It rained all weekend, and in fact it\u2019s still raining, but fortunately I was prepared:<\/p>\n I\u2019m still enjoying the new clicky shifters<\/a> very much, though for the first time since installing them I did need to stop and make an adjustment, which is perfectly normal after everything settles. So I stopped at the side of the road in order to do so, twiddling away as a light and gentle rain fell. As I did this, a driver slowed, rolled down his window, and asked, \u201cDo you need anything, a bottle of water, maybe?\u201d<\/p>\n It certainly was very kind of him to offer, and I really don\u2019t mean to sound ungrateful, but at the same time it was a little perplexing. If I appeared to be stranded with a broken bicycle I could see someone offering a tool or the use of a phone or even a ride if they were especially magnanimous (or a serial killer), and if it had been a scorching hot day and I\u2019d been sitting on the curb with my head in my hands I could also see the offer of a beverage to slake my thirst. But a bottle of water in the rain on a cool day was clearly of no use to me, and therefore struck me as sort of a weird thing to offer in the first place.<\/p>\n Then again, when stopping to render aid it\u2019s probably best to just offer something that you know the person will decline, or else is really easy to provide in the event that they do accept. Not too long ago I asked a couple of stopped riders if they needed anything and naturally would up repairing a flat for one of them, which to be honest was a real pain in the ass. Had I simply slowed and asked if they needed any water they would have declined and \u201cSaid no, but\u2026\u201d and I\u2019d have been well on my way before I even heard the end of the sentence\u2013or, had they said yes, I could have thrown my water bottle at them and then kept going.<\/p>\n In short: when offering help to stranded cyclists, avoid open-ended questions. Don\u2019t ask, \u201cDo you need anything?\u201d Instead ask, \u201cDo you need a calculator?,\u201d or \u201cCan I offer you a can opener?\u201d This will save you a considerable amount of time whilst keeping your karma intact.<\/p>\n Unless they\u2019re struggling to open a can of fruit cocktail.<\/p>\n But yes, the LoNo drivetrain is working wonderfully:<\/p>\n Speaking of which, over a week or so now a reader left the following comment<\/a>:<\/p>\n This elicited a reply from Old Man Petersen himself\u2026:<\/p>\n BUT!<\/p>\n I only just noticed today that the reply seemed to have wound up in the Disqus spam folder. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps the words \u201cfree,\u201d \u201ceBay,\u201d \u201cEtsy,\u201d and \u201coffer expires\u201d triggered their algorithm or whatever. So I\u2019ve un-spammed it, but now the offer has long since expired, and I don\u2019t know if it still stands, or if the original poster even saw it. But this was technically my fault*, so to the original poster, if you\u2019re reading this, feel free to drop me a line and I\u2019ll see if there\u2019s anything I can do.<\/p>\n As for the rest of you, don\u2019t get any ideas, and just because this guy may have won the kvetching lottery that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re also going to critique your way into free stuff.<\/p>\n *[Related: every so often I get an email from someone wondering what happened to their comment. Please note that Disqus has a mind of its own. I do my best to regularly check the various folders where these things wind up and approve them as necessary, but sometimes I miss something. So please forgive me, and also please keep in mind that, while I deeply value your commentary, I also didn\u2019t start a bike blog in order to do work.]<\/em><\/p>\n Meanwhile, last week I addressed \u201calt-cycling.\u201d<\/a> In so doing, I also pondered for like two seconds whether I belonged to any particular category of cyclist. Of course I really don\u2019t care about any of that, but apparently there are people who do care so much that they write entire articles about it<\/a>:<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure he answers the question posed in the headline, but he does successfully prove that introspection and self-awareness are not the same thing:<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of talk these days about lowering the barriers to entry in cycling, and while we may not all agree on just how low they should go, I think most of us will concede you shouldn\u2019t need to read a book called \u201cIntrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior\u201d to fully understand your relationship with your GRVL bike:<\/p>\n Anthropologically speaking, community is, and has been, everything. Through virtually any lens, you\u2019ll see it at the center of our well-being, decision-making, religion, and our species\u2019 evolution. What started as a survival requirement has evolved into groups of people who share common interests and values. Sharing interests makes us relatable, and experts say that sense of belonging is crucial to our well-being. Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, in their book <\/em>Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior,<\/em> talk about three basic human needs that must be met for sustained motivation: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.<\/em><\/p>\n Wait, I\u2019m sorry, am I reading a bike website or a Sarah Lawrence College undergraduate course catalog?<\/p>\n Either way, this is a person who really seems to care what other people think:<\/p>\n When my ego starts to creep in, I think back to a mountain bike clinic led by a local rider, Lindsey Gosnell. One of her first pieces of advice when considering tackling a new feature was to take a moment to ask yourself whether you\u2019re doing it because you want to or because of peer pressure or another outside influence. For me, it\u2019s often the latter.<\/em><\/p>\n And it\u2019s strange how sometimes the people who try hardest not to be judgmental wind up being the most judgmental:<\/p>\n These days, the self-titled \u201calt cyclists\u201d should be the ones fighting against these expectations, but they\u2019re failing. Being anti-mountain bike or anti-gravel bike is cliquey in its own way, and it paints an unrealistic picture of what it means to be alternative. I prefer our agnostic approach to running this website, which leaves us curious about everything, rather than bashing certain styles of riding, dressing, packing, or being. You don\u2019t need to run a front basket and wear no helmet to convey your disdain for larger cycling cliques. Just do what feels right. But, for what it\u2019s worth, I don\u2019t believe not wearing a helmet makes you \u201calt.\u201d Rather, it simply puts you at a higher risk for brain injuries.<\/em><\/p>\n Setting aside the helmet debate, alt cyclists are at extremely low risk for brain injuries since they rarely exceed speeds of 8mph, and they spend 75% of the \u201cride\u201d off the bike and engaged in either the preparation of coffee or the consumption of cannabis.<\/p>\n As for labels, in the real world nobody cares about this stuff 95% of the time, though 5% of the time they do come in handy when you want to break someone\u2019s balls.<\/p>\n I mean does anyone actually take any of this seriously? For example, when I say mountain bikers are the worst, I don\u2019t mean all<\/em> of them, I just mean almost<\/em> all <\/em>of them. And most cyclists have a sense of humor, that\u2019s why parody sites like these are so popular:<\/p>\n Ostensibly I\u2019m writing a humorous blog here, and maybe you\u2019ll even find a laugh or two here in all the drivel, but I\u2019m in awe of how each of the above sites can be so consistently hilarious on a daily basis<\/a>:<\/p>\n I recently finished testing the brilliant new Canyon Grail CF SLX, which in its Shimano GRX Di2 guise retails for a very impressive \u00a33,899 \/ $4,999 \/ \u20ac3,999.<\/em><\/p>\n That got me thinking, has Canyon just returned to its roots as an impressively priced online bike retailer, or is it shifting to be more competitive against the rise of Chinese brands?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The latest Winspace aero gravel bike, the G5 Gravel Plus, costs \u00a34,240 with mechanical GRX. The Di2 version is available in the UK for \u00a34,520. That makes Canyon\u2019s wonderfully capable new gravel racer a better value proposition than Winspace\u2019s \u2018market-disrupting\u2019 offering.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n What is impressive exactly about a Canyon that costs Five Thousand American Fun Tickets\u2122? Also, what is a \u201cvalue proposition,\u201d and how is that different from a \u201cvalue?\u201d And before you answer, yes, I did look it up:<\/p>\n Value<\/strong>: Is experienced and perceived subjectively by the customer.<\/em> Okay, so \u201cvalue\u201d is just\u2026value, whereas \u201cvalue proposition\u201d is a line of complete bullshit.<\/p>\n So just say value.<\/p>\n Finally, speaking of years of blogging, here\u2019s proof from 2008 that very large wheels are nothing new<\/a>:<\/p>\n Remember: you saw it here first.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bikesnobnyc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_3552.jpg?resize=736%2C981&ssl=1\")
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Value Proposition<\/strong>: Is crafted and declared proactively by the business.<\/em><\/p>\n
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