As a member of other forums online, I'll try and keep this brief, because I know how often these get read.
I haven't owned a bike since I've been a kid, but since moving to STL (St. Louis) in May and living near a paved trail (Grants Trail), and being bored out of my head, I decided I'd get a bike. In late June I posted an ad on Craigslist that said that I wanted to trade a bike for a set of speakers I had. I got a bite, and ended up with a pretty purple Peugeot Tourmalet. While purple would not be my first choice for a mens bike, I swallowed my pride and hit the trails. From late June until now I've put about 650-700 miles on the old bike, and lost a little weight.
And since road bikes aren't trail versatile, I had also been looking for a cheap (but respectable) Mtn Bike, so I could ride unpaved roads if I desired. After looking for months I came across a multiple bike ad on Craigslist and and buried in the details of the ad was a $25 Specialized Hardrock GX (1997-ish). I took ownership yesterday and began the process of ordering tires and tubes last night. Since this bike also isn't in as good condition as my road bike, and sensing questions coming on about replacement parts, I figured I'd look for a good bike forum. So here I am, and expect those questions.
I just realized that this may not be "brief" by some definitions of the word.