In more ways than one, this was seriously lofty riding for me. My house is at elevation 778 feet, and most of my riding is done in an elevation range between 600 feet and 1200 feet. Last Friday, however, I joined these two gentlemen for a ride on a mountain somewhere in the 9600 to 10,500 feet range. That’s Brad (Association of Caffeinated Wheelmen and Instagram) and Jon (Two Wheels – Six Strings) shown in the photo above, somewhere along our Peaks Trail route.
My trip to the mountains for the conference was a last minute thing. I didn’t give these guys much advance notice. But they arranged their lives to make time for the lowlander, and drove up from Denver on a weekday to spend the day with me. They brought the coolest bikes I saw during my time in Colorado, including the Bridgestone MB3 above for me to ride. The fit was perfect. I had a crush on this bike all day long.
I had to stop frequently because the views stunned me. I simply had to obtain photographic evidence as proof that I was really riding a bicycle in such wonderful surroundings. This place had almost everything. The weather was perfect. We had climbs, descents, creek crossings, forests, open spaces…almost everything I could ask for. Well…what we didn’t have quite enough of was oxygen. And that’s the other reason I had to stop frequently.
The boys were kind and patient. They let me set a pace that my oxygen starved body could handle. But as I look back on the photos of them riding, it appears they were also having a pretty good time.
We fueled up with giant burgers before we left town for the ride. We rode for a few hours, rolled into town, and had pizza for dinner. Then we headed over to the coffee shop for one more indulgence. When we weren’t riding, the conversation was non-stop. All that talk was insightful and entertaining. They made me feel welcome, and as if I had been a close friend for years. Come to think of it, the conversation between the two of them was non-stop even during the ride. I would have joined in if I wasn’t so busy gasping for air.
We did, indeed, ride in some lofty places. But it was the quality of the company that elevated my day to the loftiest of heights. Â Thanks, boys!
Pondero 
Looks like you had the perfect day with all the best components! I’m curious; did the MB-3 have a ride quality similar to the Atlantis?
It’s funny that you ask. Brad commented on his impressions that the MB3 was similar to the Atlantis. I think, as best I can remember, I agree. I was surprised how much I enjoyed riding it. One of the discussion forums I follow had an MB2 for sale for $300 plus shipping…and I paused to ponder that a bit.
Looks like a beautiful part of the country. Nice that you could get out in it.
Friends will go riding with you. Good friends let you borrow their cool bikes (with a good saddle, no less) to go riding!
Wolf.
I had a great time, and the ride was awesome. Even more so was the hanging out, after.
Hope to see you again, soon!
Yep. Next time…Texas!
How neat and blessed!
Small world, this digiblogmedia world is. Back some years ago, John and Brad were cruising through Indiana and set up a ride-meet-greet with Michael, aka Apertome, in Bloomington. I went up (with Asher I believe) and we had a grand day doing much the same. Riding, talking, talking, riding. As you were flummoxed by the lack of oxygen, John was so my the deep, thick Midwestern humidity. Brad made nary a wrong pedal turn on a Bridgestone of some sort. Good day. Good times.
What are the shift levers on the MB-3?
Well, some sort of thumbies, but you probably could see that in the photos. It’s Brad’s bike that I borrowed, and I didn’t really look or remember which shifters they were exactly. I apologize for my inattention to detail.
Thanks for the reply … no apologies needed … I’ve been lusting over the Ramblers for a while (preferably with albatross style bars) but not keen on downtube or bar-end shifters … just looking for alternatives.
If I wasn’t running down tube shifters on my Rambler, I’d go with stem shifters. I had them on my Atlantis with albatross bars and liked them. I bought the stem shifter mount from Rivendell, and used Silver down tube levers. It worked very well for me.
Thanks for that … I guess I’m just very “locked-into” that close at hand mentality born of many years using brifters on drop bars and triggers on MTB flats. My pannier touring bike is Rohloff twist grip …
I fear stem shifters might just be a step too far for this old dog 😉
Do you have anything against bar-end shifters?
Nothing against bar end shifters. I used them for awhile on one of my bikes, and they were fine. The reasons I’m not using them now are minor, and mostly related to levers being bumped by my knee in tight turns or the ground when I lay the bike down. But all that is manageable.
Yes … I suspected the knee bumping could be an issue. It’s probably going to be my prefered option if I end up going for flat/swept back bars for my new bike though. Which is highly likely … turning sixty soon … flexibility ain’t what it was.
How are you liking the Paul brakes. Do you have any opinions about how they stack-up compared to Mafac/Compass etc?
I like the Paul brakes. I like the functional look, and they seem to work well for me. However, because of my riding location and style, brakes are not a major concern for me. I’ve never used Mafac or Compass brakes (which also look delightfully functional), I’d guess they would also work well. But I’ve been generally satisfied with a wide variety of brakes on my bikes over the years.
In the excitement of new-parenthood I completely missed this post! I actually found my way back to it via the 2Wheels-6Strings blog – which I had found searching for ‘old rockhopper fat front’ and found Jon’s saga that got him to his Surly 1×1 fat front bike… small internet, small bike community! 🙂
That is a fine looking MB-3 and looks like you had a heck of a good ride w/ good company. Glad to read about it!
Now you can see why I was able to blame (to my wife) my new MTB project on Brad and Jon. It was quite an inspirational trip.