When I moved from Boston to Michigan in the summer of 1990 to work for Ford, I was actively training and racing road bikes. But I discovered that, in Michigan, the roads are boring, and the drivers less tolerant of cyclists. So in 1991 or 1992, I went out and bought a Trek 930 mountain bike. That was the last bike I bought, 32 years ago.

I did a LOT of training and racing back then, and, even though I didn’t race the full season, I placed 8th in points one year. I was riding multiple times a week, all over southeast Michigan. At the time, Michigan was known as the 3rd best state for mountain biking, after Colorado and California. This was mostly due to the Michigan Mountain Biking Association, which spent a great deal of effort building and maintaining trails.

Then I got married and had kids, but Cyndi also got into mountain biking. In fact, I believe we bought our bikes together, before we got married. Cyndi enjoyed it so much that a few years later, she upgraded from her basic bike to a front suspension bike. But eventually, we started to run out of time for biking, and hung them up.

A few of years ago, I rode once with a friend of mine on a new, but relatively flat trail. I was really out of shape, and the ride didn’t inspire me to resume the sport. But now that I’m retired, I thought about it again, and two weeks ago, went back to one of my favorite technical trails. WOW, I had forgotten how much fun this was! Still not in good shape, but better than I thought, first time on that trail took nearly an hour. A few days later, I cut that time down to maybe 45 minutes, and this week, cut it down to only 35. I was definitely hooked again, but it was finally time to look at a new bike.

My old Trek 930 racing bike has a steel frame, Trek’s best at the time, but it has no suspension. In its day, it was awesome. But one of the shifters had finally broken, which I replaced, then the other shifter began to have trouble. But the real motivation was that, at my age, riding a steel non-suspension bike is a little more hard core than I want to put up with anymore. So, I did my research, test rode 3 bikes at 3 different stores, and bought one today.

Holy Cow, has the technology changed in 32 years! Here’s a list of stuff that this new bike has, compared to the old one:

• Aluminum frame(old was steel)
• RockShox Judy SL 100mm travel front fork(old was fixed fork). This should make a dramatic difference in ride, and is adjustable. I can even lock it out while riding.
• Hydraulic disc brakes(old was V-brakes gripping the rims)
• single front chainring(old was 3-ring, which mathematically made for 21-speeds, but you couldn’t use all of them)
• 12-speed rear cassette(old was 7-speed cassette), which, in conjunction with single front chain ring means only one shifter, which is simpler and faster
• 27.5″ rims(old was 26″), which means it’s easier to roll over obstructions, especially tree roots
• tubeless tires(old used an inner tube), which means I can run really low tire pressures without puncturing the inner tube
• 720mm wide handle bars(old was 584mm, significantly shorter). This I DON’T like, but I will try it before trimming them shorter. The trails around here are narrow enough that I think I will snag a few saplings. We’ll see…
• Shimano Deore XT drivetrain(old was Shimano Altus, 32 years out of date). Deore XT is second to top of the line
• 28.5 lbs(old was 29.5 lbs). On the test ride, it feels lighter than that, but the trail will be the proof of the pudding
• Wheel base is 2cm longer than the old one, which should make the bike less twitchy on descents while still being nimble on singletrack.

Out with the old

In with the new