So some of you already know that I bought a bike yesterday. This is part of my ongoing lifestyle adjustments to get fit, lose the excess fat, gain muscle, etc. Incidentally today marks my 1 year anniversary for gym, and in that time I’ve gone to gym 214 times… hmmm. This time last year I was a lot thinner, weaker and had absolutely no base level of fitness — quite a lot has changed.

I was originally going to buy an exercise bike, but when I went to sportsmans again they had no stock. So I decided to buy a mountain bike instead seeing as Mike had been bugging me to get one anyways.

So off I went, searching high and low for that perfect bike that would just become a natural extension of my body. In reality I only went to 2 shops :( (Bridge Cycles & Olympic Cycles) — and I bought my bike (GT Avalanche 2.0) from Olympic because Bridge didn’t have my size in the bike I wanted.

To suit my exercise/cardio requirements I bought a heart rate monitor that doubles as a cycling computer and an indoor resistance trainer that I can mount my bike on. In the end I spent more money on extras than I did on the bike itself; I bought cleated pedals and spd shoes to match, shorty bullbars, a spare tube, puncture kit, multitool to adjust everything on the bike, the obligatory water bottle carrier, and a pump. As for gear, I’ve already mentioned the shoes — I also bought some padded gloves since I have problems with pinched nerves in my wrist, hopefully they’ll help some. Now I just need to get the helmet and some sexy emasculating lycra shorts with padding in the seat.

A quick update on my motorcycle. Well I’ve found a guy that does grey imports and sells them straight to the dealers. Seeing as I plan on buying a 400 (which are all grey imports anyways) I may as well get one from this guy. I’ll certainly save a stack of money by not buying from the dealer. I’ve almost got all my money for my CBR, so this long, arduous process is almost at an end…

I’m quite good at waiting. The lab doing the lenses for my glasses doesn’t have stock of my prescription in the country… yay… it took them 2 weeks to discover this. The order has been sent off to a different lab, but who knows how long I’ll end up waiting for them. *sigh*