I've owned the candy-apple red Trek 5200 since January 1999. It caught my eye as soon as I walked into the downtown Portland Bike Gallery for their winter sale. The color and large frame size were pluses. When I picked up the carbon fiber frame, I thought, "Wow." At the time, it was state-of-the-art light, somewhere around 20 pounds.
sales guy walked up from behind and said, "Do you know who Lance Armstrong is?"
At the time, the wonder boy from Austin, Texas, had not yet won a Tour de France. Only a bike geek would have know who Lance Armstrong was.
"Of course."
"This is the same bike that Lance rides."
I bought the bike for the discounted price of $1,300. Score one in the early business partnership of Lance and Trek.
I've put lots of miles on that bike in the ensuing 12 years. It's showing its age and so am I.
So, as i strolled side-by-side with my bike into the Cycle Oregon camp area in Sutherlin on Saturday afternoon, I saw a Trek factory rep had a stable of 40 new bikes being offered for a day of free riding.
What is this? A carbon frame Trek 69SSL, 700 Series in my frame size? I'll take it.
The Trek rep quickly swapped my pedals on the new bike, adjusted the saddle and I was ready to go. My Trek 5200 would spend Sunday in a darkened van.
When Sunday's ride began, I was eager to see how fast the Lamborghini would go. A bicycle performs only as good as the bicyclist atop the saddle, but even I could get this carbon beast snarling past a line of bikes on the road out of Sutherlin headed to Cottage Grove.
Another Trek -- same style, bigger frame -- was available for Monday's 91-miler to Reedsport. Another rhapsodic experience.
But toward the end of the day, as Oregonian colleague Rich Read and I chugged up the last hill of the day, we were startled by the sight of 60-year-old John Killen blasting past us aboard his Kona-brand cyclocross "Jake." This humbling sight hammered home the point that even an $8,709 carbon frame Trek 69SSL, 700 Series bike cannot carry me up the hill.
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