After 2 years of eating low carb and exercising (through walking) for 6 months, I made a new years resolution to take up "spinning". I had been a youth sports trainer/coach for 10 years but was out of shape until I turned to low-carbing. I had lost 50 lbs by the time I went to my first spin class in January 2004. I thought it would add some interesting variety to my workout.

After 6 weeks of spin class, I decided to dust off my old mountain bike and take it out for a spin. My mountain bike was a 5-year-ago Royce Union that I bought at Sears. I thought it was a pretty good bike at almost $300. I spent some extra money to buy some additional lightweight, aluminum road wheels and skinny tires. That made a big difference when I rode on the street. I also joined my other mountain biking friends for a weekly accent up the nearby mountain ridge with my original mountain wheels and tires on.

Soon I was doing more and more riding and the kids wanted to join me. It was clear that their little 24" wheel bikes were no good for long rides. My kids are 12 and 15 and they had outgrown these bikes, so my wife and I gave them our 26" wheel bikes (I put road tires on both bikes).

Now it was time for us to buy new bikes, but we didn't want to spend a lot of money.

I bought a new Marin Point Bolinas mountain bike (only $299) and took it out for the first time today. Up until now, I had been just switching the road and mountain wheels on my old mountain bike each weekend and then switching them back. This got old after a while. WHAT A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE BIKES!

When I got the Marin mountain bike out on the road around the foothills, I noticed that the road gearing was just fine, then we got to the trailhead. This would be the first real test. The first 100 yards is a steep climb! The new climbing gears on the Marin mountain bike made the usually tough climb very easy, compaired to my old mountain bike. After several climbs, the new light weight of the bike also made it's advantage known. The new bike was over 12 lbs lighter than my old one. It felt much more like a part of me, an extention of my own body.

We got to some rolling hills and another advantage was borne out. The new shifters could skip from 8th to 5th to 3rd with just 2 thumbstokes. If you've ever come up a steep grade, then down a hill, only to face another steep grade, you know how much shifting you have to do. On my old bike, I would downshift, upshift amd then downshift again and sometimes throw the chain off and end up on my side with my feet still stuck in the cages. Ouch!

I was thinking that this was the best $300 that I had ever spent, when the best feature showed up. We reached the top and turned left to decend. The bike immediately felt more surefooted. I usually rode the brakes and held back on decents because I was a little scared of all the bumping and rattling my mountain bike went through while going down the ridge at higher speed. The new bike handled all the ruts and bumps with ease and I felt a lot more confident in having control of my new bike. I passed all my friends and was first down the ridge, instead of last (my usual place). The new front suspension was awesome.

I had a similar OH MY GOD! reaction when I purchased a new road bike. Also for just $299, Marin makes a city bike called the Kentfield. It rides like a dream, and for only 50 bones more ($349) you can upgrade from the chrome-alloy frame to the aluminum 7005 frame. An upgrade that is well worth it if you are going to ride more.

If you can't decide if you want to buy a mountain bike or a road bike, there's also the Marin San Rafael. The same 7005 frame mentioned above and similar gearing and front suspension to the mountain bike (with hybrid tires). My wife likes the feel and softness of a mountain bike but prefers to ride on the road. My wife loves her Marin San Rafael and it was only 50 bucks more ($399).

If you really get hooked, and decide to join the Century Ride crowd (25 miles to 100 miles or more), there are great longer-distance bikes from Trek and Giant. The Trek (the same company that makes Lance Armstrong's bike for the Tour de France) 1000 C is a great entry level bike. The "C" stands for comfort, and boy is it ever comfortable. For $599, the Trek 1000 C and the Giant OCR 3, give you drop-handle-bars (for more comfortable hand positions) and upgraded componentry. I love my Trek 1000 C!

If you are thinking about getting into some bike riding, spend a few bucks on one of these great new bikes. You just might find your next great passion, and lose some weight along with it. I've lost 15 more pounds just since I starting biking, less than 3 months ago!

J