C40's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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C40
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Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Post by C40 »

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DECEMBER 2011
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TOTALS:
Income, after tax: $3,086
Sales: $40
Spending: $1,705
Put in after-tax Savings: $2,000
401k Contributions: $1,644
Savings rate: 62%

INVESTMENT INCOME:
Interest on 401k: -$573
Interest on Savings: -$241

SPENDING:
Home Expenses: $1,142
Food: $167
Entertainment: $120
Cycling: $0
Transportation: $73
Other/Travel: $203

Special spending:
Vitamix - $475 (in home expenses)
X-Mas Travel - $209
Drivers License - $34
A lot of quarters for laundry - $100

Travel for Christmas was good. I drove down to visit my family. It was a long drive - about 900 miles each way. My Grandma lives about halfway there so I split the drive up into 2 days each way and spent some time with her. I’m glad I drove. The driving wasn’t so bad. I took some podcasts and audiobooks. I listened to all of Alexander the Great (Librivox) (What an interesting story), and parts of some other books. I had a hard time listening to Walden and Meditations while driving (too deep).

Family time was nice. I was down at Mom’s for only 3.5 days, but they were very family intense. My Mom has a very nice house, with an incredible theatre room, nice yard, and a very serious bar setup in their garage (8 beers on tap that Stepdad brewed, tables & chairs, shuffleboard, darts, etc.), so once we get there we never leave and just do stuff together 100% of the time. So by the end it was kind of nice to come home.

Total spending was high in December because I ordered a Vitamix blender and because of gas for the drive down to see my family. I’ve been wanting to eat healthier - more vegetables and fruit. I tend not to eat a lot of vegetables because I don’t care much for the texture or taste of many of them. I love fruit but where I live it is a bit hard or expensive to get nice fresh fruit. I can, though, get frozen fruit for pretty reasonable prices. I’ve been using the blender I have to make drinks of fruit and veggies and enjoying it. I think a Vitamix will be able to blend better so the drinks won’t have as much solid material (particularly for vegetables). With the high price of this blender, I kind of feel like I’m trying to buy a solution instead of figuring out a better way. We’ll see how it goes (I haven’t received it yet). If it works well, it should last a long time. If I don’t like or use it, I should be able to sell it without taking a huge loss.

One of my big efforts for right now and 2012 is to change my hobbies from ones that are expensive to ones that I can make money from (or at least are cheap). If you look at the graphs of my expenses, my big spending was during the first half of the year, which was when I was spending big money on cycling/racing. So I want some hobbies that instead have the opposite effect - when I put a lot of time into them, my expenses should go down.

My first effort was an idea from Akratic - to sell shirt designs on Cafepress. This seems like a good hobby for me because I like design - when I was an 8th grader I used to think I wanted to become a graphic artist (though I’m very glad now that I didn’t). So I dipped my toes into shirt designing in December. I started figuring out how to do it, made some simple designs, and uploaded them. I made some shirts for a videogame I play (Skyrim), and some with a stupid Rap song slogans. I found Redbubble.com through a recommendation I received when asking for feedback on a design. So far all of my sales have been on Redbubble. I set my prices at 20% markup, so for each shirt I get about $4. For December (3 weeks of sales I believe) I sold 15 or so shirts, for $90 profit. This is not shown in my December numbers because I haven’t gotten the money yet. As Akratic explained at the Chicago meetup, making designs for subjects that people will be buying is critical. So far, out of my Rap song, Skyrim, and Ron Paul designs, the only sales I’ve made were the Skyrim ones. So I’ll need to put more effort into finding subjects that sell and then making good designs. Right now I’m planning to try to make some better Skyrim designs as those seem to be selling very well.

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CHARTS
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(The grey is the OTHER category)
I’ll be posting again soon with a summary of the year and with plans for 2012. It’s going to be a very good year for me.
Last edited by C40 on Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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C40
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Post by C40 »

-------------------------------------------------------------
2011 SUMMARY & 2012 GOALS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Here were my 2011 financial goals:
1 - Lower monthly rent/gas cost from $1,000 to $600

-- DONE

2 - Save $10,000 by end of July (“Emergency Fund”)

-- DONE IN MARCH

3 - Save another $10,000 by end of year (“House fund”)

-- DONE IN JULY, $21k saved





(links to a readable version)
My main improvements this year were: (and resulting yearly savings)

1 - Reduced spending in general (~$2k)

2 - Moved closer to work to reduce rent and transportation costs (~$7k)

3 - Spent less on cycling. Funded this year’s costs by selling extra equipment (~$6k)
I also had some executional Goals:

1 - Focus on Frugality / Minimalism / Home 5S (organization) -- DONE FAIRLY WELL

2 - Make a living will and asset list -- NOT DONE
While I didn’t get my living will / asset list done, I did learn a fair amount about investing and made some decisions. I’ll be able to do the will and stuff this year.
Here’s a comparison of my average monthly spending during the first and second half of the year. I moved and stopped spending on cycling stuff by the end of the first half of the year.





