Bike Intervention
There comes a time (apparently) when a cyclist gets so obsessed with bicycles that friends and family decide they have to intervene. I assumed I had a ways to go before I hit the obsession point as I have not:
- built my own bike
- figured out what gearing ratios are or learned how to adjust a derailleur
- owned more than two bikes at any given time (six or more is the obsession point, right?)
However they argue that just talking about bikes is enough to be an obsession. They requested I stop talking bringing up the following topics in every single conversation:
Presented with this request, I decided to reverse things a little. If conversations about bikes are so hard to bear, how is it that the following topics are okay for them to discuss constantly?
So I will not limit my bike talk. (It would probably will be easier to make new friends.)
YES! I don’t know how much a gallon of gas costs and that is hilarious to me. I’m also GLAD HP is over!
Your blog + drawings are the best things in the world. The Bike Blog world and I mean, what else is there?
Thanks!
Yes, no clue about gas prices either. But I know how many croissants it takes for me to get across town. (That’s my fuel.)
Oh my gosh! I’m surprised I haven’t had an intervention yet. My husband says that I’m currently obsessed with spokelights (but I’ve bought two sets for his bikes, so he can’t complain!) I have several helmets and my husband and I are constantly rescuing cool bikes from thrift shops and fixing them up. I am eyeing a NOS Schinn frame at a LBS to build up from components. (A GoPro is on my holiday wish list, too.)
Love your drawings and totally agree with the ‘normal’ topics to avoid!
I just got the GoPro after breaking my elderly point-and-shoot by mounting it on my bike every day. It will entertain me the rest of the summer, and beyond. (Probably should be on the list of my common discussion topics too.)
Just tell them it’s not an obsession – it’s a lifestyle :). There are people who talk about their interests and collections all the time – and we don’t complain. Though my husband did buy me this book as a joke one year. It ended up being a great book.
http://bikesinmotion.blogspot.com/2010/12/bike-passion-and-bikes-i-ride.html
Possibly the best yet…and that is saying something…
i love your drawings! i am also a lady biker in boston! i have built out my own bikes, i know what my ratios are BUT i only have 2. so that means i am not obsessed, right? i mean i cant check off all 3!
can we also add babies to that list? and the cost of daycare? i am the only single person in my office so the conversations are very baby-centric. but at least there are a couple of boys i can talk about bikes with!
Thanks, yay Boston! No, you’re not obsessed until you have SIX bikes. I measure bike-obsession against a certain friend of mine. He also had a man-crush on Lance Armstrong and DVR’d every inch of every Tour de France. So you have some room. So on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being “Seen a Bike Once” and 10 being “Broken into Lance Armstrong’s House to Fondle his Bike Seat(s),” you’re at a 3/4, well within the safe zone 🙂 And we’ll add babies to the list. I wanna add “dieting” too, latest annoyance of mine.