Land and Sea Voyages

I bought the bike. It’s an intro level Bianchi with low-level Sosa components, but I took it for a ten-mile test ride last night and found myself yelling “Wohooo!!!!” as I dug into the pedals and raced down the trail (I made sure there was no one around when I yelled “wohoo!”). Outside of my car, this is the biggest purchase I’ve made, and unlike my car, I bought this outright. It’s beautiful. To me. Here’s a bad picture taken with my camera-phone.


Above the bike is a watercolor that my great-great grandmother’s sister painted. It’s of the ship that my great-great grandmother left on to come to the United States from Finland. She came as an indentured servant. Right after I took this picture, I found myself staring at that watercolor for a long time. I looked at the bike. I stared at the picture.

For the first time in my life, I started to really ponder the sacrifices generations of people made so that I could live the life I’m living right now. This isn’t a post about feeling guilty about buying the bike—I’m happy I bought the bike. Those generations of people would be happy I bought the bike. I just wondered what they would think of me now, in general.

Maybe this is a post about growing up. I guess I’ve been thinking about that, lately. At my grandmother’s 90th birthday earlier this month, it kept hitting home. Staring at the picture last night, I felt this sense of obligation. Not a crippling obligation, but an almost uplifting obligation. It was as if someone tapped me on the shoulder and whispered a secret in my ear. It’s like they said: “We’re on this really long journey together, and you just have to get this boat a few more miles across the ocean.”

I actually felt a little embarrassed, thinking about my debt and all the time I’ve wasted in life. But not horribly embarrassed. There have been great achievements and great failures in the life of my family. My great grandfather on my mother’s side was a prominent doctor and a state senator. His son (my grandfather) became very wealthy during WWII, and then lost his money after the war. My mother had a rough life, and in the big picture, that leaves me (and my sisters) the job of picking up those pieces and moving on.

But moving on to what? We’re all educated. We all have good jobs. It’s an exciting thought for me, all the sudden; the biggest—and maybe always the only—goal in my life. As I ride my bike over the Memorial Day weekend, cruising around the perimeter of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, I’m going to puzzle through what this might mean to me in the greater journey I’m, apparently, just a part of.

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Financial Notes

Feeling a little overwhelmed by money and life, lately? Me too. I’ve been trying to do too many things at once. I need to take a step back and ask myself “what can I get done?"

Let me ramble about some specifics for a minute.

I have approximately $800 in the bank to “spend” (meaning, I have other monies sitting around, but that’s set aside for food and gas, etc.)

I have some financial hurdles in the next month:

1.) Moving

I’ve decided to use all my monies in June to pay for moving. That sets aside about $1,700. What does that buy? I include rent and a down payment in this figure, which will be around $1,200-$1,300. That leave about $400 for the move itself, which is probably correct. I’ll be doubling-up with my GF this time, so we’ll split the truck, etc.

In July, I’ll get my $550 deposit back from my old place, which I can then turn around and put towards my last credit cards.

2.) Bike

If I had an infinite amount of time in life, I would put off the bike for a few months when I have all my credit cards paid off, but I don’t have an infinite amount of time. Summer is here, I only have a few months of good riding weather, and getting in shape isn’t one of those things one should put off. I’ve done my homework, checked out everything online, went to five local bike stores, and test-driven about eight bikes. I found a new bike that I like, on sale for $750, at a store that seems to be pricing things under the competition. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff who went the extra mile to make sure I found something that fit, in my budget range. I’m not thrilled about the components, but I can upgrade them next year when I’m more financially solvent.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I'll be able to sell my current bike for ~$400, so the cost is significantly defrayed.

3.) Credit Cards

If you look at the ticker on the right sidebar, you see that I have $1458 left on my credit card. I’m so anxious to just pay this off right now, but if I do, I’ll just end up putting more money on my damn cards, at a higher interest rate than is on there now. I just need to take a breath. I can get this paid off by the end of July. Waiting is the smart financial decision.