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2012 GOALS - FINANCIAL

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1 - Save over 75% of income. This would increase my net worth from $130k to $180k (
My 2012 spending expectation is just under $14,000. If I can stick to that, I’ll save something like 77%. I believe this is a reasonable goal. A big stretch goal might be to break $12,000 spending, which would put my savings over 80%. I don’t expect this to happen though.
These calculations are done assuming that I will not get a bonus from work for 2011 (which comes in spring 2012). We’ve gotten a bonus the last three years but this time we didn’t meet our company-wide goals, and so we’re not supposed to get much or any bonus.
Expected Capital at end of 2012:

After Tax Savings: $60,000

401k: $97,000

Pension: ~$22,000

TOTAL: $180,000
I made big spending reductions in 2011. For 2012 I will work on making smaller improvements - things like Food, entertainment, etc. This chart shows my average monthly spending during the last half of 2011, and the black lines are my expected spending for 2012 in each category.





So it won’t be a cakewalk. The biggest challenge might be the entertainment category. Most of the decrease is because I took cell phone cost out of most of the year because I’m expecting to get an iPhone from work.
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2012 GOALS - OTHER

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1 - Transition to hobbies that are cheap or profitable

2 - Make significant progress on skill development

3 - Further home organization / minimalism

4 - Good execution on fitness/health (exercise, rest, nutrition)

5 - Create a will and asset list (carryover from last year)
More details to come soon on some of these (#1,2, and 4).
I've really liked doing this journal. Writing things out helps me to reflect more and plan better than I would otherwise.


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C40
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Post by C40 »

Whoops - a couple notes about the totals shown:
- The GROSS INCOME is after 401k deductions. (which were around $10k, plus another $4-5k employer match.)
- The NET INCOME does not include 401k money either.


ExpatERE
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Post by ExpatERE »

First: You've got mad skills when it comes to those charts.

Second: Nice progress on your savings and networth from 2010-2011

Third: Wish you the best in 2012

Fourth: Thanks for writing such a detailed account. I enjoyed reading it.


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C40
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Post by C40 »

Thanks Expat.
Today I repaired 2 pairs of high-end headphones. They've both been sitting in my closet broken for a few years. I figured out that they were probably shorted at the jacks and ordered a couple from Radioshack ($4 each).
One hour worth of time and $10 worth of jacks and I made $300 worth of broken headphones as good as new. Yeah!! They're so much better than the $20 crap headphones I've been using since they broke.
This was all very easy. The troubleshooting, parts ordering, and repair took me MUCH less time than I would've spent researching which pair of new high-end headphones to buy. And then there's the money... I WIN!







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Post by C40 »

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DETAILS ON 2012 GOALS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
My financial goal is to save 75% of income. My other goals are:

Transition to hobbies that are cheap or profitable
Make significant progress on skill development
Further home organization / minimalism
Good execution on fitness/health (exercise, nutrition, rest)
Create a will and asset list (carryover from last year)

Here are some details on some of them...
1 - HOBBIES - Cheap or profitable
Want to explore these:

Making shirt designs and selling on Cafepress & Redbubble (in progress)
Read more
Work at a local CSA farm in exchange for food (because I have no hard for garden)
Sell stock photos ?
Create Apps (either Android or iOS)

2 - SKILLS / KNOWLEDGE - Develop skills and knowledge
more on this in another post - I made up a long list of things I want to learn
3 - HOME ORGANIZATION / MINIMALISM
Pretty simple. I have extra stuff that I don’t need so I’m going through and getting rid of stuff. Sometimes it comes to deciding whether it’s worth keeping an extra item around to wait until the primary fails (to prevent buying another), or to get rid of it. I’d like to be able to fit my stuff into an efficiency/studio apartment, so I need to get rid of more stuff. I also work to make everything easier to find/clean/use.
4 - FITNESS / HEALTH
After becoming what most consider scrawny from bike racing the last few years, I’m going to strength train a significant amount and get stronger and a bit bigger.
GOALS:

