Downsizing... (long-winded)

[musgravecycles]

The recent “How many” threads have gotten to me.

Before I start I want to be absolutely clear that I am not criticizing any of my forum pals. This tends to be a fairly affluent community, I couldn’t be happier that we’ve all found something to obsess over that keeps our body’s healthy, and frankly I’d rather see people spend a chunk of change on a fleet of nice bikes than I wound see them spent $70K on a new boat... This is about me.

Anyway, I haven’t left the shop before 01:30 this week because we are moving and I’ve been trying to get several frames painted for us, and tying up other loose ends at Doug’s. Since today was the start of Sabbath I was able to come home at 5:30 and spent some time with my wife and daughter this evening, which was extremely refreshing. I was in bed by 9:30, however I’ve been laying wide awake in bed for the last hour and a half thinking about my need to let go of some stuff in my own life.

While these threads have made me realize I don’t have as much bike “stuff” as many, and as much as I’d love to drag my wife downstairs, point to the screen and say “See honey, I don’t have THAT much stuff,” I’ve collected my fair share of bike stuff lately. And when I don’t have money to spend, I’m consumed with collecting information about bike stuff. I tend to obsess over the details (a good trait for a frame-builder right…). Whether I’m obsessing over trying to find that elusive crankset for my new touring bike, over Kilmer’s need to put colored rims on his bike, waiting to see Obtuse’s new Sachs, whether or not Ullrich will be riding this season, and how that relates to the Basso/Disco situation in my own mind, to what cranks QSI will be using (and those MP bikes they gotta ride this year), worrying about missing a good thread on this board (I realize that most of you don’t know me from Adam, but I’m a “closet regular”(lurker) and check this wayyy too often), or trying to ‘splain for the umpteenth time to Doug and Marc why I’m painting my new bikes black (it’s a transparency thing, I’m tired of seeing people trying to make up with in paint what they couldn’t execute underneath, and wish people could “see through” the paint as it were on my bikes), and even what magical formulation Too Tall has come up with for his chains…

As I type I realize it’s even bigger than that, I obsess over missing a good show on NPR, and worry our current political environment (of which I will keep to myself other than to say that ATMO our current administration, to borrow a forum phrase, “doesn’t get it”)

Anyway, instead of making me want more, these threads have helped me realize that I’ve got plenty of bike crap already, that I should be downsizing and not looking to add to the stable. I realize that I really need to turn the computer off, let go of the obsession, and go ride the damn bike into the ground!

Hey, thanks for reading…