4.) Future School Loans Complicated By A Credit Card Mistake

I have to pony up the cash to pay for a class this summer. I’ll (very soon) have to do the same thing for next semester. I was planning on putting these loans on my Discover card (I have a 0% purchase rate for the rest of the year), but I made a credit card mistake. Not a huge mistake, but one that just ticks me off. When I was looking into buying a home, I needed $3000 on hand to pay for some fees that I would incur. Knowing I would get this money back, I decided to put it on the same Discover card using a transfer check. I ate a $90 balance transfer fee to get a 2% rate. I didn’t get a house, so I paid the money back, called the $90 a wash, and was set to walk away happy.

Here’s the problem: I’m floating school loans on that same card. They’re at 0%. I have to wait for my grades to come in before my company will reimburse me for the loans, and by that time, I’ve already put the next semester’s tuition on the card. Some of you know the answer to this riddle, and I have to say, in the back of my head, I did too. The issue is, that $3000 at 2% is the last thing that my card will pay off, because it’s the highest interest rate, and because I always have over $3000 floating on that card, I’ll perpetually pay $60/year in interest, or $5 a month. Boo hoo, right? Yeah, well, it gets on my nerves. I haven’t figured out the answer to this dilemma, yet, but writing about it at least helps me to lay out the problem. I’m going to sit on this one for three more months (giving myself some breathing room to move), and call it a $15 learning experience. Grrrrr…..

5.) Miscellaneous Expenditures I’m Not Tracking

I’m not awesome about recording “extra” expenditures. Here’s some that I’ve recently added that take a large-ish nibble out of my pocket book.

$5/month to the Grameen Foundation. This money subsidizes micro-loans in developing countries.


$10/month College Donation. This money subsidized my alma mater, underage drinking, etc.

$27/month SmartyPig savings. Did I mention I have a savings account? Wohoo! Now I just have to keep from spending the money. I’ll write more about SmartyPig later.

Little payments add up to $43/month, which ISN’T insignificant.

That, and lately whenever I have too much to drink, I donate $25 to my favorite politician. Some people drunk dial, I drunk donate. Sue me.

Okay, that’s enough thoughts for today. This has been good, and I can look back on this post, laugh at myself a bit, and feel a little relieved that I’m not in a financial catastrophe. Thanks for listening.

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What's In A Bike?

Holy post! I meant to put this up a few days ago, but it took me SO long to do all the research. I'm going to put a "links" section at the end of this post, to summarize all the great sites I used to get this information, but for now, I wanted to get the main article up!

* * *

I’ve been thinking of buying a new bicycle.

About two years ago, I purchased a very nice Cannondale R500 road bike on Craigslist for $350. It was used, and it would be perfect for my needs, but it is WAY TOO BIG. I had a really fun season riding it, nonetheless—I competed in my first “real” triathlon, and I got a lot of other use out of it. It’s not a good idea to ride a bike that doesn’t fit you, however, so it’s time for me to get a new set of wheels.

After perusing the local bike shops, Craigslist, and a variety of other online retailers, I realized I didn’t know what the hell I was looking at. I knew that some bikes were pretty and cost $3,500, and some bikes were pretty and cost $600. I knew gear sets seemed to be very important, but I didn’t know why.

I’ve just finished doing the necessary homework so that I feel comfortable walking into a store again. Here’s a few days of web-surfing, condensed. It’s not exactly “everything I need to know about road bikes,” but it’s a good start.

For the casual rider

Before I begin with some of the nuts and bolts of the bike-buying business, however, let me qualify this article by stating that I’m an amateur biker, and I get out enough to know I need a machine that will last a few years and a few races. If you don’t bike more than 10 miles a week, I think you can happily get by with the cheapest bike in a reputable bike store. Pick one that looks nice. Get it fit for you (this should be free with purchase, but if it costs a few bucks, it’s worth it). Modern bikes are marvels, and the trickle-down affect of high-performance technology will ensure that unless you’re trying to shift gears while you crank up a hill in a race, you probably won’t have any gear slippage, and the parts will probably last you for years. If you wear a bike out, don’t get angry, consider it an accomplishment, and read on! You need a higher class bike, and I might be able to help you make the right economic decision.

Gears

Shimano. Oh, Shimano. You’re on all the bikes, and all your different styles look the same to me. What makes one Shimano gear set different from another? What’s the difference between Shimano 105 and Shimano Tiagra? Shimano Ultegra and Shimano Dura-Ace?

