I picked her up from the LBS last night and took her for a 20 mile ride this morning. She's wonderful.

When I started riding again 3-4 years ago, I went down the my local LBS and let a young kid talk me into a men's frame entry level Felt racing bike that was all wrong for me. It was wrong from the start, and no matter how I tweaked it, the ride stayed wrong. I never felt comfortable, my back, arms, and hands always hurt, it seemed "twitchy" and rough...

I'm long-legged and short-waisted, so in order to get a man's frame to fit (Felt didn't have WSD back then), he ordered the smallest frame they had and jacked the seat way up. That sort of worked, except that the handlebars were then way too low for me to ride it comfortably.

From what I'd read in reviews of the Ruby, it seemed like it was what I really needed, but...I didn't know if I was going to stick with cycling and it seemed like a LOT of money. Over time, though, I've really grown to love cycling, almost as much--if not as much--as I love running. So when I found out about a month ago that I was going to get a little unexpected discretionary income in August, I thought maybe it was time.

So last Friday, after lunch with some friends, I decided to stop off at another LBS and try out the WSD bikes and see how they felt. They didn't have any Rubys in the shop, but the WSD Dolce that I rode was miles more comfortable than the Felt, so I started to dicker with the salesman. He said that there weren't any more 2009 Rubys available in my size, and the 2010's wouldn't be out until September, but that there were some 2009 Ruby "test" bikes available from Specialized, new in the box, and that he could order me one. It was just like the regular Ruby Expert--same components, frame, etc, just a different paint color. Plus, he'd sell it to me for a 20% discount.

Sold.

I also went ahead and got new pedals and a new computer. I'll probably get some carbon water bottle cages, too. In for a penny, in for a pound.