My New Bike Day post!
I've been wanting a new road bike for a while. Partly because I wanted to enter the 21st century, partly because my old Fuji is getting to big for me. (Funny how frames grow in size over the years. What else could it be?
) And mostly because I just wanted N+1. After a lot of searching, waiting, and near misses, I scored a ride that pressed all the right buttons for me: Trek Checkpoint ALR5
This is classified as a "gravel" bike. It's got 40mm tires stock and can go larger. I only had time for a quick ride to Lexington Center and back this morning, but so far I am enjoying it. Its actually surprising that a machine running such wide tires can be relatively so nimble. I am looking forward to using this for extended mixed surface trail rides, like MM + Reformatory + Bruce Freeman. I've been using my hardtail MTB for rides that include off-pavement sections, but 3 hour rides on flat bars leave me wanting less weight and more hand positions. I think this will be just the ticket!
FYI: I got the bike at the new Trek owned store that just opened 2 days ago at Fresh Pond in Cambridge. These bikes are hard to find, but I went there
before their inventory showed up online.
Tom