Alas, the day of days has arrived. The best day of all days.....NEW BIKE DAY! As Ali-G(ravel) reported earlier, there was a new addition to the Hollywood Big Red "S" Stable of Bikes. While many of you might remember many recent reports or misreports of gossip linking myself to a plethora of misunderstood potential bicycle relationships.....this one is actually for real.
This has been a long and somewhat expensive "match making" process. About a year ago I departed from my dear beloved aluminum black Stumpjumper Hardtail and upgraded to a Carbon S-Works Stumpjumper Hardtail. Ride quality and raciness improved significantly.....but a mid-winter move to Colorado proved to spell an end to the long run of Hollywood Hardtails.
Spring sprung and the desire for a new bicycle blossomed. What would I do?? Luckily I work at one of the best bike shops in the United States and was blessed with countless opportunities to go on a seemingly endless streak of "blind dates".....ummm.....I mean demo bike rides. One of these "rides" involved a multi-day trip to Fruita,Colorado to ride any and all Specialized mountain bikes. Instantly, I was in love with a certain bike......the 2009 S-Works Stumpjumper. Ahhh. So fast, so efficient, so light, so burley, so trail worthy and soooo expensive. It had 2 brains, 120 mm of travel, was 24ish pounds, was carbon, and was..........black. Bad ass.
Well as all fairy tale love stories go, this tale had a cruel twist.
It was not our time just yet.
We had to date (ride) around.....we both needed to grow and find out what we needed in a relationship (bike) and grow up.
We could still be friends.......right?
In the meantime, I moved on from my Carbon Hardtail and landed a 2009 Specialized Epic. I thought we would last forever, but I had tasted perfection and could not shake my need....my desire....my lust for more. The Epic and I had a good run this summer.......but I do have to admit that I was less than faithful. I constantly snuck out to the trails with assorted other Specializeds, Yetis, and even a few Treks. Once I even rode a Giant. Yikes!!!
What was I thinking???
Well, obviously this story has to have a happy ending......right?......a Hollywood ending for sure???
Of course it does...Last week a window of opportunity opened up and my 2010 Specialized Stumpjumper Pro Carbon arrived. While this was not my original lust (the 2009 S-Works Model).....this new bike and I were a perfect match from the beginning. We had both grown, both evolved and both become more mature since our chance encounter in Fruita back in May. Me....a summer season of endless riding all over Colorado.......the Stumpjumper......a new redesigned suspension set up, 20mm of travel, stouter torsional stiffness, sexy blood-red accents, and 6 months same as cash financing!!!
Chapter one of this love story is in the books.........stay tuned.
On a related note............I heard from a friend that my Epic was recently seen on match.com.......ummmm I mean ebay.
I like my streak well-done
1 week ago
5 comments:
Egads, that's a smooth looking bike. But while the HamBergler gets squishier, Chef just purchased a hardtail Stumpy and Ben is shopping for a singlespeed. Hooray for new bikes!
Hum, is anyone else disturbed that Ali describes Brian's new bike as his child and then Brian switches the metaphor to make it his wife? Either way it's clear that bikes are an important part of the family.
Ali, didn't we have a wager on how long it took for Hollywood to go full bounce? I'm not sure what the timeframe was, but I think one of us owes the other some money, though I'm not sure who or how much.
Chef on a hardtail, eh? Nice. Any chance Ben's bike has big wheels? Even more important, will it have disc brakes.
I've got a "new-to-me" project that I'm going to have to get started with to keep up. Sounds like the family is multiplying! (With no overtones of lasciviousness, please.)
How can "the relationship be the only thing that matters?" This post is filled with as many accounts of infidelity as Greek Drama. Pirate, maybe Hollywood is a member of the House of Laius.
I repeat: what a whore.
Ben's eyeing a Rig, in a nod to BCC's big wheel pioneer, Pirate.
But with all of this Specialized product-placement, when do the rest of us start getting a discount?
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