Thanks for the tips, guys! And I agree about the components, Livia, they're what I was thinking about before fit, which I realized was stupid especially since this is my first bike and I won't be able to recognize the incremental difference the components make in the way an experienced rider would. I haven't found the less savvy gearing mechanism of the 1000 to be frustrating or inconvenient yet, which is what I understand to be the main difference between the starter-type bike of the 1000 and the little-more-serious 1200 and its gearing mechanism.

I went to a spinning class tonight and was disgruntled with the experience. Aside from feeling like I was cheating on my new bike (which has yet to be named; when the right moniker comes to me, I'll just know it), the spinning bike didn't have nearly the same comfort as mine, which was finely-tuned for me by an expert, and bike time has come to be alone time for me so I felt strangely naked biking with other people again, feeling like they could all read the stripped emotions and thoughts I was sure were obvious on my face. And yes, we're definitely going to have to find some time (and place!) to ride together again now that I'll have properly working brakes and a bike that's not older than I am :)

So, I was really sad earlier tonight while blogger was down for repairs and I wrote this (below), which I feel slightly uncomfortable posting but which I'm going to post anyway to force myself to be accountable for my emotions. I don't want to let myself pretend like being sad sometimes doesn't matter because the emotion passes and the smile returns, because I should value my sorrow and what it helps me learn about myself just as much as I revel in my joys. So, against my own better judgement,

I want to know your lips approaching mine
with the promise that they’ll come again sometime
Will you tell me I’m beautiful and mean it?
Will you let me be sad and still wipe away my tears?

My life is at a distance, right now
if it felt more real the covers would be insurmountable
and I’d stay buried forever, cowering
so I keep my pain a more comfortable bit away

I just want to know that you care
but I want to feel okay with feeling sad and stepped on.
Then I cry a little bit
and suddenly life seems a little more manageable
and my resolve comes back and builds a little bit more of a wall.