I bought my Mary back in september, not the bike I planned on buying, but I went into the shop with the intentions of leaving with something. At the time I was riding a Rocky Mountain Flow set up as a ss. The Flow is primarily a dirt jump/urban bike, and even though it was a large frame, I wasnt physically comfortable riding it in an xc environment. I needed to get something that I could enjoy riding.
I told my wife my dilemma and we agreed that I could ditch the flow and pick up something else. I am currently waiting for a sum of cash that is coming to me, not life changing cash but enough to have a nice cushion, so I told her I would just get something to carry me through until then. Once that happened I planned on treating myself to something nice.
I went into the shop looking for a leftover or a middle of the road hardtail, somewhere around a grand, got to talking about different things and the Mary came up, took it for a test ride and well, the rest is history. Oddly enough, I am currently testing different bikes to see what I want to buy, but the Mary has a secure spot in the stable, that bike is just to much fun. My only problem is that I want to buy every damn bike I see and/or ride.