ase: Default icon (Default)
ase ([personal profile] ase) wrote2011-05-26 11:15 pm
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Bicycle?

It looks like I have a summer job: lab work in Mountain View, covering a 4-month employee absence. The Caltrain plus cycling commute is far from ideal, but it's a far stronger option than the alternatives. (Alternatives: bus-bus-Caltrain-walk, or more succinctly commuter hell; getting a car, AKA fiscal misery.) Also, mandatory exercise makes me a better person, and this gives me the budget and reason to buy the bicycle I've wanted since I moved to San Francisco.

Today I tested seven bicycles at four cycling shops. Since bike quality is strongly correlated with bike cost, I found two very nice options at the very top of my price point. Then I found out REI bicycles are 15% off this week. The REI bike I tried - Scott SUB 45 - isn't as nice as the Trek 7.3 FX and Raleigh Alysa FT2 I tested elsewhere, but the price differential goes a long way toward accessories.

Under the hassle and test riding discomfort is a resurgent bubbling, because two very important concepts are in play:

work = money = more options = happiness
bicycle = increased transportation autonomy = happiness

Thus, happiness. As well as comparison shopping.

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