Bent Leg Deadlift - 225# x 20 reps
20 chin ups
Less than 10% bodyfat. (150-155lbs bodyweight)

I probably won’t be able to get the deadlifts that far in 2012, but I should be able to pass 200x20. Once I do get to 225#x20 I'll probably weigh around 160.
I’m working to improve my diet. I’ve been reading a bit on what people call the Paleo Diet: eating only fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. (no grains, beans, legumes, sugar, dairy, etc...) I also want to learn more about “Raw” diets..
5 - WILL / ASSET LIST
I’ve been figuring I need to do this to make sure the capital I’m building up will get distributed in the way I want if I die soon, and to make sure my family could easily find out about where I have my assets. I’ll also want to include wishes about what to do with my body - I don’t want my remains sealed up and buried in an expensive casket. After seeing the “How Doctors Die” thread, I realize now that I should consider those kind of potential situations and record my wishes or take the legal steps needed to ensure they happen.
-----------------------------
I think I may start keeping some time of daily execution journal. I remember reading about Benjamin Franklin doing something like this using his list of his Thirteen Vitues . To sort of test this out I jotted down a few important things and have been keeping track each day whether I accomplish them. Right now they are:

Sleep enough
Read (~60 minutes)
Exercise (30-60+ minutes)
Eat well
No spending / live frugally
Do something productive
Treat people well
Interact with people outside of work

For each day I count every item as one point, and add up the points for that day.. so far 4 is a poor/lazy day and 5-6 is probably a pretty good day. There are others I might want to add (such as “home is clean”). This isn’t too far from some of the normal stuff I recorded while training for bike racing (hours of sleep, lying and standing heart rate, weight, diet quality)
Has anyone else tried something like this? Any use?


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C40
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Post by C40 »

And last one of these cheesy yearly posts...
Here’s a quick list of things I want to learn more about. Aimed mostly at skills but also includes general knowledge items. Obviously I cannot learn about all of these things in one year...
GARDENING / FARMING / PERMACULTURE

Growing produce
Composting
Rainwater capture/use
Chicken care (+ Other animals)

HOME MAINTENANCE / CONSTRUCTION

Basic construction
Plumbing
Electrical
Increase car maintenance knowledge
Motorcycle maintenance / restoration

OUTDOORS

Survival
Fishing
Hunting, trapping
Navigation

COMPUTER

Photo editing (improve)
Graphic Design on software (improve)
Basic programming (for things like mobile app’s)

HOME

Cooking (Improve)
Various efficiency improvements
Organizational improvements

FINANCIAL

Retirement account laws ( 72(t), IRA, Roth IRA, 401k)
Taxes and avoidance
Investing
Stocks
Bonds
Metals
Real Estate
Other (Currency, commodities, ???)

HISTORY

Successful civilizations (Roman, Greek, etc...)
South American History
General history

OTHERS

Improve English (vocabulary, grammar)
Learn spanish
Learn more about central & south American culture (would I like to live there?)
Become more familiar with other cultures/ethnicities
Become more familiar with laws and how to look up laws, codes, etc.
Learn more about various technologies
Learn more about body language / reading people (particularly females.. I seem to be better at forming quick and accurate gut feelings about males than females)
Learn more about sustainability and green living
Better understanding of chemistry - application in everyday life situations
Think more seriously about whether I want to have children or not
Learn more about the ecological differences of various regions. (get a better idea of where I’d like to live)

SOCIAL

Get more used to forming adult friendships
Get more used to being in serious relationships
Get better at building social capital relationships


George the original one
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Post by George the original one »

> Get more used to being in serious relationships
I had a fear of being hurt when it came to relationships, so I had to learn to give love freely and not worry about whether it was reciprocated, avoiding the selfish possessiveness. This went hand-in-hand with overcoming shyness.


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Post by Spartan_Warrior »

C40: I have to ask--why the 20-rep deadlifts? For strength purposes I think a deadlift would be best performed in 5 rep sets and might even be dangerous done in high reps as form will start to break down and risk your lower back more than necessary.
Also, re: keeping track of day-to-day chores and such. I'm starting to do this for this year as well. I've actually gone as far as to develop a plan in Microsoft Project with recurring tasks for cleaning bathrooms and everything. I also put together a list of all the skills and goals I have for 2012 and have set up actionable deadlines and milestones for each resolution. So far I feel good about it, and I'm making good progress on my goals. I agree that it's no different from a work-out log and I'm actually tracking some of it (like whether I read the night before) on my work out logs.


