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Monday, June 21, 2010

Mountain bikes - when it rains it pours!

Check out the Tech-tri blog .  Jason is giving away a cool Canon camera!

I have been looking for about a year to find a good deal on a mountain bike. The last two bikes that I have bought have been off of eBay and they have been incredible deals. I am willing to wait until I find the right bike for the right price. I also bought some cycling gear.

So, as time sometimes happens – everything falls together at once. My helmet fits me great but the padding is starting to break down badly. Also, you should replace your helmet about every 3 years. I am a helmet proponent! I have crashed and hit my head and walked away with just a little bit of road rash. In fact, just last week one of my friends went down at the end of a group ride. He cracked his helmet through on the temple area. He was not any worse for the wear. I wear a helmet and I replace them when they get long in the tooth.

So, last Thursday I ordered a new helmet. On Friday I bought a 1 year old mountain bike on Craig’s list. Everything was looking cool. However, the more I adjusted and tinkered with the mountain bike the more I realized that it was just too big me. It looked big for me and against my better judgment I went ahead and purchased it. I just wanted a mountain bike that bad. Well, I was bummed out some but I knew that I got such a great deal that I could ride the bike for a few months while I looked for a new bike and still get my purchase price out of it (or at least most of it).

Then on Saturday I got an email from Raland. He was at the Treasure Hunt – the local salvage store. This place is a flea market wonderland. They get stuff from store closing and damaged goods. The stock turns over constantly. Anyway, Raland said that they had the goods from a bike store in Nashville – water damage.

I took a drive down there and I ran into a practical who’s who in the cycling / triathlon Hattiesburg scene. I talked the talked and walked the walked and picked over the stock. I ended up getting a new road helmet (Giro Atmos), a mountain bike helmet, a couple of new race ties, some tube patch kits, some bar tape and another mountain bike. I bought 2 mountain bikes this week!  You don't know me - don't judge!  I am finding homes for two of my bikes - that should help keep the stable to an acceptable number.  There is an old joke - What is the optimum number of bikes.  The answer:  Current + 1.

For exercise this weekend I did a 40+ group road ride, two mountain bike rides and a fast 5 mile tempo run. I will be out of town all this week in Boston for work. I hope to find a few people to run along the emerald necklace.

These trails are a quarter mile from my house!  Time to learn some real bike handling skills!

5 comments:

  1. You totally hit the biking lottery. If i didn't have to work today, i'd head up to MS with lots of cash to deal with! Mtn biking is my first love b/c it was how i got started biking, then the rest was a natural progression. Good job on all the riding this w/e and the run to cap it off.

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  2. I watched the XTerra race yesterday and saw how intense mountain biking really is.

    Right on man, be careful on the trails, mountain biking makes road biking look like a joke!

    Good snag on the deals!!!

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  3. Great snag on those deals! Someday I will get a mountain bike!

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  4. Knowing you, those bikes must have been great deals! Very cool!

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  5. What size is the one that is too big, I am in the market for a MTB, though was gonna wait to the end of the season to get it.

    How much did you spend at the close out, it must have been in great with all you got.

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