Twins.

In my flurry of fall bicycle-related consumerism, I bought a wheel.

 

It's a Chinese-made, 88mm carbon tubular rear wheel. I went in with low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product- especially given the price. It's nothing mind-blowing, and the wheel components aren't all that impressive. I bought it to back up my disc wheel on my TT bike for hilly TTs or when side-winds made using the disc a white-knuckle fight for control. I may also use it for flat crits and road races, depending on how it rolls. It's certainly not a wheel that will see use every day.

 

The more I look at it, the more I think we're somehow related.

• We're both fatter than the majority of the competition.
• We're heavier than the majority of the competition.
• Our components are of questionable quality.
• We require specialized care to keep all of those components from flying apart.
• We may look good to the uninitiated, but anyone with any sort of eye will immediately see through the façade.

 

The snow has started to finally fall on Anchorage (only about 2 months too late), so this wheel won't see pavement for 5 or 6 months, depending on how fast the snow recedes in the spring. Until then, I'll hang it on the wall and stretch a tubular tire over it. I'll glance over at it once in a while as I sweat on the trainer, watching the dust settle on the shiny carbon. In the spring I'll start to glue up tubulars to try to control my cycling urges while the roads clear.

 

Maybe then I won't resemble this wheel quite so much.