The Blog Within

About twice a year REI hosts a member’s only garage sale. This year I was intentionally avoiding it due to a conflict between temptation and budget. However, I desperately needed a new set of tires for bike commuting, and I went to REI with $40 and some change in my pocket, which was just enough to cover a pair of WTB Slickasaurus street tires for my mountain bike. I knew the garage sale was going on that day, but I was going for tires. Just tires.
All I need is a set of tires.

So I arrived at REI and of course an overwhelming force dragged me out through the back of the store into the vortex of clearance and drastic mark-downs. I’ll just look, I told myself. It’s afternoon and all the good stuff is probably gone anyway.

Rummaging through a rack of men’s cycling apparel uncovered a pair of Descente Chevron Classic Pro cycling shorts, marked down from $95.00 to $46.83! What a DEAL!!! I grabbed them and carried them with me, you know, just in case. I fully intended to return them to the rack at some point and go get my tires.

I went to show them to Jen, who was chatting with a sales associate about a rather nice camp cot, again, just in case. “Check these out.” I said, “They’re marked down almost $50!!! Too bad they’re not less than $40 though, since that’s all I brought.” We both laughed and I turned to return them to the rack so we that could get the tires and get going.

And then the strangest thing happened: the associate said, “Let me see those for a second.” I handed them to him and, pulling out a red Sharpie and a special hole-punch, he scratched out the $46.83 price, marking the shorts down further to $36.00! He smiled and handed them back saying, “Have a great day” and walked off.

So now what was I to do? I had in my hands a pair of cycling shorts marked down $59 from the original price…
The decision was easy: the tires would always be $40, but these shorts would be this price only once. So of course I bought them and commuted on knobby tires until next payday!

And then the real problem became apparent…

I now own the most comfortable pair of cycling shorts I have ever experienced. They are truly an amazing piece of technical apparel. Riding while wearing them is sheer joy, and I swear they even make me faster. So how is that a problem, you ask? THEY NORMALLY COST $95.00. I will never be able to justify that expense for one piece of cycling clothing. Ever. And the odds of finding another pair marked down $59.00? About the same as winning the lottery.

So as I wear my snazzy new shorts, I hope and pray that they will last forever, as they will most likely be the only pair I ever own.

Tags: Bike Commuting, Cycling

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 11:12 am and is filed under Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.