Justifying a New Bike

How to Justify Buying a New Bike -
Use the "cost per mile" method: cost/distance. Get a new one when the cost is below your target level.

If your bike costs $2,000, and you ride it 2,000miles the cost per mile is $1.00. Once you ride it for 4,000 miles, the cost is now $0.50 per mile. At 8,000 miles, the cost is $0.25. At 10,000 miles the cost is $0.02 per mile. At 20,000 miles, the cost is $0.01.

If you average 1,500 miles per year, that's 13 years, which is long enough for a bike, if you don't have any accidents. The difference in bike technology over 13 years is enormous.

Hanging on Until Spring

Things are slow in the blogshpere. Not cold enough consistently for ice-skating. Too much frozen rain for in-line skating. I went skating last Sunday (1/25) and found black ice on the bike path.

This is the view today from my home office. ---->

On the positive side, I did find EXACTLY what i've been looking for since 1993 to prevent blisters under my ankle bones - reusable round gel pads called "Clear Clouds"..... I got them from a web site called "Skating Safe" (located in Florida). Excellent response times from this company.
http://www.skatingsafe.com/

I think I'll be skating more this spring than riding my bike... makes a nice change. My goal for 2009 is to learn to do cross-overs. Tried to learn it once, but it didn't take. I'd also like to learn how to handle hazards - sticks, etc. in my path.

Holidays to get us through the winter and spring:January - Lunar New Year
February - Valentine's Day; plus, the daylight lasts longer.
March - 21st - Vernal Equinox (SUMMER STARTS HERE !)
April - Tax Day, start of good water conditions for Kayaking.
May - Every day is a good day !!!