Equipment - Free Aero Wheels in 52 Weeks

Just paypal me $500 and I'll give you a secret method for getting free aero wheels. Sell the first pair for $500 and the next set will be free.

Not.

I read this recently: Starbucks announces $3.95 "value meals"

This bit of news rekindled a long dormant post for me. Let me tell you a (short) story about coffee.

I recently started taking coffee to work in a nice, stainless steel thermos. It's a tough and durable one - I've been using it on and off for maybe 10 years, usually at Bethel. It holds about 6 cups of coffee, or three mugs' worth. I sip a half cup or so at a time and the coffee is surprisingly hot even 5 hours into the day. A $2.50 bag lasts a while, so much so that I consider it almost free, especially compared to the $2-4 cups of coffee I could buy down the road from where I work.

I also started bringing to work bits and pieces of leftovers, fruit, and other things I normally don't eat. If I feel a twinge of hunger, I munch on whatever I brought to work. I'll also start off the day with a few slices of bread with peanut butter and such, something with protein, filling, easy, prevent me from buying food when I'm hungry.

You may see where this is leading.

Instead of spending $4 a day on a breakfast "value meal" (initially this post was simply on not spending $4 on a coffee), spend nothing. Spend 4 extra minutes making coffee (two batches for our 4 cup pot), wolf down some PB&J slices, and go to work with some yogurt or something healthy and snacky.

And when everyone goes out to get coffee, pass on the offer to join them. Or, if you need to go for political/social reasons, go but don't buy anything. Those $4 meals end up costing more anyway as you give into hunger temptation. I know, I loaded up with about $20 of food before getting on my flight the other day - soda, water, trail mixes - and all I wanted was a bottle of water.

Whatever. Don't buy anything. When you get back (or when you say, "No, I can't go, I have to finish so-and-so's account"), stick $4 in your "Carbon fiber wheel jar". And take another drink from your thermos.

Ask for a sticker from your target wheel company so you can put it on your thermos. Remember why you're not buying a $4 coffee everytime you think about it.

Toss in extra money when you can. Someone give you some extra dough in change? Toss it in there. A little present, gift Visa card? Into the CF Wheel Jar.

After 50 weeks of this (2 weeks vacation), you'll have $1000. Add 2 more weeks for shipping and such. $1040. That should get you a pair of nice, tall profile, functional and cool looking carbon fiber wheels.

While I may not be technically correct (those $1k wheelsets cost about $1100 with all the shipping and stuff), it'll be close enough to being enough. You could get, for example, the Williams 58mm clincher for $999, and they sometimes offer free shipping.

You could always go used too. I got my DV46Cs for $955, with two Ti cassettes, two new tires, two latex tubes, and even a pair of wheel bags.

Look, it may seem like a long time, a year. But unless you're on a fast track to turning pro (and if you are, you're not worried about getting enough gear), you have plenty of time. A year or three, it doesn't matter when you're in the sport to have fun.

And although they may not make you race that much better, aero wheels are just plain cool. And pro looking. And fun.

Worth a little sacrifice, no?