I'm riding an old, cheap MTB, a Sam's Club special. I've been calling it my "piece of crap" and talking about looking forward to getting a "real" bike. However, I got to thinking about it more, and decided that's not really fair. There's nothing really *wrong* with this bike. In fact, it's put up with quite a bit of abuse and lack of care, and is still going strong. So today I decided that I will no longer think of it this way. This is the bike that got me back into cycling, which says a lot, and it is going to carry me into new roadbike-dom. And I doubt I'll ever get rid of it. In fact, I will probably someday make it into a commuter or errand bike (I've already ordered my first rack for it). I also have some new butterfly/trekking handlebars on order for it. The more I think about it, it's not so bad at all. No, it's not exactly what I want, but it'll do (and heck, I'm the one who chose it 10+ years ago, if I don't like it, it's my own fault!).

Today I bought new road tires & tubes for it and put them on. Keep in mind I have next to ZERO bike maintenance experience. But he's patient, and helping me learn. I degreased the chain as best I could without removing it (I only have so much energy today), scrubbed down the wheels, cassette, and front chain rings, and gave him a nice bath. I didn't have the brushes I wanted to clean him up as good as I would have liked, but at least now he looks relatively clean and cared for.

And now, I think he deserves a name (yes, it's a he. Don't know why, he just is). Something that denotes strength and reliability. Anyone have any ideas? He's mostly silver (brushed aluminum, not paint) with blue logos. I'll try to post a pic later.