Episode 21: Get It Bought

From 2003 to 2020 I was a hobby runner. 10k then marathon then 100 miles then 250 miles then 450 miles. Then back to biking.

But my biking expertise was from 20 years ago and my oh my how bike tech had changed. I was absolutely clueless. The only thing that was still the same was the bike still had two round wheels, handlebars and gears. But the wheels were bigger. Handlebars were wider. And gears were more. And on top of all this new stuff, there were way too many choices. 2x or 1x gearing. 29" or 650b tyres. Tubeless or tubes. Straight bars or riser bars. I could go on. And on. Even in the 3 years that I've been back biking it still keeps changing.

Gear cables? Nah, Bluetooth wireless. Cables are so last century.

Google is your friend

So off down rabbit holes. Opinions, arguments and fights about what's best. And because it's all so damn costly I didn't want to buy stuff that was wrong. Until I did. Because I was procrastinating myself back into running and not riding. And that was a backward step. So I chucked money at the problem. Not too much to start with. Think of it as controlled chucking. I was warned about the "buy cheap, buy twice" mindset but I wasn't suitably informed to be able to apply the "buy once, cry once" more expensive approach. That would come in time. And it did.

2020 seems a long time ago!

But now I know far more than I ever thought I'd know. No longer am I a purveyor of procrastination. No longer do I hesitate in the basket. No longer do I ask for permission. I know what I want, I know what I "need", I know how to get it.

It took courage though. And money. And lots of bullshit banter when I bought the first gravel bike in my mate's group of gnarly, hairy, grumpy old mountain bikers. But at least I upgraded my mountain bike as well. That (almost) shut them up.

I only have 2 bikes though.

I could easily justify 5, maybe 6. But that would be a step too far. Even for me. I do have 5 different pairs of bike shoes though. And enough clothing to open a shop. And far more and far better bike tech than all my mates. So there is that.

Sometimes you just have to take the bike by the bars and spend. And learn. And stop procrastinating. Make mistakes. Find out what works. So what if sometimes you have to buy twice? Or thrice. It's too easy to listen to 100's of opinions and never make a decision. Sometimes you have to say WTF, I'm doing this, what's the worst that can happen?

Actions spend. Opinions don't.

So if you're thinking of buying some shiny new HR tech but you're constantly procrastinating, just get it bought. Learn by doing. Because you'll find 1000's of opinions on how to do your job better/faster/cheaper but the only opinion that really matters is your own. Based on your own first-hand experience. Not some expert with a big mouth who's never done your job before. Or asked ChatGPT.