g**********r
发帖数: 1654 | 1 This one is hilarious! Typical British dark humour, so dry. =D
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10965608
------------------------------------------------------------------
Flashy sports cars are out, now no mid-life crisis is complete without a
souped-up road bike. Why?
Every weekend, across the nation's rolling countryside, watch out for the
Mamils: middle-aged men in lycra.
And ladies, if you have a man at home taking an unusual interest in how you
shave your legs, you may have a Mamil in the making too.
Research conducted by the retail analyst Mintel suggests there has been a
surge in the number of middle-aged men choosing to get on two wheels.
Given the number of men aged 35-44 who are buying fancy-pants road racing
machines, is this a 21st Century mid-life crisis? Has the silence of skinny
tyres and carbon fibre framesets replaced the thunderous noise of motorbikes?
Back in the day, when some men with a bit of disposable income reached a
certain age, they did some strange things. The grind of the office and home
life convinced some that the answer to an expanding midriff lay in a pair of
designer jeans and a flashy but cheap Japanese sports car. Teenage
daughters ran away screaming. Sons were deprived of the role models seen in
adverts for shaving products.
Gents, our womenfolk were right all along. It wasn't a good look. And did it
do anything for the beer belly?
The middle-aged cyclist's role model, sprinting legend Mark Cavendish
But then came a confluence of coincidences that gave a man an option other
than looking like a gigolo cruising Italy's glitzy Lake Como.
The past three years have seen the rise of the uber-techno, super-flashy,
full-carbon fibre, bobby-dazzler road bike. The market for these bikes has
expanded faster than a 45-year-old's waistline, partly thanks to the success
of the British cycling stars at the Beijing Olympics. Marketing departments
have produced smart advertising messages that encourage a bit of freedom,
elite performance and memories of teenage derring-do.
And the result can be seen on Saturday and Sunday mornings as middle-aged
blokes polish the rear derailleur, lower the mirrored shades and pedal into
the hills. Every couple of weeks, you'll see a girth of Mamils gathering to
race a "Sportive", a form of amateur competing that has taken the British
cycling world by storm.
While the serious, younger riders are busy getting into the zone of elite
competition, we're comparing the latest GPS route-finding cycle computer and
pretending that we know how to stretch.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
No Mamil's life is complete without the spiritual journey to the mountains”
Dominic Casciani
We hit the first hill and suddenly we're a puffing, panting, heaving mass of
sweaty humanity that is well past its sell-by-date. Sounds humiliating? I'
ve never had so much fun in my life - and there are also some unintended
benefits of being the older rider.
First, there's the no-questions-asked fan club. My kids, on the promise of
an ice cream, will cheer me over the top of any climb. They're still young
enough to think I'm Superman - and you don't get that kind of pick-me-up on
the golf course.
Even better is the Mamil's solution to saddle sores. A teenage shop
assistant in a too-posh-to-pedal London shop tried to sell me some balm for
￡30. What's the point of that, I asked. I've got loads of unused nappy rash
cream at home. He thought I was terminally uncool. I know better son, learn
from your elders.
Terrified
But no Mamil's life is complete without the spiritual journey to the
mountains.
Robbie McIntosh is 45 and has spent much of the past year clad in lycra
after being talked into cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats with a group
of fellow Mamils.
Robbie McIntosh on Mont Ventoux - one of the toughest climbs in the world
Ten days of pain, rain and groin strain later, he decided he was ready for
Mont Ventoux. This mountain, the Giant of Provence, is one of the toughest
climbs in the world - 23km straight up. British cycling legend Tom Simpson
died on its slopes in 1967. Last month, with terror in his belly, Robbie
began turning the wheels.
"I wanted so much to say I'd climbed the Ventoux. It's an amazing mountain
and a serious challenge.
"I was surprised at my nerves but I had a sense that if I could do this on a
bike I could do anything and that was a feeling I wanted so much."
And make it he did. He wasn't as balletic as the local, young French riders
- but he stood alongside them at the 1,910m summit and surveyed the world.
"Cycling has given me an opportunity to feel sporting achievement of the
very highest level," says Robbie. "It doesn't matter that the pros ride up
Mont Ventoux at twice the speed or more. I can scale the same sporting
heights as the best cyclists on the planet. I can walk with giants."
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Flash road bikes definitely look like a midlife crisis”
So a man becomes fitter and happier. Where's the midlife crisis in that? Ah.
The costs.
Ladies, look away now. Men who seriously cycle typically spend about ￡3,000
to live that dream. For a time, at least. That sum will cover the set-up
and the first year, then about ￡1,000 a year, at least, on top of that.
The must-have bike of the summer is the Pinarello Dogma, the bike used by
the British Team Sky in the Tour de France. Yours for about ￡7,000. Grown
men stop and stare at this machine, like seven-year-old lads pressed against
the toy shop window.
Thankfully, most Mamils don't have that kind of money to burn. But it hasn't
stopped the rapid growth of a suburban money-laundering operation. It goes
something like this. Man dribbles while looking at ￡100 bib shorts on
cycling website - they're the kind that make you look like a wrestler.
Partner says no, think about the starving children. Man continues to look at
bib shorts and decides they will help conceal his 36-inch waist.
Ventoux brings some men close to collapse
He calculates that three weeks of hard pedalling will help on the belly
front - which is coincidentally the same time it takes to receive a secret
new credit card to pay for the shorts. Job done. Platinum status achieved
with the online cycling retailer. Discounts on more kit, all of which is
sent directly to the office rather than home.
When you run the slide rule over all of this, flash road bikes definitely
look like a midlife crisis.
There's a look to strive for, expensive kit and excuses for weekends away.
I and my band of hill-climbing brothers disagree. It's about becoming a
happier and healthier person rather than sliding towards mediocre oblivion
at the bottom of a pint glass.
But I conclude with a message from my own Mrs Mamil to other cycling widows.
She's discovered a precise form of retaliation. If your portly husband buys
another stupid fluorescent jersey, buy yourself another pair of shoes.
That way, at least one of you can look good. | n******d
发帖数: 3583 | | d****e
发帖数: 839 | 3 Hmm...
是在说我吗？
I like this part:
"Even better is the Mamil's solution to saddle sores. A teenage shop
assistant in a too-posh-to-pedal London shop tried to sell me some balm for
￡30. What's the point of that, I asked. I've got loads of unused nappy rash
cream at home. He thought I was terminally uncool. I know better son, learn
from your elders." |
|
