpected car repair bill than can run into the hundreds if not thousands, yet we don't allow a little more latitude when buying potentially transformational recreational/athletic hardware. Sunny acts as if she's not convinced, but somehow I can't help thinking that she is ever-so-slowly loosening the strings of her meticulously organized wallet. 

Truth be told, I am not an impartial consultant. A brand new road bike beyond a certain price point will just be begging to climb our endless hills, and I might soon have an occasional riding companion! Here's hoping.

Today's ride was stunning. It was my first jacket-free ride of the year, with temps in the mid-60s. Same old Lansing Conlon loop...I can't imagine a better ride with less than an hour to spare. Great tailwinds on the homestretch and feeling really strong. There were lots of other cyclists on the road today—I counted five others. Actually I saw six people, but I don't count riders without helmets. Maybe that's another character flaw, but so be it.

Stats:

Distance: 19.11 miles

Avg. speed: 19.6 mph

Vertical ascent: 949 ft.

Avg. heart rate: 148 bpm

Calories burned: 996 kcal

Max. speed: 36 mph

Time: 58:26