As a typical bicyclist, I have fallen victim of the N+1 disease. I college I “survived” on one good bike – a Mondia Special. What in those days would be called a “Sport-Touring” bike. Today it would be called an “Endurance” bike. A comfort oriented road bike I nick named “Hot Rod”. I had it built with a mix of parts. Some Campy, lots of cheaper stuff – Sun Tour drive train, etc. But with sew up tires (called “tubulars” today), it didn’t serve very well as run around bike, so I got an old one speed cruiser I nick named “Rover” to run around on.

It looked pretty beat up, so I just left it unlocked at the foot of the stairs of my apartment. It was stolen two time, the first time it brought back after a couple of weeks! I guess the thief didn’t like enough to keep it. The second time it was a week before I graduated and left to go to my first “real” job, so I didn’t even care.

That left me with just “Hot Rod”, who served me quite well for the next 15 or 20 years. Then in about 1998 I got bit by the “bug”, and being enamoured by the new Mountain Bike craze, I bought a new mountain bike – an REI/Novara “Ponderosa”. It had a suspention fork - pretty cool back in those days.

Then a few years later, my son borrowed Hot Rod to go to a friends house. Being distracted trying to figure out the gearing, he ran straight into a parked car. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt, but poor Hot Rod’s wheel base was shortend by a couple of inches. Hot Rod died that day. He was able to donate some of his organs to a cheap frame I found, by his heart stopped, and he was brain dead.

I soldiered on for several years until the bug bit again. I had long been wowed by Bikecentenial, The idea of riding across the country really integrated me. So, I bought another REI bike. This time an REI/Novara “Randonee.”. A decent, if not great, touring bike. So now I had two bikes: A Mountain bike, and a Road/Touring bike.

Then in early 2002, when in Tempe Bike picking up some inner tubes, my (now ex) wife saw a bike frame on sale. She told me about it, thinking I might be interested in it. Being bit again, I went down to see it. The guy in the store (I think the owner?) tried hard to get me NOT to buy it, but I wasn’t swayed. So long story short, the frame went home with me. The frame was (is – I still have it) is a Mondonico Futura Legaro – “Great Future”, one of the last frames hand made by one of the last great Italianframe builders. Antonio Mondonico is referred to as a “Frame builder of trust”; A craftsman would build frames for professional cyclists in unpainted formed, who then had then painted in their team colors.

A search on the internet found me a good deal on a nice build kit. Since the frame was a really nice hand made built Italian frame, only Campagnolo parts would do. So the bike was built up with a full Campy Veloce build kit; Drivetrain, hubs, brakes, and headset. Mondo is a really nice bike :-) The handling is so good, and it responds so well that sometimes I refer to the handling as "telapathic".

In the following decade my infection flared up a couple more times. First in the form a a single speed / fixie. A bikes direct "Kilo TT". And then a Dahon, 7 speed folding bike. The Kilo was a blast to ride, while the Dahon was somewhat practical.

But now my fleet was up to 5 bikes, and I realized I needed to get things back under control, so while the Dahon was somewhat practical, and the Kilo was a lot of fun, niether met the gotta have it criteria. So with the aid of Craigslist, I was soon back down to 3 bikes; Pondo, Mondo, and Rando.

With my infection in remision, I happily kept things as they were until ten years later. Then in 2012, my wife decided she loved the (not really existant) guy she met on the internet, so after 32 years, I was once again single. Two years later, Intel decided I was too old to be useful in the tech world, so I was "encouraged" to retire - which I happily did :-) Now single, and retired, I started planning. Thus the “Lemonade tour” began (you know, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!). So in June of 2014 I set out from Lincoln city Oregon, heading for Yorktown Virginia. The Bikecentenial route had been renamed the “Transamerica Trail”, so maps in hand, off I went, in seach of who I was. Two strait weeks of rain – From the middle of Idaho, all the was to Towgwatee pass (and the emotenal turmoil of what I been through) demoralized me, so I decieded to stop for the year in Pueblo, Colorado, with plans to re-start the next summer.

I didn’t finish the TransAm in 2015, but in 2016, I made plans to start over in the other direction. Two weeks before leaving I realized that there was a lot of play in the bottom bracket. I really didn’t want to risk a mechanical failure in the middle of a 3 month trip, so I decided to replace it. One thing led to another, and I knew I needed a new bike. Time was getting short, and I needed to ship whatever bike I bought to the east coast. Then the brilliant idea came to me, that if I bought a bike from REI, I could take delivery on the east coast. So I visited a local REI in Arizona to figure out which size fit best. I then found an REI back east that had the size I needed in stock. Paying them on line, I had them set it aside for me. Then a week later I flew to Newark, New Jersey, got picked up by my sister, stopped at the REI on my way to her house, and now had my new bike :-)

So now another bike. Since the bug bite was pretty mild at the point, and my son needed a bike, I shipped my old Randonee to him, leaving me with Pondo, Mondo, and now new Rando. Three days later, after putting all the required attachments onto my new bike, my wonderful sister and her wife drove me to Yorktown to start my adventure riding from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Three months later I arrived.

