Bike

Yesterday I lost an old friend—my first tri bike. Well, maybe ‘lost’ isn’t exactly the right word.

I decided to do my first triathlon back in 2003. Upon graduating from college, where I ran cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track, 3 seasons out of the year for four years, I was looking to do something fun and exciting that involved competition, getting in a workout, and, well, running- just not quite the same kind of running I’d been doing for the prior 4, really 9 years. It’s not that I didn’t still love running- I’d just qualified for and competed in the NCAAs for outdoor track the month prior, which had been my goal (dream) all throughout college. I just kind of realized that I’d probably never have the same opportunity that college running afforded me to be at my absolute best as a runner, and knew I probably wasn’t going to be setting any more personal records on the running front (at least not in the 5k and below distances). I wanted a NEW challenge. There was a sprint triathlon close to my parent’s home in Montauk, NY. Every year during high school and college I’d watch the cyclists ride past our driveway, and my passing thought was that it looked like fun. Two weeks out, I signed up (I think it cost about $85, which seemed SO EXPENSIVE at the time) and got geared up for the race. I’d done plenty of biking in my life, including biking trips as a child and teenager with my parents, and as I got older became pretty fond of spin classes as well. In addition, the year prior I had learned how to swim freestyle. I had running down. I was all set! Only problem was I didn’t have a wetsuit or a bike. My dad graciously worked on his old steel-frame bike to get it in good working order so I could do the race on it. I used an old surfing wetsuit for the swim which was far from hydrodynamic but got the job done!

I had a lot of fun in this first triathlon, but like all things tri-related tend to be, I wondered how much faster I could be if I had faster gear? I needed to get a modern bike (one that didn’t outdate me) that was fast and fit me well. After some hunting around I settled on this! 

I still remember my first ride with this bike, which was also my first ride with clipless pedals- I clipped in and promptly fell over. I’ve never been one to name my bikes, so we’ll just call it ‘Bike’. Bike and I were practically inseparable from the start. We had many long, short, and in between adventures together on the roads of Atlanta, in and around the DC metro area, and even some trips to races in Austin, TX and Long Island, NY. (Bike and I also got into a slight accident that caused me to lose 7 teeth, but since this post is about remembering Bike fondly, we won’t go into that). However, after about 5 years of fun adventures, I eventually outgrew Bike. I had started to get into triathlon more seriously and once again, wondered how good I could be at tri if I had comparable equipment to all the other fast athletes I saw out on the race course? Bikes had advanced quite a bit in the last 4-5 years. In December 2008, I decided to purchase a Cervelo P3 and I’m not sure I ever rode Bike again after that. He’s been living a fairly sedentary lifestyle in the house for the past 4 years. Eventually last year the idea dawned on me to sell Bike. But I didn’t. I took pictures for the online sale, but never posted them. This fall, I had thoughts of getting another road bike, but didn't want to own 5 bikes. As logic and practicality won over against sentimentality, I finally posted his photo on Craigslist to see if any would-be suitors would bite. I got several inquiries, but the first person who came by didn't like Bike enough to buy him. I can’t say that I was disappointed. The second person to come look at Bike really liked him. I could tell that Bike would get a lot of use with this person. In fact, this buyer brought his biking gear with him and planned to ride Bike home right then and there. I knew that Bike would have exciting new adventures and many miles on the roads with his new owner which would be a much better life for him than being cooped up in a house for months, or years, on end. I realized that Bike would be much better off this way. Still, as Bike’s purchaser handed me the money and readied him to be ridden home, I felt just a little bit sad. It felt like I was selling an old friend.

I can now say that I completely understand how some friends (not naming any names here…) end up with 14 or 20 bikes!