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It's (really) not about the bike

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Betsy Marston | May 22, 2009 08:47 AM

A free weekly out of Salida, Colo., called Base Camp posts an unusual mission statement for a publication touting the outdoors and all the fun you can have skiing, biking and hiking. Editor Jim Williams says, “It’s easy to think we need this or that expensive, high-tech apparati to just go have fun.” But often, he says, “That’s just not true.” In a column headlined, “It’s not the gear,” he notes that a friend came in second in a 530-mile, five-day bicycle race riding a “one-speed bike with no shocks, wearing cut-offs, tennis shoes and a button-up shirt. He had no Lycra or spandex or clip-in pedals or even a trail-softening suspension.” But he did have the one thing necessary, Williams adds: “What he had was heart.”

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Less is way more
Ranger Marmot
Ranger Marmot
May 22, 2009 11:21 AM
Amen,amen. As a gear slob with a lot of experience and a bit of attitude, I know that Jim Williams is right. Consumerismo is no substitute for outdoor savvy or desire. As Thoreau put it, many of what are seen as luxuries are in fact hindrances. They are certainly not necessities.
It's the legs, not the bike
Elaine Gorham
Elaine Gorham
May 27, 2009 10:44 PM
A number of years ago, "funny bikes" (bikes with small front wheels) were all the rage in time-trialing. A local Albq rider, who had great strength, but no money, took the front fork from an old Schwinn Varsity, sawed the ends off, crimped what was left, and filed drop-outs on the ends. He borrowed a small front wheel from a friend and proceeded to set a *national* record in the men's 40km time trial.

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