Not just any old Mountain Bike

Yesterday I was given a gift. A buddy of mine asked me if I had a mtn bike. "Well, I used to have one" I explained, "but my son grew out of his bike and started riding mine until he trashed it." (for the record... I do not fault my son for trashing my bike... he rides hard and the bike could not withstand his punishing abilities)

So this buddy of mine said he had an extra one in his garage that was given to him from a friend who is some big rider. I told him I would gladly take the bike from him. From the time that my old bike was trashed my son got a 2008 Specialized "Big Hit" and now is into extreme down hilling (something I will not do!).

Sam and I had not been able to ride together because he was the only one with a bike. So getting a free mtn bike seemed like a good start... it would allow us to start biking again.

So, after I got the bike and was coming home with it, I called my buddy Jason (who works for Specialized) to tell him about the bike and to inquire to its value.

The conversation went something like this....

Jon: "Hey Jason, someone just gave me a mtn bike"

Jason: (thinking: "hmmm, probably got a piece of crap")

Jason: "what kind is it?"

Jon: "Specialized"

Jason: (thinking: "well, thats a good start")

Jon: "its an enduro"

Jason: (thinking: "hey I used to ride a specialized enduro")

Jason: "anything else?"

Jon: "its a S-works full suspension, with Minute forks, juicy brand disk brakes..." (I went on to give more details of the bike)

Jason: "that sounds like a nice bike"

Jason: (thinking: "holy smokes!!... that's an awesome bike... its loaded... brand new it's probably worth 5K!")

Later in the day Jason came over to give me the full run down, and sure enough... its a sweeeet bike.

(I know what you're thinking... "what about your neck and back issues?")

My neck has improved dramatically over the past four days. Physical therapy, traction, and relearning posture has been a huge help... so we shall see!

Anyway... it was a cool opportunity and a generous gift, of which I'm deeply grateful. I look forward to riding with my son again... but I will stay on the bunny trails for now.