I don’t agree with this, and I’m also a bike rider. I don’t wear bike clothes to show off, I’d rather not be seen at all in tight bicycle pants. However, riding in proper clothes is infinitely more comfortable than riding in jeans, or my I’ve-got-an-important-meeting-today clothes or whatever. Especially if it’s raining and either too cold or too hot. And, besides, my shirt would smell of sweat at work if I wore it while riding. Even if I took a shower. Using another, functional, set of clothes for riding keeps the odor away from my coworkers.
If that’s pretentious to you, I can hardly care less.
I have a separate set of clothing for my bike riding, too: gym shorts and a T-shirt.
Y’know, if you really need Spandex®, it comes in black. And if you really believe you NEED a specifically-made-for-biking jersey, WHY would you have big corporate names all over your Day-glo swooshes? Tour de France riders do that because those corporations PAY them. You do not have that reason. Or any reason, other than trying to look like Lance.
Before you sneer, I commute to work on a bike, and have even raced (took second in my last race… in shorts from Goodwill and a “South Milwaukee” T-shirt).
Sorry, this pushed my buttons-- I have fellow biker friends that get sucked into spending SO much money on bikes and shoes and jerseys, for not much gain… except in “style”. They are effective in looking like harlequins. Pretentious harlequins, of course.
Hummers; I mean really, who , other than the military doing military stuff, needs to own, a Hummer? It serves no useful purpose in the civilian world. Do they really think people are impressed with this monstrosity. Just wear a T-shirt that says, “I NEED TO COMPENSATE SOMEHOW FOR BEING A DUMBASS!”
Shoes that cost over $70.
Bluetooth. I am not talking about those insanely busy people who are trying to dig themselves into an early stress related grave. I’m talking about Joe/Jane average who walk around with these things clipped on all day hoping somebody will call them so they can use such a ridiculous toy.
Mothers who look at the snack you just gave your kid with horror and ask, " You let him eat that?" Its loaded with chemicals and preservitives!" Why yes, yes it is, and yet he still lives, breathes, walks, and talks, and everything!
People (not reputable breeders) who think that we are all impressed with their dogs ‘papers’ or ‘pedigree’. The darn thing drinks out of the toilet, chases his own tail until he’s dizzy, and piddles when he’s excited just like my ‘not-so-bright-but-thinks-the-sun-shines-out-of-my-ass’ rescue dog.
I’m pretty hard on shoes and have found that if I pay less than US$100 for a pair, they’re going to wear out pretty quickly. In fact, $100 Nikes are what I usually wear.
But for something resembling dress shoes, I do know a cobbler here who can whip up something acceptable for under $50. It’s been years since I’ve needed anything like that though.
I’m not hard on my shoes at all but I am in a job where I’m on my feet for eight + hours a day. That, plus my advancing years means that I’ve learned to look after my feet. If that means paying a small fortune for shoes, so be it. Worth every penny.
I am guilty of hasty generalization. <mea culpa> I just hate listening to some diva going off about her ‘new Prada’s’, like she just cured cancer or something. Its hard to for me to be accepting of a $600 pair of shoes that will only get worn maybe twice a month. For $600 I could pay my mortgage, get 4 months of electricity, 6 weeks of groceries, pay for a full semester, including books of my nursing program, buy my college girl a computer AND software.
Shoes of quality for working such as steel toed boots, good nursing shoes, and the like are an investment rather than a pretentious statement. My husband bought a pair of Tony Lama’s for $400. I gave him holy hell for about a year. 15 years later those boots are in great shape and he wears them in the greatest of comfort for just about any kind of work. After 15 years those boots have been a far better value than anything else he has purchased.
Apology accepted. [Is that even allowed in the Pit?] And, since you’re a nurse, or will be, I’m glad you realise upfront that decent shoes are a necessity, regardless of the cost.
Shit like that will get your ass kicked in my hometown. If you want to impress your friends, tell them you picked up a Red Wing 678s or Danner Combat Hikers.
it’s not the place itself. It’s the people who go on and on about how great it is and how much better they are as people because they live near one and patronize it regularly.*
It’s a fast food burger. It’s surely better than McDonalds and Burger King, but it’s still just a cheap fast food burger.
I know. I hate non-black bike shorts and own precisely zero non-black Spendex bike shorts. The chain grease shows too well.
Day-glo, yes please. As MsWhatsit points out, there’s an advantage in being VISIBLE when you ride in the road where vehicles - a class which bikes belong to - belong and not on the sidewalk, making life dangerous for pedestrians. Big corporate names, no thanks. I’m not wearing corporate names on the outside of my clothes unless I’m paid for it. Or at least get a discount on the clothing.
In other news: the Pope is Catholic, water is wet and bears shit in the woods.
Not trying to, either.
And you pushed mine. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes people wear specialized clothing because… it’s specialized and serves a purpose. Some people seem to not realize this. And some of those people are pretty vocal about it.
Paranoid? There’s no fact-checker at facebook. One does not have to use a real name, or any other incriminating info, if they don’t want to. I have a whole group of friends with alternate facebook pages that family, workplace, or anyone else for that matter, is unable to connect to them.
This is something that bugs me, not really in a pretentious way, but still…
I only ride on the street in quiet residential neighborhoods, but the minute i get to a busy road I am right up on the sidewalk. I fail to see how I could be more of a danger to pedestrians by being on the sidewalk on my small, easily maneuverable bmx bike than a giant steel car could be to me on the open road.
She’s not the first person I’ve ever heard of trying to fake their heritage. You’re all familiar with the Hubble Space telescope. It’s named after early 20th century astronomer Edwin Hubble, who I understand spoke with an affected ‘posh’ English accent.
