Bought a road bike

The economy is in the toilet, my job prospects are bleak, the totals in my stock-and-bond portfolio give me the willies. So what to do? What else, but go out and buy a road bike.

Here it is, a brand new Jamis (a company I'd not heard of until I walked into Fitzgerald's Bicycles this morning) Satellite leaning against my nine-year-old Ford Focus wagon, a vehicle whose age and model prove, I believe, that I'm not really materialistic, even though some material things do indeed give me great pleasure (like my Kindle).

But I do love the bike. I took it for an inaugural spin this afternoon in Grand Teton National Park. The mountains were so beautiful, the snowy sage flats so clean and bright, the sky so blue and my bike so speedy. ... For therapeutic value alone this bike was worth it. I feel like a million bucks right now.

A new thing? I've had a handful of bikes: a three-speed as a kid, a 10-speed as a teenager, a hybrid in my 20s and 30s, a mountain bike in my 40s (which I still use for transportation in spring/summer/fall). But I don't believe I've ever bought a road bike.