A bike! A bike! My kingdom for a bike!

Well I now have the bike I will more than likely use for my trans-American trip next year. And if I had to sum up the story of how I got it in one word, it would be this: grace. Sheer grace is how this worked out. I didn't realize it going in but this entire thing is literally just bathed in grace. Unmerited, undeserved, reckless. Let me share:

Late last year (I've forgotten exactly when), the bike I was given by my folks suffered setback after setback after setback. Rusty gears, bent wheel frames, popped tire after popped tire. I finally ran out of money to keep fixing it so I gave up and walked to work for a few weeks until a guy at my church lent me his just so I wouldn't have to be walking all winter long. It was only a temporary solution, though, and he'd need it back once the weather started getting nice again. So when this trip idea suddenly came up I thought to myself, "You've only got a temporary bike. You should keep your gym membership so you can keep working out there until you can afford a good touring bike." Now for those of you who aren't aware, new touring bikes *usually* run about $600+ for a decent model. If you want one that is really good quality, you should be prepared to spend $1100 or thereabouts. I hoped that I could maybe get my hands on a second-hand one from a friend for $400ish but my hopes weren't high. So just as I'm thinking about all this a guy from my church posts about a bicycle that he's selling so I decide to pursue it and see if it would meet my needs. It wouldn't. It's a racing bike. BUT, his wife is selling one that probably would and she's more my size too. We talk about it and I do my research and it looks like a really good fit! The only qualms I had were about the money. I've only got $150 and the model of this bike (when new) can run upwards of $1200. This one was only 2 years old so I feared I might have to back out of negotiations due to the prohibitive cost. But when money came up in the discussion, the owner just said "I'll give it to you for $150." Words can't even express my internal reaction. I mean it was almost like giving someone a Lamborghini for a day's work as a janitor! And that wasn't even the end of it. This kind of bike needs cleats. They threw them into the deal without asking for anything more. Those cleats cost about $100 brand new! And even THAT wasn't the end of it! "You need a real helmet; not a Walmart one." Again, no charge! So now for $150 I have a top of the line bike, riding cleats AND a helmet that won't make me sweat my brains out on long stretches! Remember my first post? "It is the Lord!" Yeah. That again. Literally just bewildered right now. Thanks for reading, guys!