Road Bike vs Tri Bike vs MY bike

To quote the first part of an article written by Tom Demeryly on Xtri.com "You already own a standard road geometry bike with a 73-degree seat angle, a longish top tube and 700c wheels. Can you convert this bike to a triathlon geometry frame specifically for riding in the aero position? If you need a one-word answer to the question "Can I make my road bike a triathlon bike?" the answer is: ‘No!’" From XTRI.com xtri.com bike tech april 2000

With this thinking, my bike is all wrong. But I don't think so. It's a 1986 Schwinn High Sierra mountain bike with road slicks. Embarrassing right? Who cares? I love my bike. It has taken me to many destinations since I first saw it under the Christmas tree in junior high. It follows then that it is my sentimental favorite to take me to my next destination - my first triathlon. Maybe as I progress in the sport I can justify a big brother to my Schwinn but I'll never get rid of it. I read a tip in Bicycling Magazine "Never get rid of your first bike." I knew at once he was right. Within a week of reading this timely advice I recovered my first mountain bike. I had given it to my dad because he wished his 19" frame was a 17" frame like mine. I thought I was moving on from the ghost of a bike accident I had on a single track near Snowbasin ski resort. (It must have been lack of shocks, I thought.) My dad thought it was a good time to move on from a wreck he had on his Schwinn Mirada. Turns out neither one of us really wanted to lose our old bikes. He rode my bike only a handful of times and my new Trek 7000 was perfect on single track (shock and all) but it didn't have the zest I needed for around town pavement riding. As I got older, I realized that pavement riding was mostly what I do. The high gears of my High Sierra give me some speed and its history reminds me to ride like a kid who doesn't even know what a heart rate monitor or training log is. For now, I choose MY bike.