I awoke that morning, a crisp clear Utah morning in the mountains. The sun was shining and my co-worker and I had just finished fueling up on bagels and coffee at the Wasatch Bagel Café. We headed to dealer camp, anxious to start the event, excited to discover the newness in biking. Checking in first at Blue Competition Cycles we excitedly gazed at their new collection. The family of just released Blue bikes lined in precision, the newly designed, Jonathon Page influenced, Blue cyclocross series, the dual suspended mountain bikes and the carbon framed road bikes. The friendly staff greeted us in their matching Blue shirts and then I saw her, standing there, isolated from the rest of the bikes held in a mechanics stand, her wheels slightly rotating as if beckoning me over. My eyes gazed at her smooth lines, elegant and majestic. Her frame was monocoque carbon fiber, she was a looker. Her name was Blue Axino. “You want to take her for a spin?” I heard someone say. I nodded my head and the rest was a blur. She whisked me away through mountain roads. She was stiff, yet supple, responsive when I needed her to accelerate. Her frame was light, weighing a slight 1000 grams and her bottom bracket was a large BB30, stiffened by her molded one-piece bottom bracket – chainstay, called Direct Drive. She was dressed in SRAM Red, but would look just as good in Shimano Dura-Ace. And just as we began to bond, it was over, she was taken by another.
Sadly, I left her on that day, Blue Axino, or perhaps she left me. She begged me to take her for rides on the one-day classics and crits, but I wasn’t ready. I miss her. I miss her touch, the way she felt and I remain jealous that others rode her, took photos of her when she wasn’t looking. And I am left with only the memories we shared together on that crisp cool morning. Perhaps, one day we will meet again.
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