I have yet to ride this course. I have a feeling it could happen in the next couple years. So I'm curious. What is the ideal bike for the course?
Cyclocross
Mountain Hardtail
Mountain full suspension
I question the cyclocross tires being wide enough to really feel like you can be aggressive on the downhills. I'm not sure how muddy the course gets. It seemed like we had a lot of rain this year and yet Genine's bike came in much cleaner this year compared to last.
I guess I should have been paying attention to the bikes as they rolled in. It's hard to know who the top finishers are tho' seeing how it's a staggered start.
I have a ton of ideas as to why I'd like to get one bike over another but I'd like to hear what you all have to say about it first.
12 comments:
Matt-
Ed Munch came in with the fastest time on the bike(1:05 or something like that). He is a member of that adventure team in Warren. He works at Blair but unfortunately I don't have his email. He's listed on the road racing section of www.warrenadventures.com . I bet he could give some great advice. He's been riding for quite sometime. ~Michelle
Guess I should have mentioned...he's in the Warren phone book!! :)
My feeling is that a mountain bike of any stripe is good to have in the arsenal. If that course is the type of thing you would be riding, I would say a front suspension is recommended, and rear wouldn't hurt, but isn't necessary either. I have done it twice now, and ride worse stuff than that regularly at home on my hardtail and it's great...however, my rear spokes break all the time, probably as a result of that lack of rear suspension. Everything comes with a weight, though, so you can assess the value to weight ratio. Based on my knowledge of you, I doubt you would "need" a full suspension bike for anything you do, but a suspension fork is really nice for those washboard roads and rocky descents. I have had days where my hands ache from clenching the bars and that is with the suspension. I would not want to try some of my rides without it.
As an added piece of evidence, Bart had a cyclocross bike. It didn't make it. Then again, there were some other variables at play there, including an extra hundred pounds.
I enjoy the added stability you gain from the slightly wider grip stance of a straight bar, and I doubt I would use the drops much if I had 'em. I put the aero bars on every year, and I only use them on the paved sections of the course (and to hold my drink bottle!), and they provide a similar benefit to the drops, but leave me my wide bars for the hairy descents.
From my perspective, this bike for you would be one you would only want to ride when you go offroad, or something to take some abuse, but doesn't need to be a high-end racing mountain bike.
That one Michelle lent to Genine was pretty sweet. How about a couple of those, his and hers?
"His and Hers"??? I like the sound of that! :-P
Cyclocross would be best. Most of the guys passing me fast (because girls did pass me) were on cyclocross. Everything but the big hill would easily be handled by the cyclocross. The bike I rode the first year had smaller tires than most cyclocross. The cyclocross tires would even make you go faster on the paved. Not enough mud to matter and really if you are careful down the hill, not a problem.
If you choose a mountain bike, then it should should be a hardtail. Not enough bumps to justify the suspension. I think energy is lost with suspension bikes unless you absolutely need it for the terrain, you don't need if for that terrain.
In the end, light would be best. I ride my mountain bike than my road. The less weight of the road I always feel faster.
I think Ray Doolittle had a cyclocross, but I may be wrong.
The reason the fast people had cyclocross bikes is because all the serious racers have them and serious racers are fast. The more recreational riders have mountain bikes and tend to be slower. If I recall, you were passed by a gorgeous chick on a full suspension Cannondale, so your observation may be suffering from some preconceived bias. I'm pretty sure Ray would pass us all on a mountain bike too.
I do not agree with the "lighter is better" philosophy. I think repeated successful navigation of the course over time given the skills and abilities of the rider is the most important consideration. If Matt thinks he can successfully navigate his most common courses on a cross bike, then sure, I would agree.
Cross bikes are also more expensive, for the most part. There was a lot more mud last year than this, so the need for fat tires wasn't so stark. If you want to base your decision on one day per year, by all means...
But right before the crash, the cyclocross tire slid out to the side, then grabbed, directing my brother into the pothole.
I can assure you that if I had a cross bike with an unsuspended fork, I would have spent a lot more money on repairing it over the years than I do my MTB.
It's also pretty easy to put cross tires on a mountain bike if you want to reduce your rolling resistance, but not so easy to put fat tires on a cross bike.
