Debusama

I got into racing pretty seriously from 2010-2013 and at my best I was a fairly solid cat 3 with realistic aspirations of making cat2 in the near future. I also did some 50/100mile MTB races and a leg with a 5-man 24-hour mountain bike race team. Then, situations with my health family and career changed such that the lack of training time turned me into a back of the back cat3 when I did find time to race. Then, I lost the ability to move and feel my left leg and was subsequently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Knowing that my number of working years was limited, I sold my house in Spokane Washington and downsized to a smaller house Phoenix Arizona that I could pay off sooner and to be closer to family when I need help. During the move, the Moving Company "misplaced" all of my bikes which didn't actually break my heart too much at the time seeing as I was walking with an arm cane at the time and not doing too much cycling.

Anyway, that's enough of the sob story because my MS is in remission and I'm feeling like my old self again, I'm running and lifting weights and I want to race some more while I still can. My first order of business will be getting some bikes. Insurance is giving me $4500 for the bikes. I'd like stick with the $4500 budget because I am still scrambling to save for an early retirement. This gives me $2000 +- a few hundred dollars for one Do-it-all road bike and one mountain bike and a bit left over for miscellaneous bike gear. When I was racing in Spokane, I preferred road races with some climbing and descending or crits.... long/flat road races are too boring. Given that the roads in Phoenix are so flat, I'll probably mostly be doing crits. I'll also be going up to Prescott for the whiskey 50.

I haven't really shopped for a bike since 2012 but last I checked the best bet for a Bang-for-the-buck training/racing workhorse were aluminum bikes like a CAAD or and Allez. Is there anything recent on the market that would fit the bill? I'll re-post at MTBR but if anyone has any input about a $2000 endurance racing mountain bike (I'm thinking hard-tail 29er) I'd love to hear it.

Lastly, if there is anyone on here with MS who has managed to be a decent competitive amateur racer I'd love hear about your experience.

beatlebee 

Have you thought about a used bike from "Stevebay" on facebook? The group has listings from the Phoenix and Tucson areas.

topflightpro

Allez or Caad 12 seems like a good ides.

This Specialized Allez is pretty sweet: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/115727.

The wheels are kind of low-end, but that is pretty common on bikes like this. The build is designed to be a out-of-the-box race bike, and most racers have a decent set of race wheels.

I'm sure you can find something similar in a Caad 12.

As for MTBs, I recently bought my wife a Giant Liv Embolden 1. The comparable men's option is the Stance. It's designed as a budget-friendly mountain bike that tries to hit the bottom of the Race-Bike/top of the entry-level ranges. She seems happy with it so far.

Wylde06

What size do you ride?

Debusama

56, usually