Attrition rate in the training group riding more or less fixed training routes is higher as many newcomers are scared of the higher standard after a ride. Few carry on. Staying put with the old standard is more comfortable.
This peer group standards pervades many aspect of our lives. On financial aspect, if you hang out with spendthrifts you'll eventually get poisoned by their spendthrift ways & become one. Naturally i'm wary of these type of people & keep a distance. I don't usually judge people by the way they dress. I've seen a multimillionaire use an ordinary cellphone & another millionaire shop for groceries at a normal supermarket instead of the upscale Cold Storage supermarket.
Choose your peers with care. If necessary it is better to be alone than with undesirable company.
72km Ride:
I think the Chinese saying, "近朱者赤 近墨者黑 " or the English equivalent, "Birds of a feather flock together" sum up what you're saying.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 2000's when I was working in a bank, I once saw this casually dressed 50-ish couple -- the man in culottes and a regular polo tee-shirt (non-branded). Since they were standing at the bank's lift lobby looking lost, I approached them and asked where they were going to. In response, they asked me, "How to get to Private Banking?" That means this couple probably had at least 1 million Euro in disposable assets (i.e. excludes fixed assets such as properties) because that was the minimum criteria to be a Private Banking client at that European bank.
That said, many people judge others by how they dress and treat them accordingly. It's not just the corporate world. Even in Singapore hospital where I used to work, you should see how some nurses assume those who dress down as "cannot speak English well, and therefore cannot write complain, and therefore don't need to give good service".
So unless one is that rich and can afford not to care (like the couple above), IMHO, for professional purposes it is still necessary to dress the part. That said, if one acquires some dress-sense and go for classic over trends, it is not necessary to buy branded stuff to look the part.
This is a good distance. Was this done during a weekday evening or weekend? Are you using a road or mountain bike. Never seen the bike that you use. Would you mind posting it up one of these days?
ReplyDeleteHi pangarans,
DeleteSorry for the awfully late reply. Is done on a friday night. You can see my flatbar hybrid roadbike at my earlier blogpost:
Polygon Helops F100