Weight, durability, looks, and price.

Shimano comes in two tiers. At the top are the Cadillac models. These are (in ascending order):

- Shimano 105 (awesome)
- Shimano Ultegra (really awesome)
- Shimano Dura-Ace (indescribably awesome)

If you’re just starting out, and you want to go top-of-the-line, you still don’t need to go higher than the 105s. The Ultegra and Dura-Ace are for the top-level professional riders. Lance Armstrong used them. The Ultegra and the Dura-Ace are slightly lighter than the 105s—about 6 lbs compared to the 105’s 7 lbs (that weight applies to the full gear set—check out Shimano’s site to get an idea of what a full gear set includes). Also, the Ultegra and Dura-Ace are slightly more durable, but again, if you somehow manage to wear out the 105’s (you won’t), the bragging rights are worth the inconvenience. This is a good thread that talks about the difference; what sealed the deal for me was the biker who put 10,000 miles on a set of 105s and Dura-Aces, and says that the 105s are as high as he’ll ever go. Some people describe the Dura-Ace as a smoother ride, but most people say it’s not worth the money, unless you want bragging rights.

But wait! Shimano has a second tier of gear sets (again in ascending order):

- Shimano 2200 (just fine)
- Shimano Sora (darn good)
- Shimano Tiagra (super great)

Again, the difference is weight, durability, looks, and price, but let’s put this whole conversation into perspective. My current bike is nine years old, and it has Shimano RSX gears on it—that’s the latter-day equivalent to the Tiagra. When you go to a store, everything you see will have nine years of advancement over this technology, and you know what? My bike works great. I put a heavy season of commuting, pleasure riding, and “racing.” I came in about middle-of-the-pack in the triathlon I competed in, and it wasn’t the bike that held me back. I was happy with the performance. I’ve been test-driving new bikes, and yes, I see the difference in shifting for the higher-end components, but it’s not something that would affect my commute, training, or racing. I would personally shy away from using the Shimano 2200 gear set on my main components (the deraulleurs and the shifters), but that said, you can get a great bike at a really reasonable price ($500-$1000) with these gear sets.

When you finally walk into a bike store, you’ll probably see a variety of components on a single bike—they mix and match when they assemble them to keep cost down, putting higher-end components on more-crucial part. It’s helpful to know the reason why the bikes are priced where they are.

Frames

Frames come in three varieties: steel, aluminum, and carbon. High-end bikes used to come in titanium, also, but that’s a quickly fading fad, as carbon and aluminum now offer everything titanium once gave you (weight and durability), but at a much-reduced cost.

The difference?

Weight, rigidity, and cost.

Most people don’t like weight in their road bikes, which is why steel is out of fashion. There’s always a caveat, however! It pays to test drive steel bikes—they’ve improved the build-technologies so steel frames can be made fairly light, now, and they’re cheap. You might find the weight difference between steel and aluminum to be too minor to quibble over. However! You might not even find a steel bike at the bike shop. Most road bikes are made from aluminum—even the less expensive models.

So that leaves us with carbon and aluminum, and seriously, don’t buy an all-carbon frame for your first bike. That’s such a poser move. Carbon is really expensive. Aluminum is the material of choice for intro riders. It’s light and fast.

It’s also very rigid.

What does that mean? More importantly, why does rigidity matter? Carbon has more flex to the frame, and that flex translates into a smoother ride (really). However, when you’re peddling a carbon bike, some of your energy is used-up flexing the bike, whereas with a stiffer frame like aluminum, that energy goes directly to peddling. Riders often say that aluminum is faster.

A lot of frames are built with both aluminum and carbon components, however. A popular package: the front fork (the part that holds the front wheel) is made of carbon, as is the seat post, and the rest of the frame is aluminum. I’ve been testing bikes, and I like this hybrid option. It’s cost effective, and from what I’ve seen, it really does make the ride smoother.

Tires?

I don’t really know that much about tires, except that my friend who weighs about 220 has to worry about them, because he’s heavy enough that he blows out cheap tires, and I weight about 177, and I’ve never blown out a tire. Eh, this will probably come back to haunt me. Don’t take that as an actual review.

