Over the past few months, Brandon has been conducting the Great Cymbal Swap of 2012. His goal was to get rid of the cymbals and drum gear he did not like and replace everything with equipment he liked and would be glad to use for the long haul. He is a bargain hunter for sure, so several of his cymbals were great bargains but not necessarily what he now prefers to play. Several of his cymbals were ideal for rock but not so great for jazz. Thankfully, that made them somewhat easy to sell. He’s been hoarding his cymbal money and replacing his old stuff with pieces he really enjoys playing.
I thought he still had a few things he wanted to purchase. But, for my birthday, he gave me his cymbal money so I could buy a road bike. He does have a few things he would still like to have, but he decided he has a good basic setup for now and that he wanted me to be able to own my own road bike. It was so sweet! When I woke up on my birthday a few weeks ago, he presented me with his homemade card (he makes cards for me for our anniversary, Valentine’s Day and my birthday). Inside the card, he had placed a stack of folded up bills. I was so excited about the prospect of buying my own road bike. For the triathlon, I borrowed one, so I didn’t have to ride a race on my mountain bike. Mountain bikes are much heavier than road bikes, and everything from the tires to the very geometry of the bike is geared toward trail riding. These elements don’t make for a very fast or smooth ride. I’m convinced being able to borrow on for the tri made such a huge difference in my cycle time. I seriously doubt I would have ridden the bike portion of the race in an hour on my mountain bike. So, if I’m going to keep doing these races, I need a road bike.
I promptly started hunting Craigslist for a good quality used bike. There were several I considered and emailed with various sellers about. However, after a few days of looking and contacting different people, I just got this feeling that neither of the two bikes I was looking at were the right one for me. I wrote off both those bikes and resolved to keep looking.
On Sept. 7, I saw an ad on Craigslist for the exact bike I wanted. And miracle of miracles, it was only $600, and the seller was in Plano. I emailed right away and said basically pleasepleasepickme and promised I would bring cash over that evening. I was sooo excited. I knew this had to be the bike. Within two hours, the seller called me. Turns out, he lives 1.5 miles from our house. Crazy! I went over with my $600 and took the bike for a test ride. It felt a little big, but I didn’t really know how it was supposed to feel. I knew it was a great deal on that particular bike, so I bought it, thinking I could sell it later if necessary.
Brandon and I took it home and adjusted the seat and lowered the drop bars. Rode it around the parking lot. And after a couple days of tinkering with it, I have finally admitted it is too big. So, at this point, I’m not sure what to do. I was so convinced that this was the bike I was supposed to have. It is back up on Craigslist. I listed it for more than what I paid so that I can hopefully get a little closer to the price of a new bike. We shall see.
