My response was mostly tongue in cheek. I've gotten so numb to the price of all things cycling that it takes a statement like that to bring me back to reality.

I bought two sets of Ultremo tires about 6 months before I started working here, so that was roughly $280 for 4 tires (late summer of 2008). Since then I do get to buy my tires at a very good price (a little below wholesale). Given the pay cut I had to take to work in the cycling industry, it's a small consolation. I've got a cutoff date set for myself for the move to this industry to pay off in some manner, at which point I may have to get back to the real (corporate) world. So many tradeoffs in life.