Category: 29er
Caveman, on Specialized 29er Epic, finishes 3rd at Bend Super D
Conrad Stoltz on Specialized 29er Epic at Bend Super D by www.allsgood.com
This is the 2nd of the 29er trilogy. XTERRA USA Champs report next…
Bend Super D. A “Super D” is a long somewhat technical downhill race which involves some pedaling. When I heard Bend is having a Super D down Funner and Storm King from Wainoga ski park, I just couldnt resist. Funner is just such a fun trail, plus you get to shuttle for 2 days. Unfortunately I cold front rolled in, and it POURED with rain for 2 days straight. So I didnt do any shuttle runs.
Even though I have a garage full of long travel Specialized bikes (2010 Stumpjumper and 2010 Enduro), I went for my Specialized 29er Epic. Only 4 days after the Cyclo Cross race (on this same bike) I only had to make a few small equipment changes to race two wildly different races. But it didnt stop the guys at the start gate from laughing at the white paint job, Renegade rear tire and 140mm rear rotor. He who laughs last…
This race appeals mostly to the trail rider type- which is 80% of Bend. (As opposed to the tight red spandex type) I did try to tone it down with baggy pants, booties, my Specialized Vice helmet and Oakley Moto Cross goggles. In the process I learned that that white
Caveman on Specialized 29er Epic, finishes 2nd at Thrilla Cyclo Cross
Conrad Stoltz -my 1st Cyclo Cross experience. On a mountain bike. Ok, a Specialized Epic 29er, but still a mountain bike.
If you were expecting the XTERRA USA write up, its coming. Actually, this is the 1st of a 3 part series of the 10 days leading up into XTERRA Nationals, explaining my interesting preparation, but mostly just mouthing about how amazing my 29er Epic is- which I did all 3 races on.
When I rode my 1st 29er it was love at first sight. I was so impressed with its rock riding ability I put this bad video on youtube in 2008 and it has over 36 000 views already. Wish I was smart enough to put some voice or music over it.
Then I was all fired up for 29ers, I wanted to race them. 1st time I did was at XTERRA South Africa in 2008.
Then I got onto to those poor MTB engineers at Specialized, I started nagging at them for a race 29er for over 4 years, and I bet when they see me coming they quickly duck behind a planter or into the ladies toilet. But finally the bike came, and frankly, it blew the doors offa my expectations and Specialized is yet again, THE leader in the industry.
Back to the story:
I decided to jump into the 3rd leg of the much lauded Thrilla CX Series in Bend, OR. Bend is a bike crazy town- half the community watches these midweek ‘cross (that the cool way of saying it) races and the other half races. And I leanrt that a true ‘cross fan can be a scary thing….
I felt like a bit of a doofus on the start line with my mountain bike with balloon tires, Command Post and water bottle. Suspected I’d be booted into
XTERRA Alabama preview
Yup, I brought the big dog. This is the perfect 29er course- fast, rocky, rooty and technical.
For more on 29ers, visit my my 29er page on Facebook
-Command Post telescopic seat post. (notice dropped seat height for the technical terrain) I wrote about the Command Post exhaustively on this previous post
-Specialized Fast Trak LK S Works 2.00 tires. 24psi front and 29 psi rear. This course has a super rocky high speed section with some water bar jumps, so I run more psi than I normally would.
I’m very tempted to run The Captain 2.00 in the front- it has taller knobs and corners better in the loose (or if it gets wet), but they roll quite a bit slower, (about 30W vs Fast Trak) so I’m going to go with the Fast Trak, use the Command Post and finesse the loose corners.
-Roval carbon wheels- super stiff and light.
-LOOK Quartz Ti pedals
Blood Rock is famous here on the Oak Mountain, Alabama bike course. Thanks to BUMP for building, maintaining and advocating this epic course. On race day, its lined with spectators, who take incriminating pictures of failure and cowardice…
Getting technical- bike set up for XTERRA Waco
I’m very lucky to have a full quiver of Specialized bikes to chose from!
After watching a few youtube videos on the Waco course, I decided to travel to Waco with my 29er Epic (Aluminium)- it loves rocky, rooty and twisty. But 30min into pre riding the course on wednesday I had to call a friend to ship me a kiddie bike. (with 26inch wheels) Its true, TV (and youtube) makes courses look flat! OK, my legs were also seriously dented from training, but this course has about 20 short, granny gear climbs and I think the number of times your speed falls below 5mi/h was a lot, a lot. In other words, there was a lot, a lot of acceleration from almost stand still– the one 29er drawback. The (only) other shortcoming to this 29er is weight- the white bike is 5 lbs more than the one in the white wrapping. For now…
The Caveman Cometh (and he’s on a 29er)
So, you are a trail mashing mofo; gnarliest of the gnar. Yes, you are a fit machine and can ride. You have skills. Skills, eh? How about swimming, mountain biking and running — as in consecutively… in one day… at race pace?
Whaddya say? That off-road triathlon stuff — Xterra — isn’t for true mountain bikers? It’s so easy even a caveman could do it?
Straight-up fact: The Caveman does make it look easy. And the Caveman will make it look easy as he smokes you out on some technical singletrack — on a big-wheeled bike, no less.
He isn’t racing Xterra — yet — on a 29er, Conrad Stoltz rides his Specialized Epic 29er the rest of the time. CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS IN THE SLIDESHOW BELOW Photo by Seth Lightcap
A couple of weeks ago I did an interview and shoot with Singletrack.com editor Jamie Bate (and photoman Seth Lightcap) in Truckee. We talked 29er, kicked some ideas around and I have to say I’m quite stoked with the result. This website has some real meat to it. Informative, technical material for the serious trail rider.
Here is the complete article from SingleTrack.com
Visit Stoltz29.org for my 29er manifesto