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Post by C40 »

George - I could probably stand to improve on every item you listed. Care you elaborate or touch on how you learned or made those changes?
Spartan - I got into 20-rep squats and deadlifts from reading Stuart McRobert's book. McRobert and bunch of other guys say that they work better for building strength. The assertion by some people that low reps are for strength and high are for toning or something - that's not accurate - at least not for big compound lifts like squats or deadlifts.
I started doing 20 rep squats about 8 years ago and had very good results. The main reason that I prefer 20 reps is is because it is much more mentally challenging, and I like that a lot. They are very intense. They are much more fun. I like deadlifts better than the squats because they work more muscle groups. And I much prefer a trap bar over a straight barbell, but my current gym doesn't have one. I have also done 5-8 rep deadlifting with good results as well. I think I was doing that at a time when I wanted to lift pretty hard but had a lot of other stuff on my mind (women) so I didn't want to worry about the mental focus.
I don't think my form is any more likely to break down during a 20 rep set going to near failure than it would be doing any rep count to near failure. I'm also very careful about my form and after an extended break from lifting, I spend about a month getting used to the form again.
That sounds good on the day-to-day stuff... I have actually considered doing sort of a cleaning schedule at home for certain stuff like the bathroom, but haven't ever bothered yet. Now I don't have to feel strange or anal for having a daily checklist!


Spartan_Warrior
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Post by Spartan_Warrior »

Sounds good. Yeah, I've done 20-rep squats before and definitely agree on the focus needed. Once I got up to 200 lbs or so I felt like I was losing the form in the final reps and not lifting as much as I could so went back to 5 rep sets. Now that I think about it, 20-rep deadlifts are probably safer than squats since you at least get a chance to reset any form issues at the bottom. Now I might have to try this myself.
My goal now is to get back to my personal records of 250x5 squat, 180x5 bench, 125x5 press, and 300x5 deadlift by June then switch to a higher volume routine with some aerobic qualities and get ripped for the summer. I haven't lifted in a while due to an injury last summer (car accident), then finding out I have radon in the basement at my new house and having to fix that, so I'm finally easing back into it. Best of luck!


George the original one
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Post by George the original one »

@C40 - Shyness... well, it's not totally gone, not by a long shot, but getting comfortable with one's public presence was a big help. So visiting a nude beach took care of that. Yeah, that's a little over-the-top for most people, but it worked for me.
Relationships... for me to feel comfortable about potential partners, the friendship has to be there. Good friends don't turn vicious on you unless there are some bizarre circumstances. Many people seem to turn their serious relationships into competitions or grudge matches.
On top of that, at some point you realize that just because you're not dating a particular person (maybe they moved away, maybe they're just not ready for a commitment) doesn't mean your feelings for them have been erased. And yet you can find someone new to care for... those new feelings should be complementary rather than competitive. Both sets of feelings can coexist, you just take care of the one that's present. And if you can have coexisting feelings, then it's okay for others to do so, too. Their actions will reveal whether you're a match or not.
I find I click *immediately* with the right kind of women. They always turn out to be literate, life-long learners, but may have attended the school of hard knocks rather than a college (college would be my first choice). If I'm not clicking, then I'm in the wrong crowd. The problem of getting together was usually one of timing... are they available, am I available, are they looking for commitment?
My wife and I have only been married a decade, but we met in 1984 in college. Our friendship continued, we dated in 1987-89 timeframe, but she wasn't ready for commitment, so we stayed friends while dating others and sometimes each other when the stars aligned. Then in 1999 I took her on a trip and she moved in a couple months later. We married in 2001 when the tax laws became favorable, but we already felt married earlier.


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Post by C40 »

Thanks George.
And for today, some pictures. (Because there just aren't enough pictures on the forum)
Last weekend I got pretty close to having my fridge organizing/setup complete:



- The Vitamix I ordered about a month ago is working great. If you've ever wondered how much power it takes to blend the fuck out of something, 1,380 watts is enough. I've been blending up and drinking all kinds of fruit and vegetables, and enjoying it immensely. I used to really love drinking the Odwalla or Naked juice, but it was terribly expensive ($8 for half a gallon). I haven't done the math, but I'd guess the stuff I make costs me 10-25% as much. And it's not pasteurized!
- I wanted to focus on my diet this year and I have been doing so. I think I originally had the goal of reducing my food spending, but after thinking about it more and doing some reading, I've decided it's probably worth spending a little bit more to eat what I believe is very good for me: Tons of fruit and vegetables and a moderate amount of meat and eggs. So I'm eating almost entirely what most currently call a Paleo diet. It wasn't a big change for me, the primary difference being that I was previously eating a significant amount of rice and beans, and some cheese.
And some more pictures... I've been thinking more and more lately about a house / real estate. My thoughts are divided between before and after retirement - thinking before of buying one of the smallest houses in town I can find - something like this (and then filling up the back yard with a garden and chickens)



And the other half of the time I fantasize about building something a bit like this, out in the boonies:

































And using one of these bad boys for when I need to go into town:






ExpatERE
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Post by ExpatERE »

"If you've ever wondered how much power it takes to blend the fuck out of something, 1,380 watts is enough"
I think this might make a great ad! You should contact Vitamix and see if you guys can work something out :-)
I like option two on the housing. I'm thinking the same...


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Post by C40 »

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JANUARY 2012
--------------------------------------
INCOME:

Take home pay: $3,086

Extra Income: $91

Sales: $39

401k Contribution: $1,644
SPENDING:

Home Expenses: $570

Food: $318

Transportation: $178

Entertainment: $137

Cycling: $0

Other: $-125
ERE PROGRESS:

Income: $3,216

Spending: $1,078

Put in after-tax Savings: $2,500

401k Contributions: $1,644

Savings rate: 80%
INVESTMENT INCOME:

Interest on 401k: $4,250

Interest on Savings: $1,177
Special spending:

Protein Powder: $95 (~year supply)

Car insurance, 6 months: $141

Birthday Gifts received: $125 cash
Pretty good month. Investments went up a bunch.
Read some books:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Kiyosaki
How to win friends and influence people (not quite done)
The Beauty Detox Solution - Snyder (came with Vitamix blender)
The Paleo Diet for Athletes - Cordain, Friel
Automatic Millionaire Homeowner - Bach

I wanted to setup work at a CSA farm this year in exchange for food (and learning). I spoke to the farmer, but he said he doesn’t do that anymore after too many people were flaking out. So my gardening adventures will have to wait until I have a yard I can use, or will be limited greatly to what I do in pots indoors. I did find myself wondering if it would be possible to find someone in town who would let me tend a garden in their yard. There are a lot of old people here so there might be some willing to let me garden in their yard as long as I give them some of the food. I don’t know a lot of people in town so finding the right person would be the hard part. So for now I’m going to grow some spinach indoors. Planted a few seeds today, we’ll see how that goes.
I’ve been thinking more about homes and real estate. There’s a small house for sale a block from where I live. It’s been for sale for quite a while, at $70,000. I might go look at it and give them a low-ball offer. I want to learn about finding and buying foreclosed homes. After a couple of the books I read this month, and seeing examples like this MMM thread it seems that this is good stuff to know about.
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CHARTS

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George the original one
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Post by George the original one »

Holy crap... in a year you managed to go from 3 years saved expenses to 9 years' worth! Doesn't look like you're slowing down, either. As good as the real estate market is for buyers right now, you might be better off by just continuing what you're doing for another year before delving into real estate.


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Post by C40 »

Yep it was a pretty good year. I think as with most folks who are relatively new to ERE and already have some savings - when looking at net worth in years of expenses, the number shoots up as you reduce your spending.
In 2011 my net worth went from $80k to $130k, and my spending went down from ~$2,000 per month to ~$1,250. A 60% increase in savings and a 40% reduction in spending does nice things for your numbers. :-)
My chart for Net worth in years of spending uses my total savings divided by my average spending over the last six months. My spending went down halfway through the year, thus the big rise for the next six months as the 6-month average dropped. At the end of 2012, I expect to have 12-13 years of expenses.
On the real estate purchase, I have a lot to learn before pulling any trigger, and that alone will probably delay any purchase for some time. It would wipe out my non-401k savings. If I make a good choice/get a good deal, and increase the home value, it could pay off the next time I move for work. I'd consider my time spent improving the home a hobby -- one of those good kind of hobbies I'm trying to pick up
I will probably end up waiting a while through - about a year or more. Or maybe I'll just wait until the next time I move for work.. (I don't know when that will actually be... it might just be 1-2 years from now). For now, my apartment now is only $500/month so it's not like I'm losing big by not buying a home.. (but I just might be keeping myself from a big win)


