Originally Posted by
Zero_Enigma
I'm just happy with good health and really don't feel I need much this year. I would like a winter cycling jacket, spring cycling jacket, cycling pants for wind/rain (not tights), all-weather cycling shoes, winter booties, summer rain booties, and a cycling vest.
No one in my family is really supportive of my cycling. Even as cycling for transportation it's seen as slow way to travel and a poorman's status thing. To them without a car it's like no status thing. My sister is a Dr. M.D and always talks about cars and such with what I gather as a 'status' thing. Dunno.. anyone here in the medical field that rides as well? I'm not riding a rusted out beater which people often think of when they think of the cyclist in T.O riding downtown in a rust bucket.
I find when I got the 2 x PB Blaze cars starting give some respect to a rider on the road as you're brighter then the typical no light or small light riders here. When I got the Dinotte tail light I noticed a change in drivers attitudes with instant respect on the road because of the bright light that was nearly a cars tail light.
Anyways, 95% of the cycling gear I have I get myself. I've only taken over a summer shell from my dad and that's about it.
Perhaps come spring when the reports here of the fuel prices rocketing and reaching new highs this summer may get them to back off on me and try alternative modes of transportation then keep bending over and taking it fromt he oil barons and always complaining about how much they spent on petrol or how much petrol costs.
Sorry for the slight rant off there.. I just had to get some stuff off before I explode. Being snowed in for 3-4 months is not helping either.
I definitely don't get that kind of attitude from my family, and they're mostly upper to upper-middle class. My dad drives Audi, my in-laws Porsche, Land Rover and BMW (many cars, they're Michiganders) and my bro and sis drive Audis.
My brother lives 3 miles from where he's getting his PhD and drives every day. Ridiculous. I can't even convince him to walk, let alone ride, but he really respects what I do. This is the longest my commute has been, and the most dedicated to it I've been, so after a year of it religiously everyone has chipped in to get me "the right stuff," and I'm building myself a worthy bike with leftover parts.
Sorry to hear you get no support. I don't think it's a class thing, it's just personal perspectives. Everyone I know wishes they had the will to do it, but they're all weak and they know it