Wait wait, lets rewind back to sometime this last spring...and a funny happened. I laid eyes on the most beautiful bike I'd ever seen, standing inside Brown's Cycles in Downtown GJ. The price tag...$,$$$.$$ too high! I oogled and drooled and never ever let myself hop on. I said there was no way my next bike was going to be that expensive, so I took even the slightest hint of temptation away.
Zip forward a few months...I had sat on, bounced on, zoomed on, bumped over, peddled around on (and whatever else you can think of while on a test ride) just about two handfuls of mountain bikes with all sorts of specifications withing the cross country to freeride varieties. I had narrowed my choice down to three bikes. Then to two. Then to four...three...two...three. One day in July, I just had to know. I wandered back into Brown's and test rode THAT ONE beautiful bike. OMG! It was instant. L.O.V.E. I couldn't believe it! And as you probably guessed, the price tag still said $,$$$.$$. But this didn't discourage me much because it seemed that all of the bike I liked were within this same range.
The final three, after many months of indecision...the 2010 Diamondback Mission 2 or 3, which are cross country oriented. The 2010 Diamondback Scapegoat which is Diamondback's freeride bike. And the 2010 Trek Mission 7. Really my hardest decision was whether or not I wanted to go across the land and up hills easier and down the hills with a little caution. Or if I wanted to go across the land and up hills pretty well, but bomb down the hills like and avalanche! Hmmmmm...I do love the down! AVALANCHE IT WAS!
So with a few weeks more time, I waited. I knew that time of the season was coming where summer stuff goes on sale to make room for next year's models. And sure enough, just as predicted it happened. The Missions dropped a little, the Scapegoat dropped huge in price to a few hundred lower than its cousin the Mission, and the Scratch for some reason stayed the same. Guess I knew what my bike was going to be...I thought for sure the Scapegoat.
Here is where it gets really good! I just happened to take a few days off from work to travel over to Denver and the eastern slope. 1, for a Lady Gaga concert. 2, to get away. And 3, to go do some nitty gritty roughing it style camping in some really big mountains! So yadda yadda, went to concert and headed off to the mountains the next day. But hey, why not make a quick little swing through Boulder? And just for the heck of it, stop by the Trek Store of Colorado. Um yeah, saw my Scratch, told the salesman my story of the three bikes. He instantly said to me with no dollar questions involved, "I can make you a sweet deal." I said, "Oh really? What's that?" He said, "Let me go check with the owner real quick." He came back a while later, with a pretty sweet deal in tow. He told me that they would take $750 off of the sale price of the bike...and here's the best part. They offered me one year, same as cash financing. I was shocked and stoked. This knocked the Scratch's price down to that of the Scapegoat's AND I could ride it now and not have to keep saving up for it! I could basically make payments towards it in the amount that I had been saving each month. SOLD!!! I do feel bad that I did not buy my bike locally. Though Brown's was priced at the manufacturer's price, they would not budge. And ALL of the other bike shops around town were price at least $1000 OVER what I had found them for via the internet at other stores in Denver and Salt Lake...VERY disappointing Grand Junction.
So now you know the story of how my new best machine friend and I came to be...these are the places we've gone! In order of most recent to very first voyage!
iPhone pics: Color Sunday, September 25, 3:00 pm on the Grand Mesa. 3 miles on the West Bench Trail to Powderhorn Ski Resort's Lift 1 and then 3 miles of all downhill to the base lodge! Twas a yellow leaf road most of the way!
This is my newest favorite place to play and practice. The Desert. Just a couple miles North of my house across I-70 above 33 Road. There are miles and miles of dirt bike trails in the desert and riding them on a mountain bike is serious fun!
The weekend of September 11, we took a trip to Telluride. Rode the Gondola and trails of Telluride Mountain Resort and the Wilson Mesa Trail.
iPhone pic: Time for a bath! All that dust and dirt and mud and grit...needs to come off regularly.
So I know its not the my Scratch, but it's still fun. Another fun play practice place in GJ are the Lunch Loops. Located at the Tabeguache Trailhead just before the entrance to the Colorado Natl. Monument. I went riding with a four year old that day. There were parts I didn't want him to ride down, so I did it for him!
iPhone pics: Ok, here's bikeypoo and me on the Lunch Loops where Pet-A-Kees turns into High Noon and meets the Tabeguache trail. These are the perfect rides for after work quickies. All the rides I've gone on haven't taken more than an hour!
Here we are on the West Bench Trail on the Grand Mesa. First time out on a mountain single track trail!
First time on a single track trail. On my birthday, we found out that we have a loooooong way to go with this whole mounting biking thing! The Rapid Creek Trail outside of Palisade showed us just what we needed to learn!
The very first voyage, one day after we met! Found our camping spot up a little road outside of Alma, CO. Just a few mile from four 14,000 ft. peaks! I knew we would be best friends from this point on!
iPhone pic: The very first moment of becoming best friends! Sitting just outside The Trek Store in Boulder, waiting for the rain to calm down so we can load up in the car. So pretty!
