Back when I was a mere teen and started racing (the first time) in 1974 my bike of the moment was a Huffy 10 speed. Heavy! The nice bike shop man that took me under his wing for some training 'sold' me (He basically gave it to me for a very low price) a beautiful champagne colored Puch Bergmeister. God, how I wish I still had that bike, it's a classic.

Anyway fast forard to 1989 and I receive a b'day gift of a Trek1000. I rode recreationally off and on, but mostly ran. In '98 I had banged my achilles in complete submission by running the NYC marathon and hopped back on the old Trek for recovery... ended up riding it for the 2000 Boston-NewYork Aidsride.

Fast forward again through the 'didn't do nuthin physical' period to now. Decided I need to ride again, want to race again. Trek1000 was beyond saving so I had the de-lemon of buying a comparable bike to 'start out' on or go for the almost dream bike. I went for it, BUT I needed to exercise a little financial responsibility. So I bought new last years model... a 2003 Specialized Allez Comp. It's got all the goodies that I wanted plus a snappy paintjob but since it was last years I got about $300 off the purchase price.

It is more than my current skill requires but, assuming I don't crash it out, it will service my needs through my re-start of racing and onward for a few years.

P.S. my dream bike was the Klein Quantum Pro... don't know why, I just loved it.