TransBaviaans with a Gravel Bike

[Christian]

Morning hubbers,

My TB partner has gone to the darkside and has decided to attempt the TransBaviaans next year on his gravel bike. As he will be a little speedier than me on the flats (and potentially the climbs), any advise or bike setup changes that I can start working on now? We have been completing the race in about 14/15 hours on average over the last few years.

I currently have an Orbea OIZ M10 Carbon currently with a 10-51t 12 speed Shimano M8100 casette at the rear and a CSIXX 34t chain ring at the front. I am also planning on upgrading my handlebar to something like the Alloy Aero MTB Bar from RideFarr so I can get in a slighlty better and more aero position when I can. I dont have Kate Courtney's skills to go aero on my fork!

Training wise I am doing about 4 hours on average on the trainer, a 2-3 hour ride on the weekends when work allows and then also a bit of gym work in between. This is mainly running and swimming with mobility work once a week. I am working on increasing my cadence, I usually prefer a slower cadence.
 

[Dicky DQ]

@ a target time of 14/15hrs I don't see ant reason why you cant just sit in his slip everywhere you can and just do a better time.

You should out climb him and on the flats you should be able to sit slip easily.

Just ride the bike you have.

[leon_pro]

I did it this year on my HT, 12spd 10-51, with a 36t upfront.  (13:25 finish time)
Can honestly say there is not much more i would change. 
maybe i will swop back to my Dual SUS, but otherwise no changes. 
Changing the 34 to 36 would give a lot more top end speed without losing to much on climbing. 

And sitting slip does have added benefits. 

[DieselnDust]

if you have SRAM AXS maybe fit a drop bar and drop bar brake levers. This will give you better aero for the flats. His gravel bike is going to need some gearing adjustments anyway as the fangs and clig to bergplaas just isn't going to be rideable without a 0.7 ratio gearing for a 14to15hr finishtime

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, Christian said:

Morning hubbers,

My TB partner has gone to the darkside and has decided to attempt the TransBaviaans next year on his gravel bike. As he will be a little speedier than me on the flats (and potentially the climbs), any advise or bike setup changes that I can start working on now? We have been completing the race in about 14/15 hours on average over the last few years.

I currently have an Orbea OIZ M10 Carbon currently with a 10-51t 12 speed Shimano M8100 casette at the rear and a CSIXX 34t chain ring at the front. I am also planning on upgrading my handlebar to something like the Alloy Aero MTB Bar from RideFarr so I can get in a slighlty better and more aero position when I can. I dont have Kate Courtney's skills to go aero on my fork!

Training wise I am doing about 4 hours on average on the trainer, a 2-3 hour ride on the weekends when work allows and then also a bit of gym work in between. This is mainly running and swimming with mobility work once a week. I am working on increasing my cadence, I usually prefer a slower cadence.
 

Agree with the others, if the plan is still 14 hours I wouldn't change anything. He is going to be slightly faster than you on the flats but not by so much that you can't slip him, even if you keep the 34t chainring. 

Maybe do a few training rides together before the race to get a feel for how/if the dynamics change?

[Mamil]

51 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

if you have SRAM AXS maybe fit a drop bar and drop bar brake levers. This will give you better aero for the flats. His gravel bike is going to need some gearing adjustments anyway as the fangs and clig to bergplaas just isn't going to be rideable without a 0.7 ratio gearing for a 14to15hr finishtime

True that

[Christian]

3 hours ago, leon_pro said:

I did it this year on my HT, 12spd 10-51, with a 36t .  (13:25 finish time)
Can honestly say there is not much more i would change. 
maybe i will swop back to my Dual SUS, but otherwise no changes. 
Changing the 34 to 36 would give a lot more top end speed without losing to much on climbing. 

And sitting slip does have added benefits. 

Thanks Leon, definately thinking of the 36T chain ring and glad to hear to have done it with a similiar setup in our timeframe.

[Christian]

2 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Agree with the others, if is still 14 I wouldn't change anything. He is going to be slightly faster than you on the flats but not by so much that you can't slip him, even if you keep the 34t chainring. 

Maybe do a few rides together before the race to get a feel for how/if the dynamics change?

Yip, this is also the plan, but we live in different cities about 4 hours apart, so trying to maximize the training and bike setup on my side so we use our training time together well

[openmind]

https://theradavist.com/are-mountain-bikes-just-faster