As I’ve mentioned about a million times, I’ve been wanting to buy a new road bike for ages. I’d had my old bike since 2009, and it is a really nice one, but as a sort of road-commuter hybrid (a Raleigh Alysa), it turned out to be a little more commutery than I wanted, and not roady enough (this is the old one):

In other words, I was feeling the need: the need for speed.

Even an entry-level road bike is pretty expensive in my book, and it’s something I wanted to pay cash for, so I’d been saving since the start of this school year — squirreling away a little money from my paychecks, and hanging onto any birthday & Christmas gift money from my family. I also just sold my old bike to my friend Brunbec, and I finally had enough money to go shopping last week.

I had really good luck at the store. Because I’m over 5’8″, I can ride a men’s or women’s frame. The mens (or unisex, I guess) Trek 1.1 or 1.2 models were in my price range, but they also happened to have a 1.5, which is normally a good bit more expensive, in my size. It was the old 2012 model, though, so it was marked down to the same price as this year’s 1.2 — which meant I could get it for hundreds cheaper than it sold for last year. I decided to test ride it and compare it to the women’s equivalent model (the Lexa).

I had brought CW along with me, so they sent us out with one of each of the bikes and let us do a loop around the block together, then switch bikes. It was fun having someone along with me on the test ride. The main difference was the geometry of the frames. It turns out that my longer torso makes the men’s frame a better fit, so this is what I went home with:

The Trek 1.5, with the saddle from the Lexa. (The men’s saddle fit was all wrong, and I did NOT think it had honorable intentions.)

I also went home with this:

Buy a bike, get a free pint glass. Aw, yeah, baby.

I love it. The bike, that is. CW and I went out for a ride the next day, during one of the only breaks in the rainy weather all weekend. It is really fun to ride, and I already feel like it’s a little easier when it comes to climbing hills. I just zzzzzip right up them! I am still tweaking the fit a bit — I may need to adjust the angle of the saddle, I think — but basically it is just right.

Now I’m looking forward to the arrival of spring weather for real — once this howling, icy wind makes its eventual retreat (SOON, PLEASE), I’ll be spending plenty of quality time getting to know my new bike even better. Wheee!