Thanks for all the replies and tips

My GT is about 7 years old, bought new in 05. Seems to be decent Shimano Acera components, i dont know a whole lot, but they shift smoothly, through all 21 speeds. Its the rapid fire shifters, i like them alot. The main issue is my suntour sussy fork, it's crap, but Im looking at converting to a rigid fork, i think "suspension corrected" is the right term. I notice some of my pedaling effort seems to get soaked up by the sussy fork, i find myself bobbing when im riding hard.

I picked up a water bottle, and some bar ends from wally mart, but they dont have anything else i need. The bar ends and water bottle work well though.....

I just looked around, and found a few websites like nashbar and performance bike, which seem to have decent prices for alot of stuff, maybe its because im so new to this, i fall into the "don't know the value" trap, like cycling shorts, "50 bucks for some spandex shorts????" type thing......well worth the price, i just dont know it.....

My LBS was very helpful, and I'd like to support him, but WOW its expensive to shop there......I think he carges like 59 bucks for a tune up.....(which I may need, still learning the mechanics of derailer adjustemnt, etc) does that seem reasonable?

I guess just like anything else, it's a learning curve....but I really enjoy getting out there and riding, i hope I can get my wife and kids into it. Ive already lost some weight, and i get mad when I cant go for my nightly ride lol