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Post by C40 »

---------------------------------------
FEBRUARY 2012
--------------------------------------
INCOME: $4,906

Take home pay: $3,576

Extra Income: $346

Sales: $29

401k Contribution: $984
SPENDING: $963

Home Expenses: $529

Food: $283

Entertainment: $113

Transportation: $38

Cycling: $0

Other: $0
INVESTMENT GAINS: $708

401k: $557

Savings: $151
ERE PROGRESS:

Savings rate: ~75% *

Net worth increase: $4,318

Years of expenses: 9.5 years

Years of expenses at 3%APR: 12.5 years
No special spending this month. Finally got my expenses under $1,000. YEAH!! My food is high because I’ve been eating almost only vegetables, fruit, chicken, and eggs. I was already eating a lot of this before, but also a lot of of rice and beans, and some oatmeal. The $346 extra income is T-shirt sales from Redbubble for January and from Cafepress for December and January. So far I'm at a bit over $200 per month. The sales of my designs so far will taper off over time so I plan to make more.
March will be a big month on income because I'll get three paychecks instead of the usual 2. I also got my yearly bonus, which was about half as much as last year. I'm planning on dumping money into a Roth IRA. Hoping I can put in two year's worth ($5k for 2011 and $5k for 2012) right now... not sure if you can do that for a Roth.
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STRENGTH TRAINING

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Making nice gains so far.

Chins - bodyweight only x 17
Overhead Press - 90lbs x 8
Bent-Leg Deadlift - 170lbs x 19

My grip is limiting on the deadlift. Working on improving it by doing extra grip/hand strength training after deadlifting.
Baselines back in October were:

Chins: 13
OHP: 80lbs x 6
BLDL: ~140lbs x 20

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CELL PHONE

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Got a phone from work and cancelled my service. Had a $65 ETF, and after this I’ll have a $75/month cost drop off.
At work, the whole management team got phones as well. People look at them at times in meetings. Some of it is checking our emails and schedule (work stuff)... Of course, we also use the phones for non-work stuff. During the unimportant parts of some meetings I’ll check how much money I’ve made that day from investments and side hobbies. Today I realized what some of my coworkers do with their phones for their non-work use. It’s playing Words with Friends. (Scrabble).... I think it’s kind of funny knowing they are playing games while I’m doing something a little bit different.
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TAXES

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Did my taxes. Totals for 2011:
Gross Income: $82,000

Spending: $23,411

Taxes: $20,936 (not counting sales tax)
Without the Payroll Tax Holiday my taxes would've been about $22.5k. In 2012 my taxes will be more than $5k above my (other) spending. Something about that just doesn’t feel right. Not sure whether to consider it that I am over-paying for services, or that I’m pre-paying for future services (since my taxes may be much lower in the future)
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VACATION PLANNING

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I'm starting to think about what to do during my work vacation time. I spent the last few years using most of it for bicycle racing or long training days. I’m not interested in doing something expensive. Some options:
Go where friends or family live (California, Portland, Colorado, NY/Toronto, etc.)

Go on a trip along with a number of friends

South America, if I can get a cheap flight?
I would like to go bicycle touring but I sold my touring bike a year ago and don’t want to buy a new one at this moment. I’ve been thinking about going hiking instead. Maybe part of the appalachian trail.
There’s a park near where I live with some trails long enough for multi-day hiking, so I think I’ll try it out there first.
Anyone have other ideas?
At this point I’m more interested in doing fun/adventurous things rather than going to certain places (other than South America, mainly for the purpose of exploring whether I might like to live there). I think I’ll make a list of potential flight destinations and start trying to see if/how I can get cheap flights there.
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jacob
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Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
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Post by jacob »

Hey, if you promise not to thrash it, you can borrow my touring bike. It's a 21" converted MTB (Trek 800, steel frame) with butterfly handlebars and Jandd racks. It doesn't have lights or fenders though.
Dunno if it's your size, but as far as I remember, it just might be.


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C40
Posts: 2748
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:30 am

Post by C40 »

Thanks for the offer Jacob. If the bike touring idea grows on me I might check if it would fit me. I don't know MTB frame sizing, but I think that might be a tad big for me, but maybe still workable...
I'd probably buy a touring bike if I decide to get serious about it. Heck, maybe I could buy my old touring bike back from the guy I sold it to. When he bought it he was sure that it fit him ok, but I thought it was too big for him,.. maybe he's also figured that out now.


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