It’s a beautiful thing – me and my Trek! I keep my old Trek 1420 in Phoenix for when we visit and today “we” rode about 25 miles in the desert. While I certainly wouldn’t trade in my newer Trek 5200, I have such fond memories of this bike.
I bought it in 1993 as a present to myself for completing my master’s degree. At the time my right and left brains had quite the argument because the bike cost 4 figures and I was basically broke after seeing 2 daughter through college. My left brain argued that it was impractical and I should either keep my $ in my savings or put more in my retirement fund – sorry left brain, those invested $ would probably be worth less than this bike now! My right brain won out by telling me I deserved a top performing bike.
So I went to A&B Cycle and ordered exactly what I wanted – with the Shimano components, triple crank and clipless pedals. The true color name resembles something J. Crew would use but in reality, it’s a medium lavender and I wrapped the handlebars in lavender and white print. I think 1993 was the last year – in fact, it may have been the only year – that Trek has the bar-end shifters so it always takes me a few spins around the block to get used to using them again.
I know now that I need to listen more to my gut and follow my heart in some decisions – that’s how I bought that bike and that’s how I got Burl – two of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
