Originally Posted by
patentcad
What's your point?
Laugh all you want, but Pcad will be there, struggling to not be DFL (Dead Friggin Last). Some of us measure our success 180º from most of you. We work our way up from the bottom. Hey, works for Apple Computer. Besides, humiliation in cycling provides the essential Self Loathing critical for Pcad Cycling Zen.
For most of you it's 'What place did I get in that race?'. For Pcad it's DFL + N = PCZ.
At a large High School cross country meet in October, I was walking back from my kid's race finish. She did rather well, got a medal, I thought it was all over. Then, 10-15 minutes later, this lone girl's struggling figure lumbers into view. She was DFL that day, yet she was still running, finishing the course to a few people clapping and encouraging her on. That struck me as part of the beauty of the sport: the inclusivity, the participation, the ability of somebody who's not very good at it to do it. I was impressed both with this girl's ability to persevere and with a competitive high school sport that allows her to do it without benching her.
The next time you see some slow, soft around the edges TT dude at a race remember this: that individual is light years ahead of most of his peers who are probably at home on the couch that day. As for the winner of an amateur event, does anyone really care besides him? Probably not. My point is that by simply suiting up and racing, everybody wins on some level. So ride your bike, train, do your best, but whatever happens, like the man says, Just Do It.
+1. Except that the OP's question wasn't "Should I enter this race?" (to which query your answer would have been excellent). His question was, "Should I enter this race riding a bike which makes me look like a poseur?"
A few years back I was lined up at the start of my 3rd Cat. 5 race on my modest rig (Cannondale CAAD 5, Ultegra components, Velomax wheels). I looked over and recognized a guy I knew from my former club ride days. He was on a state-of-the-art Italian frame, full-Record components, Zipp 404's, the whole banana.
I beat him.
And I laughed at him.
Bob