I got asked on another thread to post some setup pictures of our bikes we used for the Sedgefield300 on this thread. Firstly, a disclaimer – the bike in question was a rental bike from Kevin Benkenstein. To start with my “daily driver” is a Cannondale Scalpel Si2, so the gravel bike idea for the 300k Sedgefield unsupported race came as a result of riding with my partner, Robert, as he has a Curve GXR and enjoys his bike to bits. Going into the Sedgefield event, I was highly concerned with the perceived lack of packing space and limited water storage options on my MTB (I have since seen there are in fact a number of nifty contraptions to carry large loads on MTB's, but they're not my cup of tea, so I shall stick to gravel bikes for unsupported races). The 'dale's frame does not allow for a top tube underslung bag, nor does a top tube mounted pack fit very well on the frame, thus I was looking for a solution to the problem… Seeing as I do not like carrying heavy loads on my back on long rides, a Camelbak wasn’t really an option I wanted to consider (yes, I could have, but preferred not to) – I’ve had a couple of really long rides ruined by them over the years, so the thought of it really wasn’t appealing. I got word that one could rent one of Benky’s Curve bikes and gave him a buzz – sure enough, he had one and promptly sent me a shiny XL titanium to my doorstep. Side note here: Top bloke, that was super helpful and really open with lots of knowledge and experience that he shares! Getting onto our setups for the day, I will break it down to a couple of categories: Bike setup, storage, water storage, tools, lights, nutrition, clothing and emergency gear. Bike setup: Gearing: The bike came fitted with a mechanical gravel mullet setup, that is 1x12 SRAM i.l.o. 1x11s (the road levers do not yet play with the 12s mechanical MTB derailleurs, wheras the eTap does). The SRAM RED 11s rear shifter was converted with the Ratio Technology (https://ratiotechnology.com) 12 speed upgrade kit and the front mech shifter removed, with only the brake lever remaining. As standard many blokes seem to run their gravel bikes on these mullet setups with 44t chainrings (which is typically what these bikes get shipped with and is fine for 99% of the riding I do), but looking at the route, which included a 1.4km, 13.1% ave. gradient climb out of Wildnerness (T-shirt climb) and the infamous 4.6km 9% Montagu Pass, I did some quickfire math and reckoned that a 40t chainring would be far better suited to the route (0.77 vs 0.85 ratio on 52t large cassette) to ensure that we wouldn’t have to grind out two tough climbs right at the start of a 300k race and thus put undue fatigue in the legs… Tyres: As standard, the bike came with 700c Maxxis Ramblers in 40mm width, which I rode on a couple of rides – my impression of them is that they rolled decently enough, but tend to be a little harsh on rough gravel roads with many rocks, etc. due to the high pressure one has to run them (40’s) at (when comparing to 45’s). Considering the route, the load we would carry and the rough nature of the roads through the Little Karoo I leant towards 45s and the additional comfort they would provide, which we then settled on Pirelli Cinturato Gravel M’s (on Benky’s advice) – brilliant choice in the end. I weigh around 78k’s, with the added weight of the bottles, packs and gear I ran the tires at 2.6bar front and rear – which made for a very comfortable ride, without even once bottoming out through the tire onto the rim, alleviating any pinch flat issues (side note – a gentleman that did the 500k on a road orientated all day adventure style bike on 32’s, suffered multiple pinch flats and eventually had to abandon the race). Saddle: Personal choice, but for information I use a Specialized Phenom and replaced the Specialized Power the bike shipped with. Bar and tape: Curve Walmer 460mm bar, with 30deg flare – lovely width and flare, with comfortable enough drops for gravel bars, although I would probably prefer something like the Ritchey bars with their additional hump in the bottom end of the drop for added comfort in the drops, as I’m quite agile and like riding in the drops, and prefer some more support in my palms there. The bar tape was standard fair and honestly a little on the thin side for my liking, it may be a personal preference and quite large hands that drives this, but I prefer a little more cushioning and a thicker bar tape. StorageI read a lot about storage bags and came to the conclusion that I prefer, as far as possible, not to carry: fork mounted bottles or packs (high aerodynamic inefficiency), a bar bag (seems to have a tendency to bounce around on rough roads) and saddle pack (did a single day race, not a bikepacking trip…). I settled with Apidura’s race top tube bag (sans zipper) that opens and closes really easily, with a nifty catch to keep the closer in place. The bag is waterproof and provides easy access, so this was a bit of a no-brainer to me. It's large enough to house a couple of bars and other essentials. Under the top tube I chose the Apidura Racing frame pack (4lt), which has a nice and big main compartment with an additional flat compartment on the otherside of the pack. This bag is ideally suited for really, really long days of unsupported riding, but I would likely use its larger cousin for multi-day unsupported trips – the storage space is a little on the tight side if you want to put both a rain jacket, emergency gillet