Originally Posted by ilpirata87

Today there was a duathlon just down the street from where I live. I rode over there to check it out, and my eyes were accosted by maximum fredliness. There were tons of people with incredibly blinged bikes and very little speed to justify such purchases. The worst example was a late middle aged woman with a cervelo fully equipped with deep section hed rims and a pointy aero helmet. Any aerodynamic benefit of the helmet was negated by her loose, baggy rain jacket (it wasn't raining, although the ground was wet). She methodically made her way through the transition area and could barely get her leg over the top tube when she mounted the bike, knocking a water bottle off in the process. The epitome of Fred (or whatever the feminine version of Fred is). Man I wish I had 1/3 of the awesome equipment some of these folks had. It was probably the first time 99% of the bikes even got a speck of grime splashed on them. What a shameless marketing machine that persuades people to buy stuff that won't even help them go any faster.

Okay, rant off, time to go ride.