Racing Wheels? Training Wheels? Cue up the training wheels jokes …
Is there a difference? Nowadays I am not sure. In the past – vastly different.
Let us start with mountain bikes. When I raced mountain bikes, I rode the same wheels for everything. Race, ride, train etc.
On the Road – not so. Everyone that I knew had at least one set of training wheels and a set of racing wheels.
Race Wheels first – they were most often tubular and were lighter, ‘faster’ etc. I had a set. They only went on my bike for races – period.
Training wheels – they were less costly, often heavier wheels that were bulletproof (or as bulletproof as possible). We also purposefully bought cheaper/ more durable tires because we rode enough to wear that rubber down. There was no real thought about their handling or feel. Durability was the key. Even with all that – those wheels needed trueing regularly and flats were real. As in real frequent. We are quite spoiled today. Sound like the old guy, don’t I? More on that later.
Yes, I was young, and financially I had to be careful. But many of the guys I raced with had good jobs, and they did the same. It is just the way it was. Multiple wheelsets. Some for training and at least one racing. Unless you loved time trials, then you had at least two racing wheelsets.
I still remember the day I put my race wheels on my bike ‘permanently.’ I had quit racing (a year or more prior) and must have had a flat or some wheel problem on my training wheels. It hit me – I no longer race so why do I have these nice wheels sitting collecting dust? Ride them. Ride them because I own them. Ride them because there is no reason not to ride them.
It is like the good china at your grandmother’s house. I remember we only used the good stuff on certain holidays. We only sat in the formal living room (on the couch with the plastic cover to protect the pretty and soft fabric underneath it) on those same holidays. It was weird to me to have an entire room in your house that you only used a few days a year. To have furniture that was nice, but you had to sit on uncomfortable plastic that covered it. Thick, stiff, sticky and uncomfortable plastic. Then again, I did not live through the depression. There are reasons that generation lived like they did. Yes, we are spoiled. I did not grow up wealthy, but I did not want either.
I fully agree with the philosophy of – use the good china now, do not wait on a special occasion. Not that it is wrong to have things that are for special occasions, it is just not how I live. Every day is a special occasion. That couch from my grandmothers is the one I am currently sitting on while I type this article. Recovered and without plastic cover … it is in use.
That day when I put the racing wheels on my bike for a regular/everyday ride was the day it clicked. My ‘regular’ ride is important. Enjoy it. Those racing wheels were so much nicer to ride. I also quit riding tires until the threads showed. Yep – that was a thing. Why? Get one more ride out of it and risk messing up that ride with a flat? Nope, not anymore.
Those days the financials were tight. Thankfully I am able to think/act differently now.
That said, it still amazes me the things people ride. Again, current components are durable and even the lower end items are reasonably light. I still see folks riding the normal club ride on components that are on the edge of durability. I have heard (and seen) folks walk bikes over a ¼ mile section of gravel to keep their ‘delicate’ road bikes from touching the gravel/dirt. Yes, in road cleats. I am not a proponent of riding my pure road bike on gravel rides (although in the past road bikes could handle it all – thankfully a segment is returning there). But – any road bike should be able to handle that brief section that is not paved. Most of my routes include them.
All that to say – we are spoiled and it is nice.
It is a joy to ride nice wheels on every ride. Nice tires on every ride. Celebrating and enjoying the ride today for what it is – special. We are truly living in a wonderful period of the cycling world.