Of course the answer, as to so many questions in life, is "It depends." Where are you going to ride? How are you going to ride? How often? How much money do you want to spend? How much are you willing to spend on maintenance? Is an occasional crash acceptable? Does a small weight reduction offset a more comfortable riding position?
For me, the priority of speed comes after successful navigation and comfort. If the bike won't successfully handle the kind of abuse I throw at it, and/or I am not comfortable riding it on that kind of terrain, I really don't care how fast I go on it.
Now I have put in four cents.
Once again, Shawn....very smooth. :-)
Craig - It's nice to see that you have come to terms with "getting chicked" on the bike last weekend! ;-)
Original question poised "What is the ideal bike for the course?"
Regardless of your size, and all your valid arguments for all the valid reasons you state, the cyclocross is the best bike for this course. It has over 6 miles of paved. And half of the forest service road could be ridden on a road bike. The mud only appears when the trees go away which was a small area and truthfully, a slightly less aggressive tire would have reduced the mud sticking to my tire causing weight at the worse part of the bike, wheel weight.
When and if I get a cyclocross bike or my modified version, for your benefit I will go some day and ride the course on my mountain bike (I will do this first, so you don't think I am sand bagging), then ride the course on my cyclocross and I am sure I will prove it is faster on the cyclocross.
Lighter does not mean weaker. Aluminum would definitely handle a guy of your physique, Shawn, and not suffer.
Yes, I am okay with being "chicked", and she was fast, but she was not way fast like the dudes that really cooked the both of us. They all had curly handlebars. Ray was still 5 minutes faster than both Genine and I and had a flat.
I agree with you. For this course, based on the last three years' races and our riding abilities, a cross bike would be good.
I went further than the question asked, and recommended a bike for more general use than one day a year.
But now that you mention Ray again, it would seem that at least two of the cross bikes we know were in the race this year had flats that day. How many mountain bikes had flats? What percentage of each had flats? The fact that Ray had a flat and still beat everyone says more about Ray than the bike.
Also for the record, both of my bikes are aluminum, so I am all for getting a light bike, and I like aluminum. I just don't think it's worth the two pounds difference to risk the flats, get the crap beat out of my arms, and have limited use for the rest of the year. A cross bike is simply not fit for what I do on my MTB 90% of the time.
I look forward to your experiment. Maybe we could ask Ray to do the same thing as well. Ask Jim how many participants we need to make this a valid study.
The input has been great. I think I need to find some shops in the off season and try some bikes out.
I have to admit I am drawn to these 29er bikes.
Cannondale, Orbea (lanza 29er), Trek has a 69er which is 26 in back 29 in front.
The biggest downside to a cross bike was predicted in advance by one of my son's friends who does a lot of biking and works in a bike shop. He said I'd like the cross bike and the only thing I might experience is that when going really fast downhill over bumpy terrain, I might experience the front tire not maintaining full contact with the road, and could start to vibrate or shimmy sideways. Shawn says he experienced that in 2008 with the rear tire on his mountain bike, but since his front tire had a suspension, the rear would eventually just follow along.
So in terms of which bike would be faster, I think the cross bike would be faster at almost all of the course, but for the very fast downhills - and really, mostly just the last long downhill - I'd recommend taking it a little bit slower on a cross bike than on a mountain bike.
- Bart
I have heard good things about the 29ers from several avid woodsy biker types here. I have considered swapping my fork for a 29er, but it seems like (in my case) the rear wheel is more often the one having the problem handling the terrain, as mentioned previously.
I think the 29ers bring out their best in the kind of riding I do, as the larger tires roll over objects much more easily, but as Craig and Bart have suggested, if you are going to be riding logging roads in PA and unnamed dirt roads in New Hampshire, then a cross bike would probably serve you better. It would also feel more like your road bike, which might be more comfortable for you. And it would certainly be lighter.
I, however, say go singletracking, ride over rocks and logs, descend forbidding, overgrown, rock-strewn causeways and drainage ditches! You have two different bikes for two kinds of riding. Take advantage of their strengths.
The 29er can handle everything, from the worst singletrack or downhill plunge to commuting to the city. The cross bike can't handle the drainage ditches.
So you lose a couple minutes in the Tango. You gain years of thrills and extended functionality!
Post a Comment