If you agreed with him, remember what Jesus said:
"Let he who has not purchased an expensive piece of cycling equipment cast the first stone."
A-meh and Holy Luau.
Secondly, it's the moment you've all been waiting for! No, not that one. I'm talking about my Eroica California Story!
(I'm the rider all the way on the right.)
This should answer every question you should possibly have about my participation in this year's edition, though if you don't have time to read it here are those answers:
--Yes
--No
--Yes
--With a shoehorn
--Over easy
--Only on Sundays
And yes, I'll still be sharing outtakes and additional crappy photography here on this blog later in the week.
Oh, and finally, I was also on a podcast!
https://t.co/03DJLT6G22— Bike Karma - Bicycle Podcast (@bike_karma) May 5, 2019
If you haven't check out this segment with @bikesnobnyc #bikesnobnyc , it's in EP38...
#thebikekarmapodcast .
Or just type BIKE KARMA into the search.#bicycles#bicycle#cycling#cyclinglife#bikesnob#bicyclestories#bicyclepodcast#podcast#bikekarma pic.twitter.com/z00ZNwdguq
(His name is Elliott--two "t"s)
My voice is probably the last thing you need to hear on a Monday, but there it is.
All of this is more me than even I can handle at once. But hey, at least it's free, right?
38 comments:
Podium!
Great EROICA piece Snobby! Sadly, too many folks in the USA think you must have a perfect, period correct Italian bicycle to properly enjoy these events. As you know from doing the grandaddy of 'em all in the fall in Tuscany, nothing could be further from the truth.
That bike does look like the answer to the question, What bike would jesus ride?
Alternate title to Outside column: My wife got into something really lame, here is how I convinced myself to refute criticism of it.
Anonymous 8:31am,
Actually, my wife getting into spinning kind of got me back into racing, since her enthusiasm for it reminded me that it feels good to get out there and push yourself sometimes. So really an alternate title would be, "My Wife And I Both Feel Really Good Physically Despite Being Busy People With Kids Who Aren't Getting Any Younger, And You're An Idiot." [SMILEY FACE EMOJI]
--Tan Tenovo
My buddies wife used to ridicule us to no end about our mid-life cycling fascination, he bought her an E-bike. She loved it. She then bought her own Salsa Woodsmoke and rides it more than the E-bike.
So there you go.
Long live anything that gets you off the couch I say.
That is a lot of snob for this early on a Monday when werk beckons with her withered, gnarled, bewarted wings. It will be apportioned throughout the day to make the time to the next bikey ridey thingy pass more easily.
No, men don't resent women for being successful. You are buying in to the propaganda meant to divide men and women. United we stand......
@huskerdont,
Ditto here for Monday. With the added joy of New York county grand jury service after lunch.
George Krpan,
Of course they do. Everyone resents everyone, it's the basis of the entire Internet.
--Tan Tenovo
Nice, freshly curated content. Those Peloton things are pretty nice if you’re dedicated to inside spinning, which is cool with me, just don’t make me do it too. Also, I realize that order-of-magnitude errors are far more significant in a pharmacy than in an Outside article. But. Unless I’m misreading, you were missing about 20mm of leg extension on the Univega. 200mm is an awful lot.
11:27 and one down finally.
"but when someone you care about finds meaning in something, you’re a real schmuck if you don’t embrace that thing too."
Dad was certainly being a real schmuck, but that's the Zeitgeist we've got going for us, and really, those Peloton ads during the TdF were just asking for more snark.
I use a trainer like once a year. There's this 1965 Schwinn weighing like 95 pounds that sits on it. The one thing I like about it is that you can get a consistent cardio, unlike with most outside riding, which tends to be more interval-like unless you can get access to a place with no stops and no downhills.
"when someone you care about finds meaning in something, you’re a real schmuck if you don’t embrace that thing too."
Unless you're on the internet, in which case you should resent it.
Am I doing this right?
Holy BikeSnob avalanche, Batman!
Can’t see “spinning” as any less worthy of personal industry than, say, lifting weights is for stock brokers. As worthy as pounding down beers in front of the TV while watching MMA/UFC is, both those seemingly artificial activities are better.
You are spot-on pointing out the underlying sexism. One of your best pieces. Thanks. And the Eroica report—great stuff.
Read your spinning post and I think you're trying too hard to jump on the MeeToo bandwagon. I look down on spinning, but I don't picture spinners as a bunch of "driven, competitive, successful woman leaders." SoulCycle is a type of gym, and the people who go there are the type of people who go to gyms. Spinning class is like paying $50/lb for Velveeta, and when asked why you don't just eat Parmesan, saying "because it's got those crunchy bits in it" or "because it smells weird." The whole joy of bicycling is balancing on a two-wheeled vehicle, being outside, coasting down hills, taking in the scenery, exploring the area. Take all of that away, and replace it with an enclosed box with a bunch of sweaty people, blaring music, and someone yelling at you, and you have spinning.
If you're a downhill skier, and you disdain people who'd rather use one of those side-slider things in their basement than ski at Whistler, what does that say about you? A mountain is cold, a basement is warm, and you can get a workout on one of those contraptions, so I guess your contempt can only mean that you don't like it when women are successful.
Anonymous 12:52pm,
The joy of "being outside, coasting down hills, taking in the scenery, exploring the area" is precisely why plenty of people would prefer not to ruin a perfectly good bicycle ride by using it as a workout.
As for what being a downhill skier who worries about what other people are doing in their basement says about you,it probably says you're a douchebag.
--Tan Tenovo
All I have to say is some of us have spent the past two weekends riding the scenic Staten Island coastline and you don't see us bragging about it in Outside.
My dog has just now infomred me that if one were in Outside, they'd have to call it Inside.
