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Rambled 1472 times since February 2002

I Finally Bought a Mountain Bike

• July 12, 2008
• 11 comments

This morning I went to the AT&T store to see when they would get their next shipment of iPhones in. They weren’t sure and they didn’t know how many would be in the shipment (or so they say). Instead they tried to get me to sign up for AT&T service and walk away without a phone until “my” iPhone came in. Ummm… no thank you.

While I was playing around with the demo model, I started adding up the cost of owning one. Over the course of the contract, I’d be spending over $2000 for a stupid phone. I already have a basic cellphone that works just fine and is no longer under any contract. So I decided to head down to Bicycle Sport Shop and look at mountain bikes instead.

I’ve been wanting to get a mountain bike for a while, but never got around to looking at them. The guys at Bicycle Sport Shop were very helpful, very knowledgeable and not pushy which was nice. I spent about 15-20 minutes just learning where the mountain bike scene was now since I’ve been out of it for almost a decade. Bikes have become pretty freakin’ nice since then, and some of them are seriously expensive. Like $6000+ expensive, which is ridiculous.

After checking out several bikes I settled on a Gary Fisher Cobia. It has 29” wheels instead of the standard 26”. It makes for a smoother ride over rough terrain. The bike is surprisingly light given the wheel size and handles really well.

I ended up buying the bike and most of the other stuff you need like a helmet, pump, patch kit, etc. I also had to buy a bike mount for my car, which looks quite funny. My car is small so the bike mount and bike look enormous on the back. The upfront cost was considerably higher than an iPhone, but was actually quite a bit cheaper versus the iPhone’s cost counting the two year contract.

I took it for its first ride later in the evening once the weather cooled down a bit. All I can say is I really need to get back in shape! My thighs were already burning a quarter-mile down the trail. I only rode for a couple miles, but it took me almost 10 minutes to catch my breath afterward. Back in the day, I could ride for many, many miles and feel great. I once rode 130 miles on a mountain bike. That was insane now that I think about it, but the point is I was in great shape then. I would love to get back to even half that shape again.

Anyway, I’m excited about the bike and think it’s a much better purchase than an iPhone.

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