Back several years ago when Kestrel was very new and very costly I remember seeing my first 2 outside of the showroom. One was on the paved track around the Polo field in San Franciscos Golden Gate park, the other on the bike path in Santa Monica. Both were going very very slow. In one way sad, it did seem a waste. But the other side is they were the ones who ended up paying to the R&D, not the people who bought later when the price came down (at least a bit).

Sorry... I guess my post was a bit too inflammatory, but here's my side.

There's no way to know why the lady was walking.

Why the distinction is made about wheels is a little beyond me, and there's nothing that says wheels and training are mutually exclusive. You can have nice race wheels AND work hard in training. The perception that having race wheels means you're proclaiming to the world that you're a perfect triathlete is bogus. All it means is that you had money to spend on wheels and you did it. Says nothing about priorities or anything. Maybe the lady had already signed her 6-month contract with a coach and had a few grand left over, so maybe she DID buy what she needed before what she wanted. There's absolutely no way you can know any of this just riding by someone.

So your opinion, which you're of course entitled to, is prejudiced and biased, i.e. fundamentally flawed.

You've assumed that:

1. the bike is hers and not borrowed.

2. That she was walking her bike out of exhaustion.

3. That she paid retail for the bike, or that she paid for it at all.

4. That she doesn't have a coach or a training plan.

5. That she was free of injuries, overtraining, cramps, a near-drowning, or anything else that could cause someone to have a bad day on the bike.

6. That the first thing she spent her money on--if she spent it at all--was fancy wheels.

So if you have no idea about any of the circumstances, why use her to make a point about anything? If you're entitled to post a huge logical fallacy, I'm entitled to point it out.

Wow... I'm really trying hard to get over your holier than thou attitude with regard to this post but I just can't. However with a name like Dr Pete, well I dont want to stereotype, and I won't because thats not fair or true, but your replies here aren't.

Opinions don't have to be 100% Logical, and my OPINION was that I FEEL IT IS A WASTE OF MONEY to buy $3000+ worth of bike equipment when you are not at your peak. I also said I don't know what her situation was, which is why I was presenting my opinion based on what was posted. Ok I didn't break out every POSSIBLE scenrio out like you did I merely grouped them tighter. And finally I was saying that Cervelos are increasing in popularity so you will find athletes at all levels riding them now.

You need to get past thinking that I was judging this woman and realize I was merely presenting an opinion based on a theoretical situation. You are taking everything WAYY too literally. And finally before you go calling people flawed you need to take a look in the mirror and have a chill pill.

You need to get past the idea that an attack on an opinion is an attack on YOU. It's not. As for flaws, I have as many as anyone else. And since you're the only one who can't seem to avoid making this personal, you can have my chill pill.

Calling me Jealous/insecure, and a "internet tough guy" is an attack on me. It was never personal till you made it...

I'm done with this thread, explaining myself to you was a complete waste of time. Good luck in your triathlons, and keep the chill pill, you need it.

I would, for a moment, like to disagree with this statement. I did and do not have a problem with it and I would have to agree with others that there is a bias in the reading of this thread.

I was merely attempting to point out a semi-comedic comparison of two very different athletes.

Fair enough.

I've been a member on this forum since 2005, and the single most annoying things about this place are the assumptions that get made about people who ride high-end bikes for the sake of belittling them in some story. Hell, I've had people make assumptions about my CHARACTER based on the bikes I ride. What's oozing with irony is that the people passing these judgments are the ones who claim that the bike doesn't matter. So if it doesn't matter, how/why can you judge someone based on what they ride?

As I've mentioned before in other threads, nobody ever gets on the internet to talk about the young guy on the $12K Cervelo who dropped them like a hot rock on the climb. So yeah, I freely admit to my own bias in that regard.

I also wasn't trying to insult anyone. What I was trying to do is challenge people a bit to ask themselves 1. why they care at all what someone else is riding or how much it costs, and 2. the fact that the "rules" about who should be riding what equimpent apply only to the person making them up.

Anyway, I'm sorry about the frenzy I managed to start in this thread, and if something was taken personally I apologize.

Nobody holds a monopoly on jealousy or insecurity. They're not personal--they're human nature. As for the internet tough guy thing... Yeah, that was a little over the top and I apologize.

Thanks man, glad we could all straighten things out.

i'm a good FOP runner.

I probably don't deserve my bike yet, and i'm on a p2-sl. :shrug: its a good motivator since i don't have money...so i can't let me large (to me) purchase go to waste.

the swim, on the other hand... i have a lot of similarity to the aforementioned "rock". luckily with this combo, I'll probably be passing more than i am passed since my events will go slowest to fastest.

I'm with you Doc. I've never liked the threads/posts suggesting that someone doesn't "deserve" an expensive bike. I once posted some race pics and some d-bag flamed me for having expensive equipment and being too fat to deserve it. He then started a thread in the Road Bike forum about people like me. So...I tend to PM him with pics of anything new that I buy.

Honestly, I think we should be more harsh on people who don't think twice about spending $2K on their new flat screen TV but won't spend half that on a bike.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

My guess is that part of it is the feeling that it's unfair that it's possible to "buy" a better time in a sport like a triathlon. The people at the top are forgiven because most everyone else at the top has good equipment too.

Though I fall on the lower end of the equipment spectrum, it's part of what's fun about the sport. I like tinkering with my bike and seeing what I can do it to make me even a tiny bit faster. Of course training make the biggest difference, but it's not nearly as fun