No chance to say good-bye!

You know those moments in life when routine events become extraordinary (or at least blog worthy)? I had just such an event yesterday.  On Sunday, I dropped Paolo, my road bike, at NorCal Bike Sport for a simple tune up.  I also mentioned there was a little noise coming from the bottom bracket.  Yesterday, I got the call that I would never ride my dear Paolo again.

Here’s the story!  As they pulled the bottom bracket to find the noise, they discovered the aluminum threads on one side had basically disintegrated.  Apparently, these are fused into the carbon frame so they cannot be replaced.  The bottom line is that there is no way to attach the crank, and therefore pedals, to the bike.  You don’t' have to be a pro cyclists to know that the pedals are kind of important.

Of course, as they are explaining this all to me I’m thinking, “Shit! Now I have to buy a new bike!!!”  But wait!  They had already called Specialized and everyone agreed this was a manufacturer’s defect, which is covered for the life of the frame.  So, there is a brand new 2011 frame and fork on its way.  Sadly, my old fork and frame are already in a box and on their way to Specialized.  I never even got to say good-bye.

I’m not usually overly sentimental but I had some great times on that bike.  Since I bought it at NorCal back in July 2005, I’ve logged just over 21,000 miles of saddle time with Paolo.  It’s the bike I rode in both of the Levi Leipheimer’s King Ridge Gran Fondo events.  It took me to the top of Mt Palomar in SoCal.  He was an awesome partner as I trained for the Terrible Two (a two hundred mile ride with 16,000 feet of climbing). 

We took many, many road trips together.  Perhaps the greatest road trip in the history of road trips was when we went to Colorado to ride the 3-day Courage Classic and through in the climb up Mt Evans for fun.  However, there were also shorter trips to San Diego, Solvang, Lake Tahoe, the central Sierra Mountains and Yosemite.  Yes, Paolo was well traveled.  He also helped me prepare for my greatest cycling adventure – riding Mt Ventoux in France.

I still remember buying Paolo.  I spent months doing research.  You see, while Paolo wasn’t the most expensive bike on the market, it was more then I had ever paid.  It was during this time that Coach Tim gave me my I “heart” bike porn cycling socks due to the late nights hunched over the laptop and fantasizing about bikes.  Finally, I narrowed my search down between the Specialized Roubaix Elite and a Trek.  I went down to NorCal, for the hundredth time, to make my final decision.  I test rode the Specialized first.  I never got on the Trek.

I loved that bike from the minute I first climbed in the saddle.  It was just as awesome then as it was last Sunday when I rode it, unknowingly for the last time, with some friends. It was a great companion to this weekend warrior.

Still, although it’s fun to reminisce, you can’t dwell on the past.  I mean, in essence I have a brand new bike on the way.  I can’t wait to see what adventures we have in the years to come.  If it’s anything like the last six years, it’s going to be awesome.

Now, I just need to come up with a new name . . .

Ciao!