Samwise’s Big Blue Ochsner: An Elegy
On my very first century, way back in high school, I had a bike that was nearing retirement: it was an old Raleigh that I had painted and then bought new wheels for. I was nearing the crest of the 6-mile 6% grade hill up to the Sunset rest stop, when pop! tinkle, tinkle, tinkle. The sound was the sound of my freewheel cluster popping open and spilling out its ball bearings. We managed to patch up the bike, and it basically hobbled its way through the rest of the ride, but I knew I needed a new bike.
I was in high school, and I couldn’t afford the bike I really wanted, so I settled. I bought a beautiful blue Ochsner frame through Bike Nashbar. I actually received the bike only weeks before the next century (a year later from the famed Raleigh incident). I had to get components for it, and I didn’t know what to do, so I took the frame to what in my opinion was the best cycling shop I’ve ever had the privilege of buying from: College Cyclery in Tempe, Arizona. It since closed (may it rest in peace, alas).
For a smokin’ deal, the guys there got a bottom bracket, used Suntour crankset, a cool headset, and Shimano 600 breaks and derailleurs. I provided the rest, and that Ocshner has been my riding companion ever since. Through the Sonoran desert, White Mountains, and Kaibab forest of Arizona, Up Mount Spokane, over the coastal range, and around Washington county.
It survived one endo in my only road race (it was an open class race, but the crash wasn’t my fault) — my rear wheel, however, did not survive. It put up with my stupid crash, where I was not handling the bike well and took a few pebbles embedded in my thigh. I’m still using the bent handlebars from that crash.
I don’t know where I’d be without my BBO, and I hate to say it, but it’s a geezer. I just retired the bike at the beginning of this past season. Even though I’ve moved up to 21st century technology, I’ll never forget my big blue Ochsner.