How to pick out a bike to ride:
1. Acquire ANY bike. Ride it wherever and however you like. Where and how you really ride is important.
2. During or after every ride, make a mental list of what you like and what you don't like about your bike. Color matters, price matters. Anything that you think might matter, matters to you so it counts.
3. When you start looking for your next bike, try to maximize the things in your like column and minimize the things in your don't like column.
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My greatest fear is all of my kids standing around my coffin and talking about "how sensible" dad was.