Thats a touring bike - actually one-hell-of-a-nice touring bike! Why go and mess it up? The Blue Ridge has a reputation for feeling slower than it really is. Suggest you check yourself with a spedometer and then check out a few other bikes at the same speeds. You might find some of those other machines just 'feel' faster. Weight helps a bit with acceleration, and counts if you're trying to sprint and achieve a maximum top speed, but isn't all that important if you're just trying to maintain a good average speed over a longer distance.