this a post from a thread about whether it's important
for a framebuilder to ride (a bicycle).
more here.

i'm coming it to this party late, since i just returned from nambla. atmo
we are all different. i got into bicycle making after i started racing; it was
the sport that got me interested, not technology, or engineering, or craft,
or saving the world from motor vehicles blah blah. racing and being of the
sport has definately made be more confident wrt what i do. it accelerated
the learning curve. it forced the epiphanies to come sooner (some in
three minutes or less...). it gave me the platform from which to make
decisions with more chutzpah and be able to stand behind them. when
we (my peer group) began, it was in an era that still had a place for
framebuilders to get the feedback that was necessary in order to use
the sport as a laboratory.through my earliest years, i could count as
many as 2 dozen national (and olympic) team riders (from here and
canada) among my client list. that all changed when the uscf got (too)
big and mandated that those chosen to represent must use the official
federation bicycle, whatever it happened to be in a given year. ironically,
the olympics in 1984 wasthe pivotal era after which it became near impossible
to see your stuff used from development through to the international arena,
but those were good times nonetheless, and much good came from cycling's
growth even if the feds took the sport away from the the clubs and their
sponsors and gave it to the corporate world. hey - shut me up already.
anyway, for me racing and the sport are inseparable from framebuiding
and other's mileage may vary. here in episcoville we remain tethered in
one way shape or form, and still chase stars and stripes jersies with
'cross now being our center of attention. we've got nine since 1997,
and hope a tenth comes along soon. add these/this experience to the
building process and it'd be foolish to overlook the sport's impact atmo.
oh -and yeah, i still race and dig racing. it's a way to remain in a state
of arrested development, and that matters to me atmo.