So, survived the Mont. A mate on my team was also using my bike so all up the Nomad did 9 laps and didnt miss a beat. it felt very good, so smooth, could sit down nearly the whole way and just roll into/onto every root and rock and it just soaked it up. So comfortable. It went down the hills awesome, jumped very good and just smashed over a very rutted course with ease.
I did a lap on my mates new V2 bronson and was surprised how much easier it felt to pedal then the Nomad, it felt a lot snappier, I am aware this could just be the nature of his frame being more of a trail bike then the Nomad, and also he is 20kg heavier then me with psi setup accordingly, also I didn't realize the rear was in trail mode until the last descent of the course. Still, I'm curious as to whether my Nomad setup is sacrificing pedal-ability for plushness/softness. I might re visit my suspension settings to see if I can make it more pedal friendly with out losing out to much on the descents, but not sure where to start as yet. Im not even sure what I am going to do re rear suspension choice.
So in the end I have left the Mont stoked as with this bike, but also have questions hanging over suspension setup. Having said that I'll be in Thredbo in 3 weekends time and want it to be perfect for that. At the end of the day it's probably impossible to get a bike that is going to feel efficient enough for a 24hr XC race AND then go to lift assisted gravity, having it plush and take the big hits well, all with the same setup. But I'm going to tinker away and see if I can find the correct compromise for my riding style.
Didnt take many pics but we def had a little bit of Santa Cruz Fan boyness going on. Out of 7 bikes in our 2 teams, 5 were Santa Cruzs, 3x V1 Bronsons, 1 V2 Brony and my Nomad. Talk about 'all the gear and no idea!'