Mommy, I wanna bicycle!!

A friend of mine has been talking recently about getting back into bike riding.  She has a bicycle and hasn't ridden it in awhile and after talking with her about it for a few weeks (in passing only), I told her today that I would look into buying a bike so we could ride together.  Nothing big, mind you.  No Lance Armstrong-ing.  No triathilons.  No racing.  Just something different to do for exercise on a Saturday afternoon. 

It's been a lot of years since I last bought a bicycle.  I think I lived in Germany and my ex-husband bought me a Cannondale.  I know it was an expensive bike (mountain), and I never rode it.  I hated the idea of mountain bikes.  I was much more comfortable with the old 10-speed street bike I had when I was a kid.  I couldn't understand what the draw was for these ugly-ass mountain bikes that everyone was buying even though the majority of the buyers lived nowhere near any mountains. 

What I did remember, though, as I made my way into the bike shop tonight, was that I needed a 24" frame ('cause I am super short), and that I wasn't interested in spending $600 for a leisurely Saturday afternoon ride.  I was ready for anything!  Knew exactly what I wanted and knew how to get it! 

Much like many of my little adventures recently, I was in for a rude awakening.  Do you know they don't measure bikes in inches anymore?  The guy says to me the I need a 47cm frame.  I don't even know how many inches that converted to (the GMAT studying hasn't been going very well. Shut up.)  He also told me that I can't get by without spending over $500 for a bike. Cheapest bike in the store:  $699.   I think I paid $50 bucks for my Huffy 10-speed, that I beat the shit out of and lasted for 5 years (or until I bought a car, I don't really remember).

I left the bike store with my tail between my legs and a handful of catalogs (which, I have concluded, is where the money for the bikes are going).  On the way home I had an epiphany...EBAY!  I was sure I could go search on ebay for my bike! $699 my ass, Mr. Bike Shop Man!  I'd show him!  The Rocky theme began to play in my head and I barely even acknowledged my dog as I zipped over to the computer, full of hope and excitement and pulled up an ebay search...

$699, it turns out, is a pretty damn good price.  *sigh*