Bling

I raced a mountain bike event on the weekend. Events are great fun, full of really nice 'mountain biking' people and having a great atmosphere. They also present an opportunity to see some real bling. There are guys riding bikes that cost more money than my car, easily more. They are light and shiny and just...lovely! I do get sucked into the bling, and I have to say that the updating I have done in mountain bike world has been enjoyable and has added something to the way my bike rides.

I like seeing guys taking a bike out of their car when it is clear that the bike costs twice as much as the said car. Highlights their priorities. It's fine to seek something of value as long as you accept the costs and live with them. Like the rock climbers who get to climb at Arapilies in Victoria each day, without working, and accept that that means living in a tent in the pines and not eating too much.

You get into trouble when you haven't thought through the cost of bling and work out in the end that the value of the bling was no where near worth the cost. So you look around your house and see the home cinema, the pool, the fine furniture and think 'that's nice', and then it dawns on you that the 60 hour weeks you've been pulling, the lack of quality time with the kids and your growing waistline have been the costs. Not sure whether the plasma tv was worth it!

Bling can entice you, that's for sure. Make you think you need better, bigger, more expensive.

My bike riding partner for the event, Frank, borrowed a bling bike from one of the shops, for a lap of the course. Three times the cost of his own bike, he took off like a kid on the last day of school.

His lap was his slowest of the event.