But once wasn’t enough. I had and met a guy and riden with him for the last 2 weeks of the Trans Am and we had kept in touch. He wanted to do the Northern Tier route, and thought sure. So in late May of 2017, I flew east to meet him at his home near Washington D.C. From their we drove to Brunswick, Maine where we set out to follow the Northern Tier to Anacortis Washington. In 2018 I rode I set out from Portland, Oregon, heading to Portland Maine, and would have made that three crossings had I not crashed in Nebraska.

Then in December of 2018 year my 93 year old father passed away. By living to such a grand age, he had outlived all of his friends, so my siblings and I decided to delay the memorial service until the next summer when we could get the whole family together.

Well, the plans required being able to transport me and my bike from where the memorial was held, back up to where I had been on the coast three days earlier. Putting my (not very smart) thinking cap on, it occured that a Bike Friday folding/travel bike might just make this work out. So I found what looked to be a decent Friday on Ebay, so I bought it. Do I hear anyone say bug bite? It came set up with a double road crank, and other road specific parts, but the person selling to me said, it came with a second crankset and derailleur, so doing a simple swap would have it ready for touring duty. I turned out that it wasn't quite that simple, but it only cost me an additional $250 or so to get it ready.

So now I was up to 4 bikes: Pondo, Mondo, Rando, and Friday. Yeah, N+1

The Next summer I did another cross country ride, this time from Portland Oregon, to Minneapolis, and then to New Orleans. So now Rando had crossed the country coast to coast 3 times, and half way 2 times more. A total of about 15,000 miles, with no major issues; And that doesn't include at least as many miles back home.

But during the ride, my daughter decided that Arizona just wasn’t where she wanted to live. She decided that Northern Colorado was the right place, and talked me into moving up also. Since I had pretty much ceased to use Pondo, I saw no reason to haul him to Colorado with me. So once more, with the help of Craigslist, I did an N-1 and was once again left with Mondo, Rando, and ... now Friday.

Unfortunately, the cold weather in Colorado retrigered my n+1 infection... 3 times!!!
First in the form of a Brompton Folding bike. Used, but in great condition.
Then as a new Bike Friday to upgrade/replace my old, slightly to big one.
I had hoped the new Friday would become my "quiver killer", but the better fit didn't solve the twitchiness like I had hoped, and it was a bit too slow. I really wanted something that was fast enough to keep up with the others in the local club, and "Meet Up" groups I rode with, and this wasn't it. It had better gears (Mondo's gears are not really appropriate for the more hilly riding I now do here), but that's not enough.

I knew that what I wanted was an "endurance" bike, preferably in 56 cm. I also wanted alloy rather than Carbon fiber, preferably with Shimano 105 parts. The "experts" in the media would say given my height, I should ride a 54 cm bike, but I would rather be a bit streched out, than hunched over. Meaning I would rather have a bit too much reach, than too little stack.

So on a whim I popped,into the local REI (it was, of course on my way home...). Yeah, you know where this is going (again). Well, REI had a Cannondale Synapse hanging from the ceiling... 56 cm, Alloy, 105 drivetrain, and in a gorgeous candy red color. And 20% off on end of year clearance.

The next day I took the bus back up, to get it. Now my fleet stands at 6: Mondo, Rando, Old Friday, Brompton, New Friday, and Synapse.

Time for another trimming session. Obviously it should be pretty straight forward to get back to five - simply sell the old Friday since it's clearly a duplicate. The next step(s) should be easy too. Should be...

If I didn’t think the new Friday woiuld be an obvious replacement for Rando, I wouldn't have purchased it. But is it really? I'm pretty much thinking my future tours will be shorter, so the the easier logisticts of a folding/travel bike should make the Friday better. But it's not as good of a bike...

And if I didn't think that the Synapse would be a good replacement for Mondo I wouldn't have purchased it either. And really for the most part it's quite a bit better.
- Much broader gearing, with great shifting. Check.
- Higher handlebars so my old man shoulders and neck are happier. Check
- Ability to take wider tires, making for a smoother ride. Check
- Fender and rack eyelets - Almost unheard of on road bikes today. Check
But Mondo does handle better. I can feel the better balance above 40 MPH. But does that justify having an additional bike?

So why am I having so much trouble here?