What did you do TO / WITH / FOR your bike today!

j0w1s said:
100. I thought I would smoke the dirt roadies on the descents but I was getting dropped big time. Descending off road on a drop bar bike is definitely a skill I need to practice, and some of the terrain was gnarlier than I anticipated. I was actually taking back places on the climbs, so I think all the time I have spent on Alpe du Zwift over the past year has paid off.

I had no idea how to pace it and felt like I had more in the tank at the end. Super motivated for next year and looking for some other races I can do in the mean time.
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Nice!
What was your finish time? I did it in 6:29:19 last year. I reckon I could go sub 6hrs now. I passed heaps of gravel bikes on the descents and topped out at around 74kph on the descents but didn't have the gears to pedal on the more gradual descents like the gravel bikes did.
I might give it another crack next year, and probably want a 34/36 front ring, some narrow bars and a bit more food on board.
 
Stredda said:
Nice!
What was your finish time? I did it in 6:29:19 last year. I reckon I could go sub 6hrs now. I passed heaps of gravel bikes on the descents and topped out at around 74kph on the descents but didn't have the gears to pedal on the more gradual descents like the gravel bikes did.
I might give it another crack next year, and probably want a 34/36 front ring, some narrow bars and a bit more food on board.
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I got around in 4:43 (on a gravel bike) and certainly learned a lot about pacing and bike setup. I ran a 44t chainring and was in my lowest gear on some of the climbs. The thought of not having a bail out gear was messing with my head so I think I was holding back a bit. Getting dropped on the descents was less about outright speed and more about maintaining momentum so I need to do a lot of practice descending on this bike. I also ran 40mm tires but the hype is real, all the big dogs were running massive tires and absolutely flying so I will be finding the widest tire I can fit from now on.
 
j0w1s said:
I got around in 4:43 (on a gravel bike) and certainly learned a lot about pacing and bike setup. I ran a 44t chainring and was in my lowest gear on some of the climbs. The thought of not having a bail out gear was messing with my head so I think I was holding back a bit. Getting dropped on the descents was less about outright speed and more about maintaining momentum so I need to do a lot of practice descending on this bike. I also ran 40mm tires but the hype is real, all the big dogs were running massive tires and absolutely flying so I will be finding the widest tire I can fit from now on.
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Wow that's a pretty good time!
I'd be interested to see how much quicker I would be on a gravel bike compared to the MTB. Most of the gain would be in the weight I would think.
Yes, the trend is to run wide tyres on courses like the Cardigan where it can be quite rough. I run 2.2 XC tyres and they seem to roll pretty well and there's no worrying about punctures.
It's one of those thing with big long endurance races, small differences make big changes over 100km. A mate of mine (who is 20 years younger than me) rode last years race with me. On a normal MTB ride we are pretty close in fitness and speed, but over the whole 100km of the Cardigan he was an hour in front of me, just because he could hold just 1kph average faster than I could.
I can see why the likes of Dylan Johnson is always looking at the smallest of marginal gains. I can easily see that with some of those big 200 mile gravel races like Unbound, these small improvements make a huge difference to the finishing time.
A mate of mine went in this year with a franken bike he built up himself. An MTB hardtail with 2x, suspension fork and drop bars. Unfortunately his body let him down, and he didn't beat last years time on an MTB.
 
j0w1s said:
I got around in 4:43 (on a gravel bike) and certainly learned a lot about pacing and bike setup. I ran a 44t chainring and was in my lowest gear on some of the climbs. The thought of not having a bail out gear was messing with my head so I think I was holding back a bit. Getting dropped on the descents was less about outright speed and more about maintaining momentum so I need to do a lot of practice descending on this bike. I also ran 40mm tires but the hype is real, all the big dogs were running massive tires and absolutely flying so I will be finding the widest tire I can fit from now on.
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The American Gravel racer Dylan Johnson (has Youtube channel) runs 29x2.2 Conti Race kings, AFAIK, or was at one point.
 
Rains a' cometh for the next few days. Getting a quick one in.

20250514_140024.jpg
 
beeb said:
*Cue all the South Australian 'burners reaching for a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word...
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We had a some a few nights ago and today, I even spotted a puddle. 21°C and sunny out on the trails but the little bit we had has definitely stuck the dust down.
 
ozzybmx said:
We had a some a few nights ago and today, I even spotted a puddle. 21°C and sunny out on the trails but the little bit we had has definitely stuck the dust down.
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Must be cos you’re at the top of the hill. Nada here. Switched the watering system back on.
 
shiny said:
Must be cos you’re at the top of the hill. Nada here. Switched the watering system back on.
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We had a good hour of gentle rain a couple of nights ago, got up the top at Crafers today and the entrance to the Beela track had 2 x 3m x 1m 4wd ruts full of wet stuff, I was like fuck that, nearly looks like water, could even contain a shark or sticky bits of splashy stuff that dirties a mans bike, ride in the other direction fast ;)
 
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