It's amazing that when you hear these things, they sound like events that are out of reach. But when you actually do them, you find they aren't all that unreachable and wonder why you didn't do them before. They really aren't that hard.

I myself find some issues on the forums limiting to others. I read so many posts about wire bead tires, Deep V rims, not riding carbon, not having a compact crank with a 34/34 stopping a rider from climbing. I've tried to talk a ton of posters up our local climbs. Some have magnificent machines but think (because they read it on the forums) that they can't complete the climb because they don't have wheels that weigh 900 grams and blah blah blah!.

I ride wired bead $24 tires, Deep V's and weigh 230-250 depending on what I eat. And they are worried about making it. Strange thing, the most unsuspecting riders are the ones willing to try and they all complete the climb. The one's that don't try, are the ones that don't because they read on the forums somewhere that their bikes are limiting them on a climb.