Oh well, glad you had stellar weather and thanks for reminding us that bikes make people happy. That you can also use them to get around is just an extra bonus.
My dog convinced me that I'm not getting any younger and it was time to join a gym to work on stability, core, posture, and balance issues. I think my wife put him up to it.
I joined a fancy gym and even got a trainer. The first time I showed up, the folks at the front desk asked if I were looking for the physical therapy office sharing their space. I think my dog put them up to it.
The fancy gym offers a number of spinning classes at no extra charge. I figured the price was right and showed up for one.
It was fun and a good cardio workout.
I ride outside year round. Now that the weather is good, I'm usually riding between 75 and 175 miles a week. I'm not about to replace that.
But spin classes are fun too and I have been fitting in one a week. My dog assures me that nothing could make me less of a cyclist. (Now that I think about it, I'm not sure he meant that as a compliment.)
I'm trying to convince my dog to join me. I've assured him that in a spin class, no one is going to notice a talking dog.
And even if they did, I told him that in a dimly lit studio, wearing a tank top and headband, he could pass for Richard Simmons.
Seems like nobody called dibs on the Univega. Can that possibly be true?
As someone who succumbed to the Zwift-geist, to criticize the 'Spiniverse' would make me a massive hypocrite.
That said, I find that clamping my fred-sled to the Wahoo and staring at a cyberworld is decidedly less enjoyable than riding outdoors, even in poor weather.
[APPLAUSE EMOJI] for the Eroica piece [DOUBLE APPLAUSE EMOJI] for the "La Gazzetta dello Sport" line and [SHY SMILE OF APPRECIATION AND AFFECTION EMOJI] for leroy.
And that's enough warmth and amiability for one day...
Tan Tenovo 2:49pm
Keep up the good work.
This is great: I'm commenting, on a blog post, referring to an article, about the public reaction, to a Tweet thread, regarding an ad campaign, for a product, that mimics or substitutes for, bicycling. There are already so many levels of "meta" going on here, you can't really draw any conclusions.
Therefore I have to proceed from first principles. The degree to which women are depicted in ads depends solely on the target demographic of whatever publication, show, or medium to which the ads are attached.
Also lest we forget that the fitness marketing industry is always our money-wanting adversary, looking for our Achilles' heels, I would say the proportion of women vs. men depicted on Pelotons being "driven and successful," would depend precisely on the degree to which the ad is targeted at women who are insecure about being fat. So sexism about body-image and that whole mess, is most likely baked right into it (rather than created by the haters).
Finally, I don't see people rallying behind the ranty dad in order to oppress women. Oh sure there are a few for whom that's what they're mad about. But most people, the middle class and former middle class in particular, simply resent being MADE POOR lately, yet still being marketed-to and milked yet another time by companies that once again correctly count their numbers, but somehow don't notice they have no fucking money left.
Any piece of fitness that you buy and use is worth it's weight in gold. In an America beset by obesity and chronic diseases that are offset by regular exercise $2000 is CHEAP... IF IT IS USED.
Blog, twitter account, Transalt, Outside, books & now a podcast.
Sh*t's gettin' serious.
I think the Dad is an aspiring writer searching for an audience and now is full of false confidence, given all the attention, because it was not his writing but the topic that stirred opinion. He should have written under a pseudonym. But yeah, a stationary bike in your home keeps moving vehicles at a safe distance.
I would have ridden the Univega both days.
Only one other person asked about "dibs?" It was the only reason I read the report. I kept waiting for the big reveal but it never happened. [SAD EMOJI]
Anonymous 4:51am,
I will cover the "dibs" conclusion in a future post. Sorry you had to read all those tedious words. [SHRUG EMOJI]
--Tan Tenovo
All the anonymouses are confusing me. Are they the same mouses? I just don't know.
Anyway, glad to have finally read the Eroica story.
TTNYC,great reads on both articles.
Who's going do the books on cd(tape) going forward for you?
Spinning seems just as respectable as any other exercise, but Peloton and especially SoulCycle are a whole other animal. A lot of hardcore spin cyclists think SoulCycle is dumb.
It seems like I was the other person that asked about dibs. I, however, enjoyed all those words and didn't find them tedious in the least. [LAUGH EMOJI][SMILE EMOJI]
"As for what being a downhill skier who worries about what other people are doing in their basement says about you,it probably says you're a douchebag. --Tan Tenovo"
Well that was an analogy. As a biker, I want more and more people to ride bikes, because it means we'll get better bike infrastructure and get harassed less by the police. So I do worry about people choosing SoulCycle over bicycling, and I want to convince everyone that bicycling is better. You'd certainly care if everyone stopped riding to work, and instead used an indoor trainer for exercise and Uber for transportation. You'd probably be shouting from the rooftops about the evils of indoor trainers and Uber, and you'd probably be peeved if someone said "Oh he just has a grudge against successful women."
I used the skiing analogy because those indoor-ski contraptions are so patently stupid and that viewpoint obviously has nothing to do with sexism, but you're right that a skier shouldn't care if people pick a machine over a lift ticket - there's no "safety in numbers" for skiers.
Anonymous 12:56pm,
Riding a bicycle to work is completely different than a high-intensity workout. Nobody's saying, "I think I'll stop riding my bicycle to work and do SoulCycle instead." Spinning *does not* replace cycling. And if someone opts for a SoulCycle class instead of doing intervals in Central Park on a Saturday afternoon then we're all better off.
I think you've got a clogged douchenozzle in your brain.
--Tan Tenovo
I picked the wrong time to be away - I'll have to un-work overtime to get caught up, but I need to unmake my numbers to get that unbonus anyhow.
i dont come around for a few years and jesus your showing who you are? what next are you gonna tell me yeudah moon is over after he became a wall street tycoon?
I was told I was too bossy and aggressive at work. Does that make me a woman?
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