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the realisation that you're never going to out sprint or out climb certain individuals, or do a 45 minute 25 without the aid of mechanical doping is a bit of a dampener to lavish spending.
Depends on your budget. My experience of working at a velodrome tells me that there are a lot of people who know that they are not physically competitive but they have the cash to be mechanically competitive.
And as for expensive kit in 4th cat races, I’ve seen people write off what must easily be 4 figures worth of lycra and helmet in crashes during the first part of their track accreditation and be back the next week with brand new kit to resit the class.
People turning up to do their first track league in the D group with Looks and Cervelos and Disc/5 spokes wheels is surprisingly common.
I’d actually say there’s a machismo pride element to writing off expensive kit. Broken bike = excuse to buy a new one.
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What does it cost to do a session at Glasgow? I know that Lee Valley kinda self selects for these types of people, since the fees price out the large majority of riders who would turn up on less expensive bikes.
Also, FWIW I'm probably an outlier but haven't been ever been a KOM chaser.
For my own sins I have upgraded my (older than me) Saracen Road bike with a NOS disc brake fork since it makes a lot of sense for an all weather commuter, allows me to run significantly better mudguards (with eyelets) and a front rack, and swap to 650b at some point, but I generally agree with the consensus that force obsolescence has become far more prevalent in bicycle kit over the last ~10 years
Yes, I'm sure you're right - racing certainly doesn't give everyone immunity - but the realisation that you're never going to out sprint or out climb certain individuals, or do a 45 minute 25 without the aid of mechanical doping is a bit of a dampener to lavish spending.
Also, you might have thought that old age would bring immunity but I'm afraid there are some cases where it does not.
Another question: would anyone be brave enough (financially) to ride a fourth cat. race at Hillingdon on a £10,000 bike ?
I admit that there are exceptions, but my basic thought is that participating in actual racing brings realism.