Bicycling: Not just for winos and anarchists anymore

I love the style section of the NYTimes because it can give me a month's dose of frivolity in 5 minutes.

From the article You Paid How Much for that Bike?

IN April, two months before turning 39, Stacy Jargowsky decided to learn to ride a bicycle. So she spent $9,000 for a brushed-silver custom-made bike called a Guru. “If I can only have one, I feel like it should be the best,” she said.

[snip]

Mr. Vidal admits that his Serotta is sometimes more than just something he pedals. “Oh, it’s definitely an accessory,” he said. “People stop you and comment on the bike. They’ll want to talk about it, ask you about it. They’re the same kinds of looks I used to get when I drove a Porsche.”


I personally think if the majority of the (first)world adopted bicycling as their primary form of transportation, world peace might come about. I seriously do. But various factors (including Lance Armstrong) have made bicycling just another boutique sport for the rich. Sigh. Because I am a snob, I have developed a serious, serious distaste for the folks who slap on their $500 of cycling clothes (I have nothing against the gear itself, just the people who wear it) and head out on their $9000 bikes for 'exercise.' They use this 'exercise' as an excuse to ride like assholes, behaving in a way so as to be a menace to pedestrians, motorists and other cyclists. Stay out of the way! I have to keep my heart rate over 180 for at least 30 minutes!

Whatever. People were bicycling long before Lance Armstrong showed up, and we'll continue to do it after it is no longer trendy.

However, this article does contain the only genuinely funny thing I've ever read in this stupid paper:

It’s no secret to anyone who has ever endured an encounter with a grease-stained, eye-rolling, heavily sighing bicycle shop employee that customer service in the industry has historically ranged from sullen to supercilious to overtly hateful. (“It’s one of the few retail industries where a condition for employment seems to be utter contempt for the customer,” said one industry executive.)

Hello, utter contempt for the customer is a trait common to many retail clerks, but I suppose your concierge or personal shopper prevents you from having to put up with that. Cheers to all the surly bike store employees out there! I love you all!