I first listened to this on the Moth podcast. It really stopped me in my tracks. This wasn’t because it was a new concept, but rather that is was such a great metaphor. I encourage you to listen to this story and I hope that you take away something from it as I did.
The Moth – The Tyranny of the 10-Speed Bike
A couple weeks after posting this, this became even clearer. A neighbor convinced me to join is biking group for a 26KM ride. No, problem! I thought.
I showed up with the old, 1,000 pound moutain bike my wife had found in the recycling. I was wearing jeans, gym shoes, and a sweat shirt. They, on the other hand, had shiny, new $2,000 bikes (which I could literally pick up with my pinky without much strain) and all the gear that you could imagine. It took me roughly 5 minutes to realize that we were not on the same ride. They were on a parallel plane.
Of course, the fact that I am seriously out of shape didn’t help matters, but it was not the deciding factor this time. Where I in the best of shape, I would have struggled to keep up. I ended up about 5km from getting back home crouched on the roadside with phone in hand begging my wife to pick me up as I was cramping so bad I could no longer stand (or ride). All in all, a fun day.