Dirty Kanza 200; Race Rig Test

Dirty Kanza is coming and I just got my bike back from having a pretty serious rebuild. Based on my experience from the Rock Cobbler and the gentle crash at Strada Rosso I made some serious changes to the overall set up.

First up was stripping all the SRAM off of it except the cassette which is a 12-32. Shimano doesn’t make one that big in 10 speed. I repurposed the Shimano Ultegra Shifters from my road bike rebuild. I added a CX-50 (46/36) crankset. The front derailleur was also replaced with a CX50 version. This follows the narrower circumference of the chain-rings and should make for easier shifting vs. using an Ultegra derailleur. An Ultegra Long Cage rear derailleur was fitted at the rear

The drivetrain was connected with a KMC Chain which has link cut-outs, this should drop any mud I pick up and save a bit of weight.

The brakes I left alone and were the TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes.

I have finally decided on tires. I will run Clement MSO Xplor 40mm front and 32mm rear, I am a bit worried about mud clearance and while the 40s do fit in the back it’s tight!

I took the bike out for a test ride over some of the gnarliest terrain I could find and it held up perfectly. I was able to ride up slopes that were around 20% and some MTBers were walking up and down slopes and single track that would make be baulk on my dualy!

So with all that said, bike is ready! Ten days to go!

Dirty Kanza 200; Weeks 3 & 4

This week and the next was always going to be tough. A crazy project work schedule had me working through the night and on weekends. Rather than freaking out about it I just decided to think of it as enforced rest over the 14 days I was able to ride my bike 6 times so I’ll combine them into one post.

Monday Trails and Recovery. Always nice to spin my legs in the dust. Also a good oppotunity to spin up the new gearing. Found a new trail. The view was terrible!

Tuesday Sufferfest The Wretched Finally able to ride as strong as I should be able to. Listening to my body and not over-cooking things on Sunday and having a bit of fun paying off! Less than 4 weeks to DK200.15 min warm up and the The Wretched;7:00 warm-up. 35:00 featuring flats, three major climbs, three very short descents, a valley and a rolling run in to the finish. 4:00 Cool down.

Wednesday Sufferfest The Long Scream. 5 mins warm up and then 30 mins on increasing effort just under and the just over FTP. Equaled best 30 min effort of 241. Hard work but I am not feeling crushed by it!

Thursday and Friday was all about work. This was my sleep schedule from my Garmin Fenix3

Saturday FTP Test. The work schedule has me working in the middle of the night several days this week including being up for 30 hours straight. So I ended up being off the bike for two days straight. My legs were well rested and it seemed like a good time to do a test. Added an extra warm up to verify legs felt good. Rode 4x5 minutes strong, rest, build, all out. Very happy my FTP went up from 243 to 249.

Sunday thru Friday was off and at work

Saturday Recovery. Mental Release, crazy 10 days of work including nights and weekends. First ride of the week!

Sunday …took the Lynskey out for a test ride on the upgraded gears! You can read about that here!

Ok so no totals, I got done what I could get done. Time to move on!

Bye Bye 3x! Hello Two-by!

It’s inherent as a bike owner that you want to change things…or maybe that’s me!?! I have had my Orbea Occam 29er for a couple of years now and having put some miles on it while waiting for parts etc I decided to pull the trigger and go from a Triple to a 2X. Less shifting, less weight, less complex! I am never in the big ring, it’s completly redundant!

I hunted around and found a drivetrain (cranks fornt and rear deraillieur) that was used with low mileage, picked up a new chain and cassette and I was good to go. Having ridden it for a couple of months now it’s defiantly an improvement, the only thing I am missing is that super climbing ability that I had before.

Maybe I will put on bigger cassette down the line but until then I will just pedal harder or faster!