and fleece, as well as some emergency items and food in there… I usually use a Specialized micro saddlebag, but for this route I got a mini saddlebag, which is ever so slightly larger and allowed me to pack a couple of additional repair items that I do not usually consider carrying. I was happy enough with my choice, but felt irritated that the heavy little bag came loose on three occasions during the ride. Sure, it may have been drizzling and the roads in the Little Karoo would shake a pensioner’s dentures to smithereens, but it still irritated me that I had to stop and fix the Velcro together again. In future I will use a single layer of insulation tape as a security measure to fix the bag to the bike. Water storageWe had a plan going into the race with respect to the carrying of water. Start with 1.5l to get to the top of Montagu Pass and then fill up to the brink at 57km, with the next water filling opportunity being in Uniondale, at 150km. Thus, we opted for 2x750ml bottles and 1x 1lt bottle. Honestly, I would have preferred doing this long section of road with 3x 1lt bottles, but with the frame bag and the wheel preventing that, we took an additional loose 500ml bottle on our backs in the shirt pockets. Fortunately, the Curve GXR comes with fixings for a third bottle cage under the down tube, so I promptly added a cage there. Turns out not all cages are created equal (one of the lessons I seem to have forgotten…). I used a Syncros black aluminium cage, which seemed to be strong and hold the bottle tightly enough, however the design of the cage is such that when used under the down tube, a full water bottle effectively hangs on the sprung part of the cage – the dentures comment comes to mind again… The Little Karoo roads did not disappoint and soon I heard my bottle cap grinding against the wheel, which I promptly pushed back into position. This didn’t last 500m, at which point I stopped and bent the cage to get the bottle to fit tighly. This process was repeated 3x at which point the bottle could only be forced into the cage, but at least it no longer did a self-ejection on washboard. ToolsSeeing as how Robert and I would ride the entire route together, we planned to not duplicate all tools and gear (thinking knife and mushroom plugs to name a few examples). Our list of tools and spares we took along included: Tubolito; Tire levers; Plugs; CO2 bombs; Chain link; Multi tool (allen keys, torx, chain tool, screw driver, etc.); Duct tape; Mushroom plugs; Chain lube; Zip ties; Victorinox knife; Pump; Tubolito patch kit; Tire sleeve; Valve tool and spare valve core; Spare valve; Spare derailleur hanger. LightsWe both used the Exposure Maxx D Mk13 – what. a. light! Yes, it is really expensive, but is absolutely incredible. No cables, no fuss – it’s all contained in a single cylinder, which I prefer, as I do not like the lights which are connected via a wire to a separate battery pack. It has a 11600mAh battery and various functions (https://exposurelights.com/products/bike/mtb-lights/maxx-d-mk13), which we ran in PGM6, giving the option of 4hrs high power, 12hrs medium, 36hrs low power. Rear light was standard fair – a Ryder flashing red light. NutritionNutrition is a particularly personal thing, so I do not propose my list of items, but can stand by the fact that it worked a charm on the day: 8x Nature valley oats bars 12x Woolies peanut butter sachets 5x NAKD bars 4x Simba peanut packs 1x Lightly salted Lays chips 1x Massive plate of slap chips 3x Cokes 2x Hammer Perpetuem 8x Biogen Hydrate tabs 3x Zang 100mg Caffeine dark chocolate bars Lots of water! ClothingThe day was quite chilly (14deg C), windy and it drizzled for about a third of the route. We had Van H (https://vanh.co.za) custom kit made before the ride and wore their Ventoux bibs. I cannot reiterate more how impressed I am with their kit, the fit, finish and quality of their workmanship is outstanding! Of course, over the course of 15 hours your bum will get sore at times, but I stand by our choice of riding in their bibs (yes, I have Assos Cento bibs, so I make my comparison against the long-distance benchmark) as being an excellent gear choice. I wore a +2 length bib, owing to my length, which I like, as I am skinny and often times get irritated with the short legs on the bibs. I wore the emergency gillet for the entire route, which kept most of the moisture and all of the wind out and also had van H’s UV sleeves on for good measure. Sox were Sox sox (yes I know…) (https://soxfootwear.com ), Francois and his team have a great thing going here, they’re my mates, so obviously I am biased, but I also wouldn’t wear their product if I didn’t think that it would be comfortable for 15 hours in the saddle… We took along our First Ascent apple waterproof jackets (folds into a wee tiny little ball), but fortunately never used it. Emergency gearEmergency gear included the following: Emergency gillet; Plasters – second skin and normal; Bactroban; Pain meds (Mypaid); Anti inflamatories; Space blanket; Water purification tablets; Wet wipes (you know – for those pesky velties…); Buscopan (to prevent those pesky velties…); ICE ID.You've gotten this far - here are some pictures: Exposure light and the packs: The water bottles: Specialized Phenom saddle, micro saddlebag and Ryder rear light: Exposure light again and the Pirelli's: All of it: Who wouldn't stop at this ruin??? Heading into Prince Alfred pass (bliss!!!!!): Who said riding in the night isn't fun?
