On our way home from coffee this morning, Blair let me coax her into the neighborhood bike shop--"for just a few minutes," I promised. The place is packed with a majestic line-up of Specialized bikes, particularly their mountain bike offerings. We wandered around a bit and I began to wobble under the strain of "new bike fever."She got me out of there before any damage was done.

Yes, I do have a practically brand new mountain bike--so what's my beef? It's one of the lowest models Cannondale sells and I like it, but already some components need replacing. And my bike shop (not Rock n Road Cyclery next door with their seductive sea of new Specialized, but Sand Canyon Cyclery down the road, with it's concentration of Cannondales) has been good at offering to upgrade the parts that are strained by my riding (a lethal combination of over-ambition and ham-fistedness). But my bike is also heavy, and when I struggle to conquer some hill (which I do on all of 'em), I like to fantasize about riding a bike that's about 15 lbs lighter.

And man, do I struggle on those hills....