RoboRanch

stephen | April 18, 2005 (11:45 PM)

The New Obsession

Every time I see my 15 year old Trek 7000 mountain bike in the garage, I get the urge to go for a ride, but the frame is rusted, the tire treads bare, and the gears are stripped. If I were to try riding it, the gel saddle would be more like riding a set of bleachers off-road and the rubber on the handlebars would melt and permanently disfigure to my hands. I really should scrap it, but I was brought up riding a bike everywhere and I need to have a bike. Even if I can't ride it.

Of course, now I actually do want to ride. And that requires a new bike.

Initially I though I would get a hybrid to primarily commute to work and on occasion tool around town. But the more I think about it, I'd prefer to get a road bike and do some touring. Take some trips between 20 and 100 miles around the area. Eventually, I'd even like to do an all day across the state trip.

I've never had a road bike though and I'm apprehensive about the drop bars. I tried riding my dad's 10 speed back when I was a tween and remember being terrified about trying to shift or brake. That was back when the shifters were down on the frame and I needed to take my hands off the handlebars to shift. I also had to ride up hill both ways against 30 mph winds with dogs chasing me.

Cannondale R500

So, I've been obsessing about getting a bike for the past week, checking online about hardware and routes. At the moment, I'm most interested in the Cannondale R500. It fits at the top of my budget and it's got all the specs that I'm looking for. More importantly though, it looks hella cool. A sweet looking bike is essential to diverting onlookers from my boney ass in tights.

If you've got a bicycle suggestion for me or want to share some advise, speak up. I'm probably going to act within the next week and I'd like to be as informed as possible before I walk into the bike shop.

Update: It snowed on the weekend I was going to test bikes, so I'll have to wait another week. I haven't talked myself out of doing it yet, so I must really want to do this. Thanks for all the advice so far.


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Date Events Location
2/10 swim meet Brighton
2/17 swim meet Grand Haven
3/2 swim meet West Bloomfield
3/16 swim meet Milford
3/30 YMCA Indoor Tri Ann Arbor
4/5 10k Martian Meteor
4/18 - 4/20 1650 free,
1000 free,
500 free,
200 free,
100 free,
200 IM,
100 IM
State meet @ EMU
5/4 10k Burns Park Run
6/1 Half Mary Dexter/A2
6/8 Sprint A2 Tri
7/13 Sprint Waterloo
8/2 Half IM Steelhead