n + 1

From the Immutable Rules of Cycling:

"The minimum number of bikes one should own can be determined by the simple formula n+1, where ‘n’ is the number of bikes currently owned..."

 Perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not altogether wrong either.

About 15 months ago, I was thrilled at the purchase of my first ever road bike. (I'm not counting the Mikado I got when I was in seventh grade.) Compared to the the mountain bike I had been riding, it was like upgrading from a Ford Tempo to a Mustang.

On Friday, made another upgrade and staying with the analogy, it was like upgrading from a Mustang to a Mustang GT 500. Not quite as dramatic, but impressive all the same.

So here it is posed much like the Cannondale was back in February of 2011:

I first learned of Blue Competition Cycles when they were featured in USA Triathlon Magazine last year (USAT makes it next to impossible to fine online content so sorry, no link). The company caught my eye because they were focused on making a true multisport bike, not just a TT bike adapted for Triathlon.

That became even more evident when I went to be fit for the bike back in March at place in Golden called Big Ring Cycles. While Golden is pretty about as far opposite from Parker as you can get and still stay in the metro area, it was also one of the only places that dealt in the multisport models. They also dealt in Cannondale bikes which was another plus since a Slice was also one I was considering.

After going through the fit process--which involved measuring my legs and body at various angles as well as being watched as I pedaled in aero position, Alex at Big Ring looked through the catalog for the best fit for me. Short or spending well over $5000, it turned out that the Blue Triad SP was the right fit for my style of riding.

Then came the waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Big Ring kept me up to date but there seems to have been a problem with Blue. I don't think I'll ever know for sure but it sounds like they either were not spun up on their production cycle as quickly as they should have been to start making spring deliveries or they had serious problems with distribution. It was probably a little of both. The result was that the bike I ordered back in the third week of March did not arrive in Golden until May 24.

But arrive it did! Yesterday I took it on it's first ride.


I think it would have been a really good ride too, but we were having wind gusts of 25mph or more and that made the southbound, first half portion of the ride pretty miserable. So much of a factor was the wind that of the 30 miles I did, The first 15 took me 1:04:13 and the last 15 took me the remaining 48 minutes of the full ride! Crazy!

But putting that aside, I can tell the difference on the bike. It's not just that it is light (it is a couple of pounds less than the road bike) but it's also easier to control and more comfortable to stay in aero position. Indeed, it actually feels more natural to ride it in aero than even using the base bars. I think the combination of the fit and the design of the bike make the difference.

While I'll be doing a fair amount of training on the new one, I also plan on staying on the road bike as well. It's a little bit like a baseball player swinging multiple bats to warm up. The tri bike should feel that much better in competition.

Lot's more coming up including my first trip back to Grant Ranch since last September and race report on the BolderBoulder.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!