Santa Cruz Blur LTc - good for the soul

It had been a long week packed with all the stresses a busy week can bring. I was tyred, cranky and a bit over it, so needed something to remove me from the world and re-charge the batteries.  A solo mountain bikes session was just what the Dr ordered, and so I decided I would sneak off for some quality time with myself, a bike, some nice trails and fresh air.  So once that was decided I had but two decisions to make; where to go, and what to ride.  The where to go was a foregone conclusion as it hadn’t been raining for a couple of weeks and I had received word that the trails at Wombat state forest were in great condition. So Wombat Forest it was to be.  Now all was left to decide was what to ride, a great conundrum to have.  One of our good Customers Dave had just pulled the trigger on a new Santa Cruz Blur LTc and the frame was hanging up in store waiting to be built.  At the same time we had a medium Blur LTc demo bike sitting on the floor which I took as an ordained sign.  A Blur LTc, myself, and some great trails on a Sunday morning….life is great!

Having not ridden a Blur LT before I was pretty excited to see how the Santa Cruz suspension would suit this type of bike.  The 140-160mm travel range is an interesting category as the character of a bike can change dramatically by the geometry that is matched with the travel.  Slack and short, and you have yourself a min-downhill type of bike.  Steeper angles, with a longer cock-pit gives you a trail bike with buckets of capabilities, and that’s exactly what the LTc is.  Light, snappy, fun, with some extra travel in its back pocket for when you decide to hit up some of those bigger obstacles.  Of all the SC bikes I have ridden the Blur LTc is by far my favourite. For me it felt like one of those magical bikes that you could do just about anything on. And if you can only have one bike….well heck, make it a lightweight, responsive 140mm trail bike.  Race, all day epic rides, those 1 metre drop-offs.  It loves it all, and I love it back as the best Santa Cruz ever.

So is this post about the bike, the ride, or the combination of the two and what it can do for your sanity.  I think it’s the lot. I thought the bike was the most capable SC bike I have ridden as far as “one bike to rule them all” goes and it helped me ride away the stressed of the world for a whole Sunday morning delivering me back home, happy, content and muddy with a smile on my face.  So although not everyone is lucky enough to be able to jump on new and different bikes all the time, everyone has the ability to get away from it all and enjoy some quality time with just you, your bike, and the trail.  So get out there, you will feel better for it!