Wow, thats close to 15%
A while back I set myself a milestone. At 250lbs, I said to myself, I will finally break down and buy a road bike. It was easy to say when I weighed 290+ lbs because, like graduation or adulthood, it seemed like a milestone that would merely loom in a noncommittal way.
So today I weighed in at 254 after lunch. Whats more, today is a basketball day so with dehydration I will surely dip below 250 (Yeah, when you're my size these number are huge. 2 hours of basektball costs me 4+lbs in sweat and roughly 2,600 calories...jesus I don't even want to discuss the damage to my knees). Like a canary basketball day warns me of things to come. The 'official' weight won't be below 250 for a bit now but still I must study up on road bikes, all my experience coming from the MTB...milieu.
Realization 1: Road bikes are fucking expensive!
Realization 2: No they're not! Because I can get a used one. Since I enjoy working on bikes anything I would need to do to it would be a treat.
Realization 3: Actually, even used they are pretty damn pricey.
Realization 4: I don't think I particularly like road bikers. I went out with the others to do the burke-gilman trail and when I had to stop to pull a link out of my chain only 1 person in 15 minutes asked if I was ok or offered help. Mountain bikers are much more prone to fits of charity I guess. I reckon it has to do with the high likelihood that they will soon be fixing a broken bike as well.
Realization 5: I do like road biking. It fits my slow-burning metabolism and wandering mind.
So the goal for now is to do the Seattle to Portland ride next year. Hopefully in 2 years I'll be ready for the Texas 4000. Wee
posted by Alfonso Lopez @ 3:56 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
1. I told you. You were like "I dunno, $700?" and I laughed. Justifiably so. I still think with how much you enjoy biking (and I bet you will enjoy road biking) you should at least get a bump up from low-end (eg: the $1000 new level).
2. True.
3. Ah, exactly. True. You'll have an easier time of it than I (you know more about those bikes); it was really hard to find a bike and get an idea of how it compares to, say, a new bike (and thus what it'd be worth compared to getting the new bike).
4. True, though I've heard via my brother this isn't common. Perhaps it was a lot of bikers who didn't know how to help (eg: if I saw you, I'd pass on by because I wouldn't know what I was doing and wouldn't be able to help). Perhaps because it's a pretty accessible and easy trail, it's a lot of newbs.
5. Yeah, ok.
You should pop into Gerk's where I got my bike. They're nice and you can at least get an idea of what they feel like and the range. They're clearing bikes out right now too (you can talk them down a bit -- Aarthy got them to knock off a hundred dollars. I am not sure how, all she would say was "Iraq" and I'm not sure if that was facetious).
Also check out REI, and others. Clearance will be especially good for you - your height is much less likely to be sold out (as I mentioned, REI had a lot in the 60+ range, even some very nice ones that were marked down huge. I remember a nice cannondale marked down to sub-$1k with all 105 parts I think they had in a 60 or something up there).
Remember - it's not how good the bike is, it's how discounted it is.
Since you and Austin left, my biking has dropped to 0. It saddens me quite a bit, then I realize that instead of getting the crap kicked out of me on the trail, i'm getting my skin burned off sailing, which leads to tans (and cancer) instead of scars.
If through some awful machinations i end up in Seattle, there must/will be a boat involved.
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