Phil Carman come on down

What do most people think of when you mention the words mountain bike. It's a fair bet they will say dirt and mud. Which makes my latest visit to the LBS all a bit bizarre.

I was sick of tightening the cleats on my old shoes so I decided that it was time for a new pair. So with my Christmas gift voucher in hand i headed off to do some shopping. As it turns out my LBS has recently became a Specialized dealer so all the Shimano products have been replaced by the Specialized range. I got the sales pitch from the shop mechanic and decided to try on a middle of the range pair. They felt really comfortable and if even half of the sales pitch was true I would be riding a whole lot faster and stronger the next morning when I hit the trails with the crew.

The only catch was that the pair I tried on was in white and as good as they looked all nice and clean I knew they would never look that good again once they had been for a spin. White might be alright for our roadbike cousins but as you can tell by some of the photos on this blog we dont always look as pretty as them when our ride is finished. But not to worry the guy from the shop assured me they came in black as well. The only thing was they didnt have any in stock so they would have to order me in a black pair. We went over to the shop computer to check when he could get them and low and behold there aren't any black ones in Australia. Now even the purists of Tennis have realised that white is not a good color for clothing for sports that involve grass, dirt and sweating. Unfortunately the guys at Specialized haven't yet. The only explanation I can think of is that Phil Carman must have got a job in the Specialized design department.

So my voucher stayed in my wallet and I headed back home to find the allen keys to tighten my cleats again.


By the way for those of you who aren't Collingwood supporters Phil Carman was a very talented AFL footballer who many say cost his team the 1977 grand final when he got suspended in the Semi Final. As well as being talented Phil was a touch flamboyant and took to the field in some shiny white boots when black was the only color any self respecting footballer would be seen in.