You know you've moved to Flagstaff when...

Flagstaff is getting the better of me. Today I bought a $100 couch from a thrift store, thinking that my butt can't really tell the difference between this and any other couch. I'm no princess and the pea.

I had a similar mindset when I bought my first bike here in Flagstaff. I'm no Lance Armstrong, I thought as I handed over the $60 to my Craigslist dealer. This bike may have been  born at Wal-mart, but that doesn't make it a bad machine. After struggling with this bike for a week on the bike-ready streets of Flagstaff, I maintain that Wal-mart bikes are not bad machines, but this Wal-mart bike was not meant for me. I decided that I could do better.

I could do way better, in fact. I could tell that I was a becoming a bike snob. I am already a snob in many things: coffee, iced tea and chocolate. However, real bike snobbery is out of my budget by thousands of dollars, so I convinced myself to start with the basics: durable, lightweight parts, a frame that fits my body, and a local bike dealer who can recommend the right bike.

After settling for a couch that screams "grad student furniture," I pulled up to the bike shop, ready to buy a respectable bike. To my delight, the bike that best suited my needs was a handsome model with a brushed black finish. It has a 20 inch frame that fits me like a glove, quality wheels and an aura of badass.

Flagstaff is getting my priorities in order. I bought a bike that cost nearly four times as much as my couch. I hope the money ratio also applies to the time my body spends on these two items.