$$, crashing, and other such fun

other roadtrip inspired post:

when i left TN, the average price of gas was $2.93, in kentucky $3.07, and in southern indiana gas was $3.28. overnight, while i was in indy, gas jumped 30 cents and the lowest i could find for most of tuesday and wednesday was $3.59 for regular grade. luckily prices went down the further i went east, and in NJ i got it for $2.89 today, but this is motivation.

last year, when the prices in NJ briefly spiked above $3 i started taking the bus to campus. now, they're certainly going to go above $3/gallon and for even longer. i love driving, and i'm glad i have my car for getting to church and longer trips, but... i've finally motivated myself to do what leigh did last year: buy a bike. with a front basket, it'll be able to handle most of my local errands, and it should be able to get me to campus and back, unless i need to be super nice looking for a talk or something... the summary is, i wanted to cut down on gas by switching to a bike for as much as is reasonably possible.

so today was bike purchasing day. scott is a bike expert so i brought him with me to look. amazingly enough, the sales interaction went something like this.
store manager: "hi, can i help you?"
me: "yes, i'm just looking for a hybrid to get around highland park... hopefully not more than $300-400."
store manager: "ah! wait! you are a tall woman! i have the perfect bike for you!"
she immediately ran over to a corner and pulled out a 2006 gary fisher tiburon ( see http://www.fisherbikes.com/bikes/bike_detail.asp?series=path&bike=Tiburon and click on the picture for the stepthrough model, then picture it in blue and silver instead of black and silver)
it's a 20" bike, and it's apparently hard to find people tall enough to buy that size of a women's bike, so she was stoked to have me in her store, and i was happy for a good deal: $249!

scott thinks i got a good deal, i'm happy it's blue and comfy, so life is good.

i think i posted months ago about riding leigh's bike and having issues with brakes and not understanding gears... got that out of the way today too. while riding and experimenting, instead of grabbing the brakes i accidentally upped the gear and crashed into a tree (oops). at any rate, yay for a new cheaper way to get around town. really, once i've gone the equivalent of 8 tanks of gas (or even sooner as prices rise) in miles on the bike, it will have earned its money back.

hooray for new bike.

end of ramble. :P