Gloves, helmet, and Camelbak thirded. I use the water bottle attached to my frame for rinsing rather than drinking.

I'd get a cyclometer too. Nice to know the stats from your efforts. My Cateye totally does the trick and was pretty cheap. Get riding!

 

http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/ is the greatest mb site ever.

PDX S2000 - be sure to budget maybe 25% extra for accessories. I was surprised how much all the "extra" stuff cost. Helmet. Gloves. Bike shoes. Clipless pedals. Camelback. Lock.

I'm a hardtail specialized stumpjumper rider

Used is an excellent option, as well as mail order once you've found the bike you want in the store.

 

Make sure you get a helmet and gloves. When I was riding regularly I ended up over my handlebars about once a session.

 

A lot of times you can score good deals on Craigslist. You can buy a bike for half of the new price and pay 100-200 to get it totally rebuilt and cleaned and tuned and you've saved money and got a sweet bike.

 

Yeah, or at least with Trek you can wait until the middle of summer when their new models are coming out and they discount the old ones big time. I saved about $650 on my road bike that way last year - it came out to be about what people were selling them for used on craigslist.

 

If you check Jensonusa.com they have good sales on bikes at this monent

 

Nice bike