Rich, my momma always told me"It ain't no fun bein normal." So I guess I'll just have to find a way to wick things up a bit.
My reason for owning two 520's is simple, I really like the bike. I bought my first 520 in March of 88 with the intention of doing some light touring. Biz and family obligations got in the way of the touring but not the bike riding. I really loved riding that 520. I started riding with the C crowd and moved my way up to the A crowd. The 520 got some strange looks from the boyz on their expensive racing bikes. A true case of "it's not the bike!" Then one Saturday afternoon in 1996 I took my wife down to the local bike shop to buy her a bike. She wanted what are today known as comfort bikes. As she picked out one she liked I noticed a new 520 with STI shifters. The shifters got me. All the "go fast" boyz had them. STI was a real advance. The frame was the right size. It was a done deal. To win committee approval I told my wife that I would sell my first 520. And some day I may just do that.
To get my wife into bike riding I took her to a local park. She was ungodly slow and I had to keep stopping to let her catch up. After doing this for awhile I asked her to keep up with me as I rode a slow but constant pace. I rode for a few minutes and looked back, she wasn't there! I turned around, rode back a ways to find her lying on the ground. She had fallen off the bike! After that she wouldn't get back on the bike. I told her she was looking at this the wrong way. Falling off the bike wasn't a bad thing. Missing the pile of dog sh** by six inches was a good thing! I finally got her back to riding this past summer with her six year old new bike. She did good!