Originally Posted by linuxelf

The first organized ride my dad and I took was a charity ride for the Red Cross. My dad's bike has platform pedals, and mine has toe clips. Both of our bikes are aluminum. In addition, I was just wearing a t-shirt and blue jean shorts. We stopped at one of the SAG stops for a refill on water, and a guy was telling us about his all carbon fiber bike and about how we'd never get anywhere dressed like we were, or without biking upgrades. Not in a particularly helpful friendly way, but really snobbish. What I found interesting was that he wasn't able to finish the ride, and both my dad (who was 72 at the time) and I breezed across the finish line without any problem. I do see the advantage of having a nice bike, and clipless pedals, and proper riding gear, but if you've got all that and still can't finish a 50 mile ride, then really you've gotta drop the snob attitude. The point of the activity for me is dropping weight (50 lbs so far!) and enjoying the ride, not showing off how much money you've spent on a bike and equipment.