I'm just going to put my intro post here, since I have a for trade at the end. My name's T.J. and I used to care very little about my health - I weighed 520lbs 23 months ago. I won't bore you with the emotional changes involved, but I had gastric bypass after losing 100lbs in 12 months. My GB was on 8/13/10, and I'm down to 235-245 from 428.5 on the date of surgery. I realize that GB was drastic, but it was a necessary decision in my case. I've been cycling off and on for about 5 months now - my grandparents bought me a Walmart tank to surprise me for all that I had accomplished at my 6 month "surgiversary."

So, I'm at an impasse: I've been tracking 2.2, 2.4, 2.5 miles everyday on my walmart mountain bike on uphill/downhill roads where I live everyday, and I'm really enjoying it. I'm looking to upgrade to some kind of an entry level road bike that will fit my support needs. I have some sound equipment for sale (JL audio stealth box and memphis amp from my Scion XB I sold ) that I would be willing to trade evenly for a bike. I've also thought about trying to find a guide and buying parts one at a time because that's so much more rewarding, but I'm not sure if I would stick with it if I did that and it took me six months. I just got married three weeks ago and biking has been my main destressor (we both went back to work almost immediately) since then.

Thanks for reading my long-winded post and I'd love to hear some people's thoughts on this. Like I said, I don't know very much about bikes or cycling (nothing at all, really - just what I've gleaned from my experience and reading here).

T.J.