Summary

I read up on all this stuff because I felt stupid when I entered a bike store. I was intimidated by the knowledge of the sixteen-year-old bike monkey behind the counter. I’ve found that taking a test ride is more important than reading any of this, but I wouldn’t have known which bikes I wanted to test ride unless I’d known something about the components.

I was talking to my sister a few months ago when she purchased her most recent bike. She bought one off Craigslist—it’s a stock bike with cheap stock parts, and she loves it. She wanted to get in shape, and we decided that the upside to crappy bikes is it takes more energy to ride them, so you get a better workout. If you’re starting to consider all those ultra-light components and frames, here’s a quick test that I think is worth taking!

1.) Stand in front of a mirror.
2.) Remove all your clothes.
3.) That bike is only a small portion of the weight you’re lugging down the trail. Now, is that 4 lbs difference for the $1,500 bike really that significant in the whole package (that being you and the bike)? Hmmmmmm….. If you happen to be staring at a Greek God/Goddess with rippling muscles, and you know that you need to lose that “bike weight” to compensate for the muscle mass you’ll be putting on, then by all means, drop the cash. If you’re like me, however, it might be best to look at the less expensive bike—I know a few other places I can shed the weight.

Happy Biking!

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I Won A $50 Smartypig Gift Card!

For such an errant personal finance blogger, I've certainly had a nice streak of luck the last couple of weeks. First the press in Spain, and now I won a $50 Smartypig card from 2million over at 2 Million's Personal Finance Blog. 2million hosted a comment contest last week--to win, you had to subscribe to his blog (I already was) and write what your financial goals were. I was a little flippant (now my face is red!) and wrote:

I read you via my Google reader. My financial goals? To take over the world! But first I'll settle for paying off the rest of my credit card debt (just $1800 to go!) and using my Smartypig account to get an emergency savings in place.

In other news, my GF and I are moving in with each other in July! Big steps! We've been dating for three years now, and we're happy. It will be a nice financial relief for me, because I'll pay about $200-$300 less in rent/month, and can carpool with a friend who lives in the area I'm moving to.

That's all! I'm off to write.

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International Press!

I glanced at my site statistics and saw an unusual bump in readership about two weeks ago. It turns out I was mentioned in a widely circulated Spanish newspaper, La Vanguardia! Isn't this a strange world?! I laughed and told my friends that I've skipped right to international news.

What did La Vanguardia say about me? I used Google's handy translator to read the article (here's a link to the translated article--it's not perfect, but you get the drift). Essentially, it relates the monetary woes of the US citizenry and talks about the resulting proliferation of PFBs. It highlights my blog as an example of a success story! Awesome. It also talks about Tricia over at Blogging Away Debt. Thanks to the author, Eva Gonzalez Cervera!

Per Wikipedia's article, La Vanguardia has been around since 1881 and has a readership of over 200K.

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Hey Stranger...

This weekend was my grandmother's 90th birthday. She's been a benevolent matriarch to her very large family, and is loved by so many people. We hosted a party in the community center in her small town, and over 200 people showed! How great is it to be so appreciated?

My grandmother is frugal, something she learned in the depression. It's a gift, even though it's a gift she'd rather not have learned. She had a rough life, but she made the most of it. Too many stories to tell--I spent the weekend with around 80 relatives!

Just a quick financial update before I work on my novel--I just paid off my Discover card*! I'm on track to having all my cards paid off by end of July!

That's all for today, folks. I know that I don't update my blog that often, but I needed to get my finances in order to work on other portions of my life, and now that I'm more financially stable, it's important that I keep my eye on the ball! I'll keep blogging, of course, and I'm sure I'll occasionally increase the rate, but I just wanted to say (to all 56 of you who have this on their feed!) that I really appreciate the chance that this blog has given me, in life. It's really gotten me back on track, and every reader and commenter has been a great moral support! Thanks!


* In honor of all the credit card "small print" I've read the last few years, I'll just note that I "paid off" everything except some school loans I float on the card, but that amount (about $3000) is at 0% and my work will reimburse me after I get my grades, so I don't count it. I feel this is a "proper" use of my card.

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