In October 2007, I stumbled across ATA purely by accident. I was heading to Vermont for the weekend and knew I needed to buy some additional winter biking gear. I had found ATA online the night before and realized the store was right off route 2 in Concord, MA. Not bad I thought, in and out of the store in no time and back on the road. Little did I know...\r
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It was early Saturday when I pulled in front of the red-bricked bike shop. Inside it was clean, light, and upscale. I knew right away the products they carried were some of the best. I thought to myself, how did I miss hearing about this place? When someone asked me if I needed help, it turned out it was the owner, Husam. We talked about cold weather gear for some time but never pointing me to the top-of-the-line jackets, only what was practical. I found this service very unusual, particularly from an owner, but it made me feel more comfortable and I started asking him more questions. Later he asked what kind of bike I had and I proudly pointed to the same model on his shop floor. ""A Colnago,"" I said. I had been riding a Colnago all season and absolutely loved it. I had purchased the bike as a two-year old floor model at a well-known Boston shop and later had been ?fitted? at another well-known specialty fit shop in northern New England. I had put a lot of miles on it, riding it in the hills of southern Vermont and had nothing but pure enjoyment. Well, according to Husam, the bike, though beautiful, was the wrong bike for me: ?What do you mean,? I asked, ?How could you know? You haven?t even seen it.? He said, ?I can tell by your height, build, and frame size you mentioned, that the other shop, in order to fit you, changed the stem and handlebars and removed the fork to add another inch to try to stretch you out. That?s like changing the suspension on a Ferrari ? it?s c-r-a-z-y,? he said with his great Turkish accent. (continued)\r
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