Cool “old” stuff - 11 Aug 2007
During my 50 km bike ride with my friends today, the younger ones especially, were intrigued by my attire. It’s not that my stuff was dirty or torn, it was just that most of what I was wearing was at least 8 years old. One aspiring triathlete even asked me what brand “TINLEY” was?. He said he’d never heard of it?! (checkout his website – he’s one of my heroes)
It made me wonder. Was I keeping my old stuff because it reminded me of a time when I could effortlessly leave all these youngsters in the dust. Or was it my way of saying “hey I’ve been here doing this a lot longer than any of you – you’ve got nothing on me”. Or was it perhaps because my budget conflicts with other toys I want? Was it space? After all, there’s only so much stuff you can cram into the drawers of your sports cupboard in the garage right?
Well the truth is that most of the stuff I have is still in pretty good shape and its technical characteristics still answer all my needs. I mean the promise of long term durability and performance is why I purchased the stuff in the first place. So why replace it so quickly? And really where will all that stuff go when I throw it away? I could reuse some of the old shirts for menial tasks like cleaning bike chains, washing the car, or drying the dog. But if I replace my attire every year – I’m going to end up with more rags than I could use in a lifetime. And no mater what, I’m eventually going to have to throw those rags away or hope I can find a way to recycle them.
Now don’t get me wrong, I really think there has been some tremendous innovation in sports equipment over the past years and I’m not suggesting we deprive ourselves and go back to the days of running a 60 km trail race in December -15°c weather with a cotton t-shirt and sweatshirt – risking hypothermia. But I think we owe it to ourselves and those we care about, to make a conscious effort to distinguish between “wants” and “needs”. Yeah I may really want that cool new bike shirt (if not for anything else than to stop my friends from teasing me), but I really don’t need it.
I’ve been around long enough to learn that trying to keep up with my wants is one race I’m never going to win. So I choose to focus on what is important to me. To be with my friends, to be outside, to ride my bike on the beautiful roads and trails that remain – that’s important to me – and I’m just not willing to throw that away.
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