Cardio Goth

My Fairlight went in for a service and I used to opportunity to throw on a pair of Rene Herse Hurricane Ridge 42mms and, based on @Benky's recommendation, an 11-40 cassette (not because I have any aspirations of emulating his achievements, but because I'm fat and I need the extra range for hills).

I wasn't on the bike, but my gravel crew have a Friday morning "coffee outside" tradition, so I took the dog along and talked bikes and BS.

Finally took a photo on a morning ride! (Also happy with finally averaging over 30km/h for 2+ hours on a steel gravel bike with big, knobby tyres)

I ride quite a lot of gravel and have for a few years. I've done some relatively tough bikepacking, done a 200km gravel race, and various other 'gravel' things, all of which I've trained for on pavement, cobbles, gravel and MTB trails near my house. I've ridden the same training routes and segments on everything from a light gravel setup (38mm Spez Pathfinder Pros on a Fairlight Secan) to a more rugged setup (42mm Spez Rhombus's on a Lauf True Grit) to a frankenstein setup (Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge 55mms on a 100mm travel hardtail) to a more traditional hardtail setup (Good Year Peak 2.4"s on the same hardtail). Some of the routes and segments are infinitely faster and/or more fun on a gravel bike, and some of which are faster and/or more fun on a hardtail. For gravel roads, I'd pick a gravel bike anyday - it will be faster. When things get chunkier, gravel bikes get slower (certainly for me, a not-particularly-skilled rider) and MTBs are more fun. Tomorrow I'm doing an almost-completely gravel route with a friend who is fitter and faster than me. I'll be on my hardtail with the Rene Herse tyres which are pretty efficient on smooth gravel, and he'll be on a gravel bike. Even if I was as fit as him, I would *** off trying to keep up on everything except the few strategically-planned chunky descents and really steep climbs. It's just reality, but it doesn't make it any less fun. On topic.. It's nice to see Shimano finally not quite doing what SRAM did .. 5 years (?) ago. In 5 years time when this is electronic, it might be really awesome (spoken as someone who loves GRX Di2 2x)

Silca says hi: https://silcavelo.eu/collections/inflation/products/superpista-ultimate-plus-hiro

Early MTB / Gravel ride on a perfect, quiet morning.

I'll add my vote for Evoc - have used mine to take a gravel bike to Iceland and a 29er mountain bike to Sweden, and it's been perfect.

Spent the morning melting and watching my much fitter partner from Rad Race 96 Hrs riding off into the distance on some primo gravel. At least my knee held up.

Yeah, there's a world of difference in feel between my Fairlight, which feels balanced, and, for example, a Surly or a similar lower price steel bike, which feel heavy and 'dead'. (There's also a world of difference between the Fairlight and my carbon Lauf, which feels stiff and nervous in comparison.) The Fairlight was the first bike that I've owned where I could feel a difference from the very first ride.

First two rides after my knee decided to give up 260kms into Rad Race 96 Hrs in Sweden. Three weeks of rest and rehab later, it seems to be OK. Summer in Vienna is pretty epic though, even if it's absolutely baking..

I'd argue that Di2 2x is still better than SRAM 2x and that there are far more 2x bikes set up with Shimano than SRAM.

Just a basic multivitamin and a separate magnesium supplement. I should be better about a protein shake after training, but I'm not.

Given that you're on the heavier side, you'll be grateful for any extra low range, especially as you get tired. I'm not light (90kgs) and with a loaded bike or a long way into a big ride, it's always good to have.

Hold out for 40t.

Agreed. These are the best gloves I've used in serious cold.

It was a 620km race through rural Sweden - unfortunately I had to scratch after a really good first day - 255kms in, on track to finish in the top 25. I rode the last four hours of day one with serious knee pain (likely from the heavy bike and undulating route), and started day 2 after 3 hours of sleep with not being able to ride up the first climb, so I scratched. It was pretty heartbreaking to have to collect my bike bag at the finish without actually finishing, but an amazing experience nonetheless.

Go with the USWE or the Apidura vest. The USWE vests are super-minimal, but very light and comfy and allows access to jersey pockets. With a 1.5L bladder you don't even know it's there, and, along with 2 bottles, you have 3L of water which is plenty for what you're trying to do. I haven't used the Apidura vest, but a friend of mine swears by it.

This sounds like something that Surly has been trying to perfect - maybe instead of reinventing the wheel, there is something that could be done around importing a bunch of Surly frames and doing custom builds based on your specs above?

Big weekend of prep for 96 Hours - 530kms & 4000+ meters of climbing in 23 hours of riding over 3 days from Vienna, through the Czech Republic into Slovakia and finishing in Bratislava. The stats don't do it any kind of justice - the second day was one of the hardest and most beautiful days of riding I've ever had, especially after covering 210km the day before.

Just a short checkup ride on a heavy bike before three days of regretting my life decisions..

Yeah, I'll try the Mezcal next, seeing as I've already bought the Fleecer Ridges. Hopefully they last long enough to justify the price..

Summer has arrived and I've had a decent weekend on the bike preparing for 96 Hours.

Ahem.. Classified Powershift would like a word 😃

Currently running the Peaks in 2.4 - the back has worn pretty quickly, but no other issues.

It's quite worthwhile looking at the Bikepacking Race Rigs series on Bikepacking.com to see what people are using: https://bikepacking.com/bikes/bikepacking-race-rigs/ - the most common options are Vittoria, Rene Herse and Maxxis