Compras Blueridge

Blueridge, a.k.a. the Step-Child

The BR was gifted to me in '99 as a masters degree gift and was my effort to find an "all round, long miles" rig. I had previously been on a steel Trek (a little too large), an alum "criterium" C'dale which made my back ache and a Bridgestone RB-1 with a small of 40x23. These are all pretty standard road/racing bikes and for me, they weren't the rig to deliver me to century nirvana. For other skinny ass whippet thin punks, yes, but for my fat ass no.  The BR has 2 things which have always bothered me a bit. First, because of the small frame and 700c, it has lots of awkward toe overlap. It's proof positive of the logical concept of the 650b size for smaller frames. The 2nd was a general bike fit "not quite". As I've ventured into "I/Grant" high-bar riding these past few years, I've come to a realization that it is a combo of low bars and a short, fat, stiff alum fork that keeps me from cycling nirvana on the BR. I did my 3rd longest solo every on the BR, the 85m to Lexington back in '00, but my next 2 long ones including my solo 102m this September were on the Bleriot. 'nuff said with that observation. And I would choose the Bleriot every time for a significant distance.

With this in mind, I recently spent a little $$ on the BR to turn it from a dedicated roadie machine into a potential gravel grinder.  The original BR was marketed as a touring machine, so that stiff fork does provide for very adequate tire clearance. The BR has been running 32c Paselas for about a year or more, but I picked up some $15 35c's at some point, so for our Ferdinand gravel fest a few weeks ago I threw the fatties on the BR and made one change, paying OYLC to add some interrupter levers, and this on top of the $ spent a while back on a too-expensive stem decision at Clarksville. That stem choice was an impulse and I could've spent $20 less and gotten a functional stem that maybe gave me more stem/bar height. This time I paid for interrupters and some new tape.

I took this present BR iteration on our Ferdinand trip, with fresh tape, 35c's, banana bag, SKS mudguards and green gardening tape keeping banana bag a bit more closed:

On Ferdinand Forest Rd (kaput) bridge

Here's a closer pic of the interrupters. I like them very much, but the BR doesn't bring me better comfort like that of the Bleriot.

Salsa 46c Bell Lap bars, Tektro Interrupters and cheap camera bag zip-tied to stem. The right brifter misses shifts every now and then now. Ack!

FSA stem raises bars closer to level with saddle, but no quite. The Bleriot, LHT and QB all have level bars now and I like that much, much better. Contrary to Dale, I don't want no racer drop.

The width of the Bell Lap works well to open the cockpit, but there's virtually no chance of riding in the drops like I can on the QB or Bleriot.

I allude in "Fur,none Pt. 3" that I wore out around mile 45 and I directly attribute it to the BR. It's got an Ultegra 3-ring set up, but the smallest gear is a 30x25, giving me a gear small gear inch of 32.6" or a Sheldon Ratio of 2.4. In contrast, the LHT with its 22x32 gives me a 17.7" or Sheldon Ratio of 1.3.  I've come to love the difference of 15" of "stump-puller" climbing. (These numbers, BTW, are all circumspect. They come from a little bit of observation and a little bit of guesswork. Maybe I'll take it seriously and find the real answer sometime). I'm a proponent of mtbike gearing for the road like I have on the Bleriot and LHT. BUT there's also no way I'm paying for new gearing for the BR.

In the end, amidst my complaining I have a really hard time justifying selling the BR. It's the only time in my life I'll have a chance at a titanium bike, a lifetime frame. It seems logical to take the existing frame, which is a solid design with at least rear eyelets for fenders/rack and work with it. Maybe I buy a new fork someday and change out how the front end responds. Maybe I just shut up and ride.