Meet my new commuting machine.
This weekend, after four irksome weeks commuting to work on the CTA, Dave and I set out to get him a new, not-cursed bicycle. A car door landed him in the ER one month ago, the second major accident and fourth or fifth worrisome mishap he had with his old bike. As a show of support, I've been taking the CTA with him this whole time and it finally got to a point last week where we were both really tired of it.
So I came along on the bike hunt with the sole purpose of making sure he did not spend past the budget he gave himself. Dave's not a spendthrift by any means, but I've seen him under the trance of a desired but stupidly-priced object, and I'm pretty darn good at getting him to snap out of it. He knows this, and that is why he requested my presence.
I have a bike (what's your bike gotta do with me?), but I don't like it much. I like that it's pink and that I got it at Working Bikes for $40, but that's about it. It hurts to ride, the gears are rackety, and I can't go very fast on it. But it works and it cost me barely nothing, so I've never thought about replacing it.
I was watching Dave wizz around on the third floor of Kozy's Cyclery, testing out his potential new pedalmate. He wanted me to try out the bike he was considering buying, and even though the seat was so high up I couldn't sit down, I instantly felt what a difference a good quality bike made.
So I snuck back down to the main floor and starting poking around. And there I found it: a 2010-11 GT Traffic 4.0. I took it for a test spin indoors and my heart started racing at what an easy and fun ride it was. I took it outside and some construction workers wolf-whistled at me, probably because I was riding an awesome bike.
I'm not the kind of person who would ever spend $400 on a bike, because I've never liked riding enough to justify it. But then again, I've never owned a new, quality bike. So I bought the bike. And I haven't been off it since.
I got to work in 20 minutes today, without waiting for a bus or train, without spending a dime, and without being sandwiched between strangers...and I got some exercise to boot.
P.S.--Here's the mama Dave got: 2010 Specialized Tricross Singlecross, and he didn't spend a penny over his budget.
