OK, cool. The last time I got a phone that wasn't a cheapo $20 on a pay-as-you-go phone, it was probably 6 years ago and no US carriers to my knowledge used SIM cards back then.
Still way more than I want to pay for a phone (even when I had a 300 minute plan, I never exceeded 8 minutes a month, so now I use a $5/month no-plan phone) but for this purpose it might not be too bad.
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Work: the 8 hours that separates bike rides.