Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Sniff.
Honk.
Boy, you sure do get attached to these things.
Bicycles I mean.
I guess it's because of the time you spend attached to it, riding it, exploring with it.
Picking up the ole Park Tools thingy though, I knew I was doing the right thing.
The time had come.
I guess it's different with this bike.
I mean it's no longer the bike I purchased brand new.
Just about everything on it is different, customized so to speak to fit my whims and desires.
Now, just as those parts went on one by one, they come off one by one until there it sits, barren.
Nekkid.
Oh my!



Yes, my dear old Rockhoppy, the bicycle of many different names, you have served me well.
I fawned over you for months, waiting, acquiring, saving until you were finally in my greedy little hands.
Oh the miles we racked up together!
You, I and Shimano XT.
Sniff sniff.
Alas XT, I have outgrown you.
It's not you, it's me.
No, I was not blinded by the Italian Alloy and Carbon goodness, I'm just, just, different now.
I've changed.
I've got ten gears.
Goodbye XT shifters!
Goodbye SLX cranks!



I shall always remember how we worked together to increase my cadence.
I shall always remember how your granny got me up the Hill of the Exploding Heart Rate.
You were a true partner.
I don't know if I could have done it without you.
Still, it is time for me to move on.
I must move on to greater distances, to faster speeds, to steeper hills!
Okay, not really.
About the steeper hills part.
You get my drift though.
So it is with heavy heart I send all of you, all of my former brothers in battle, off to the land of evilness, where hopefully, you will extend your goodness to someone else.
I shall not weep.
We had good times.
Farewell trusted friends.
Goodbye.
Worry not for me for though, for I am not alone: