Prof and I have been racing the USA Crits series with our the Primal Pro Women’s team and were really excited to be representing Roosters/Bikers Edge at our first race together! Sugar House Park is only 3 miles from my house so I had a bevy of friends and co-workers that came to watch. It was awesome!
The local powerhouse squad DNA Plan 7 came out firing sending rider after rider up the road. Prof and I took turns covering and countering moves. Our Primal teammate Kaytie Scott was a huge help reining in several dangerous attacks.

About ten minutes into the race, a prime really started to shake thing

s up with super speedy Kat Carr and pro triathlete Kelsey Withrow getting a good gap on the field. No one was interested in chasing so I attacked at the base of the start/finish hill and caught up to Kat and Kelsey just as Kat nabbed the prime. I was feeling the effort of bridging but I had Prof in my brain saying “when you are tired, everyone is tired–that’s when you need to go!”

Sometimes the truth can be so painful. Kat and Kelsey sat up after the prime and I went with everything I had–repeating the mantra–you’re hurting but they are hurting and they are behind you! After being solo for about a lap, I looked under my arm (can’t show weakness by looking over the shoulder!) to see past Sugar House winner Alison Frye from Ski Utah bridging up. We started trading pulls though it wasn’t more than a minute before I saw DNA’s Breanne Nalder bridging.

With the major teams represented I knew we had a great shot at staying away and so we began rotating and got the break established quite nicely. I knew they would probably try to attack me so I backed off pulling on the last lap. Breanne threw down pretty hard but Alison and I were able to stay with her. Breanne hammered into the last 500 meters with Alison on her wheel. Alison went real early but even though I had to come around in the wind, she had gone so early that I had time to tuck back in behind Alison before coming around her for the win.

Prof took 2nd in the field sprint behind Kat Carr.

It was a great day of racing and awesome to meet some more RBE folks. We look forward to meeting more of  you and are honored to be representing the team at Utah races!

Thanks for reading and see you at the races!

The variety of trails I’ve ridden with the Spark highlight it’s versatility. I’ll cover different aspects of this bike below. The build, as shown is 22.0 lb.

Summary
Buy this bike if:

• You want to cover a lot of trail fast
• You are picky about geometry and handling
• You want something versatile, that can do just about everything

Look to something else if:

• You’re a suspension critic who demand the best suspension performance for fast, rough descents

Suspension shown in the “low” position.

Geometry
I feel this is the most important aspect of a bike design, and this one is ahead of the curve. It has a fairly long top tube that works well with the 69 degree head tube angle and a short stem. Despite this geometry, it resists wandering on the steepest of climbs. It is also very stable on fast, descents, and isn’t held back in the tight stuff. The most confidence inspiring XC oriented bike I’ve ever ridden.

The bike also makes use of a chip that can be moved to switch the angles and bottom bracket height. A chip that fills in the middle position can be used from a lower priced Spark if you really want to fine tune the geometry. If you can detect small changes in geometry, and don’t mind a little trial and error to find out what’s best for you the chip is a great feature.

Low Position – The slackest angles and lowest bottom bracket
• Pros-Very stable on descents, this would be a good setting for Super D races or smoother Enduro courses. The bike feels the most tossable to me in this setting
• Cons-I like to have my seat pretty far forward relative to the bottom bracket, and this puts it in a bit of a rearward position. To get back forward and keep a descent reach to the bars, I almost need to run a longer stem…which could negate the handling advantage. In this setting, the bike more easily settles into mid-stroke of the suspension travel, but a bump in air pressure resolves this soft feeling

Middle Position
• Pros-Confident on descents, but not as stable or tossable as the low position. Cornering on smooth fast trails is amazing. Climbs well, maintains good reach to the bars, and puts the saddle in a more forward position relative to the bottom bracket
• Cons-Not quite as confident as the low position when it’s soft or very fast

High Position
• Pros-My favorite position at first coming off a hardtail. For pure climbing, it initially felt like the best position
• Cons-too committed to the front tire, kind of feel like I’m sitting on top of the bike

Scott rear shock lockout and Rock Shox fork lockout. Stock builds have one lever for both the front and rear suspension

Suspension Performance
Overall I love the suspension, but it’s not for everybody. I bought the frame and built from scratch, so I do not use the TwinLock feature that comes on the stock bikes. Instead I only have a rear suspension adjustment via the TracLock lever, and a Rock Shox XX hydraulic lockout on the fork.

Locked Out
• Yep, it’s rigid. No movement

Traction Mode (70mm)
• I use this position the most, stiff enough that it almost feels like the suspension isn’t moving at all. It is, and if switched to locked out you can feel how much it is saving you from the bumps. I love this as I feel most suspension bikes are too eager to sink into their travel when climbing over step ups and rough terrain

Full Travel
• I use this when pedaling over very rocky or rough terrain. It allows me to stay seated and the suspension is very transparent in floating over the terrain
• Also used for rough descending, I must admit other bikes do a better job when it’s really rough at high speed. It’s not bad, just not best in class.

Drivetrain/Brakes

I’ve used both XTR and XX1 on this bike. I prefer XX1 for everything other than road segments, where the step between the 12 and 10 tooth cog doesn’t allow you to settle into a comfortable cadence. And to be honest, the bike look so simple and clean without all the clutter around the chainrings. XTR Trail brakes are my choice with both build groups; light, strong, good modulation, and reliable. I swapped out to the non-finned pads to save some weight.

Shimano XTR (850 mi)
• Smooth, quite, reliable. I used a Race Face Next crank to save some weight over XTR
• Tried the Shadow+ derailleur with clutch to prevent chain slap and I didn’t feel it worked well. It added lever effort and the shifting lost both the crispness at the lever and the smoothness of each shift

SRAM XX1 (450 mi)
• It’s as good (or better) than everyone says
• Shifts as smoothly as XTR
• Enough range for trail riding
• Never having to shift a front ring allows you to focus on the trail…sections of technical trail with lots of speed variation become quite a bit easier to manage
• Quiet: As quiet as a single speed
• Not ideal if you ride a fair bit of road on your mountain bike

Wheels/Cockpit
I wanted parts that were light, strong, and held up well to hard use. ENVE composites wheels and cockpit have met these requirements.

• DT Swiss 240 hubs: compatible to different axle and brake standards so I can use this wheelset for many bikes to come
• ENVE AM front wheel. Light, wide, and never needs truing
• ENVE XC rear wheel. Light, never needs truing
• ENVE DH bar cut to 740mm. I like my bars wide
• ENVE Seatpost: Light and strong
• ENVE 90mm stem. Stiff and light

Fork

I went with a SID XX World Cup.
The Good

• Excellent damping control not too much bounce when out of the saddle, but plush on just about all terrain
• Light grams with lockout
• Adjustable lockout threshold with easy to use remote

The Bad

• Seems to bind slightly in the bushings after 2.5 hours of continuous riding in dust
• The carbon crown is not as stiff as the aluminum crown on other Sid models, it seems to ride smoother because of it, but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone over 180 lbs who is looking for the utmost in control

Lots of tire clearance, easily clears even 2.4” tires.

Convertible dropouts for Quick Release, 142x12mm through axle, or 135x12mm through axle.

No clutter around the crank. Direct Mount front derailleur mount if you were to use it. Well executed internal routing was easy to install and has virtually no friction.

• 2012 Ridley X-Ride Disc Frameset
• Avid BB7 Disc Brakes
• The new SRAM Type 2 Derailleur versus the old standard
• 1×10 gearing for a cyclocross bike
• Stans Notubes IronCross Wheelset
• Kenda’s new Sealant Friendly SCT tires

Bike Purpose

I am a road racer, that is my passion and that is what I train for. Mountain Bike (XC) and Cyclocross racing fall more into the realm of fun and cross training, and a way to keep training fun and interesting. I seldom race either, but when I do I never bring a huffy. So while the primary purpose of this bike is to provide me with an all-weather, all-condition “go-to” ride, it must also be race-able. For road racing, my tool tool of choice is a Cannondale EVO running the new SRAM Red and fully kitted with a full ENVE cockpit and ENVE 45 Tubulars. Great for racing and doing Strava “Search and Destroy” KOM missions, but not something I will leave on my hitch rack at the hotel or take on rides with too many dirt road connectors. I would even go so far as to say, anyone serious about road racing should own a cyclocross bike. Some local loops and canyons get a bit familiar and stale as the summer wanes, and it helps to open up some road-ish rides utilizing dirt roads or roads with questionable quality.

Biker’s Edge in Kaysville hooked me up with the latest Ridley X-Ride Disc. I decided to go with the aluminum model for a few reasons. First, it is less expensive. Besides the obvious benefit of keeping my wallet fat, I don’t worry about it so much. In the same way you may park you’re brand new car at the far end of the parking lot and walk great distances for fear of getting a door ding, I don’t have to do that. I can leave it locked on my bike rack, tackle any new road without fear of thrashing super light wheels, etc. The finish on the bike is excellent, and the gunmetal gray looks much better in person.

Seat tube has the best double pass welds

Clearly the seat tube is where the frame builder spent the most time. Smooth as a carbon finish provides a seamless junction for the “World Cup” white stripe up the seat tube. The head welds are not as polished, but neat none the less.

Head tube has a nice finish

The bottom bracket area is typical of a single pass aluminum weld job, but looks and feels solid. You may notice a lot of protection tape. I always keep a role of “Helicopter Tape”, which I use in large swathes. I do this because the tape itself works well, is more pliable (doesn’t unseal on sharp edges), and it starts to haze when rubbed. Wait, “Hazed when rubbed”, is that a good thing? On a first time build I like the hazing because it serves as a rub indicator of sorts. Next time I change the cables, I look to see where the cable truly rubbed, and my subsequent protection sticker application can be more targeted. Meanwhile, I don’t have the typical “Oops, I should’ve put that tape a bit higher, oh well” scenario.

Bottom Bracket area weld close-up

Once I completed the build, I hung it on my Park Bike Scale to get the final weight. This includes fairly heavy Look Quartz pedals, and a modest build. Final build weight: 18 pounds 8 ounces (8.391 kilos). That is 4 pounds lighter than last years Ridley Crossbow with similar components but heavier wheels. Definitely a race-able weight!

The Wheels (Stans Notubes – IronCross)

Stans recently released the IronCross wheelset, so I decided to give them a go. There actually isn’t all that much new about them. The rims are basically a 29er version of their superlight 26″ Alpine rims, laced to their own 3.30 hub set. Clearly from my lengthy description and detailed photos above, I do place some value in the ascetics of a bike. In all honestly there is something dead sexy about deep dish carbon tubulars running disc rotors. However, given the purpose and budget of this build, I decided to go for the next best thing, a tubeless ready rim with no brake track. I have been wanting to seal up a pair of the new sealant friendly Kenda SCT Small Block 8s as well, so this was a good choice. I first wanted to see how well the tires sealed up all on their own. The tire fit was a bit tight, but once I had them on the rim snug in the center channel, they pumped the first time using a standard floor pump. No compressor, no sealant, no soap, just pump, pump, and the bead popped into place. They stayed sealed up for 4 days until I finished the build and deflated them to put in sealant for my first ride.

SRAM Type 2 Derailleur and 1×10 Gearing

This is where I spent a lot of thinking time and gear calculations. The last 2 years my training bike was the Ridley Crossbow, running a very similar 1×10 setup with a standard X-9 Short Cage. That derailleur had a strong spring and very short cage, which resulted in gear shifts that I would deem as “violent”. Clicking the double tap shifter, I could feel a wave reverberate through the entire length of the bike. This hard and fast shift caused a wave on the chain and tossed the chain off the chain ring 1 out of 4 shifts. At the time I ran the following gear combination:

Front Ring (44) - Rear Cassette (32-11)

I tried several chain retention options, all failed miserably, and I came home from every ride with greasy fingers after fishing the chain out of my BB, from between the ring and the crossing guard, or from a it jammed between the K-Edge and the ring, you name, it happened. I finally decided to try the cyclocross specific MRP 1.x chainguide. Once I installed that on my seat tube and lined it up, I never had a chain drop again.

SRAM Type 2 Derailleur compared to last years Standard

This year (this month even), SRAM released their X9 and X0 rear derailleur’s with some new features as part of their “Type 2″ designation. The cage lockout feature made installation and chain length adjustment easier than ever. But it was the roller bearing clutch mechanism that I was most interested in. SRAM claims smoother shifts and less chain slap, so I was curious how well the chain would stay on the big ring. My old gearing setup was fine for climbing, but had me spinning out on group rides and downhills, so I decided to up it a notch and change my gearing to this:

Front Ring (46) – Rear Cassette (36-11)

A bit wider spacing, but this would provide me with a better cruising gear in a paceline, while providing a bit better leverage on climbs. Again, this is all experimental, and this gearing change lands squarely in the “What if” category. At first I had a difficult time getting the bike to shift consistently. Turns out there is a bit of a break in period, and it took some short rides around the neighborhood to get it smoothed out.

Disc Brakes – Avid BB7

Really no other choice at this point. I had some scuffed up SRAM Red levers that I wanted to re-use, so these were the best choice. I have seen some snapshots of the new BB7 Ultimate brakes from Eurobike 2012, but I could simply wait no longer. Brake setup was pretty simple, and I liked the fact that I didn’t need any kind of Avid rotor adapter on the frame. The frame comes with post mounts on both front and rear (160 Front, 140 Rear). I would like hydraulics, but that will be an easy switch down the road, as the frameset uses full length housing with ample width in the cable guides. And to be honest, they work great, but more on that below.

The Ride

First ride was really just a dial in ride around town to get all the adjustments fine tuned (saddle, bars, disc alignment). I also like all the bolts and cables to settle. Then I check all the bolt torques again and shifting alignment before a longer ride away from the garage. Yesterday I rode the bike over to a local MTB park and hit the trails. Cruising on the pavement the geometry felt so much like a road bike, I hardly noticed I was on something more capable. I did not mount the MRP Chainguide in an attempt to ascertain the chain retention abilities of the new Type 2 derailleurs roller bearing clutch design. So before even hitting the park, I pedaled and shifted, jumped and shifted, dropped off and shifted, pedaledwhile jumping and shifting all at the same time in rapid succession. No chain drop. The shifting was a bit harder of a push, but when I would drop the chain to the smaller cogs, the violent wave through the bike was almost gone. The chain didn’t even show any signs of jumping, like when it teeters on the edge of the teeth and you have to kick it back down with the toe of your shoe, nope, not even that.

The chain slap was noticeably less. In fact I totally forgot about it, because I didn’t hear the familiar “ping” when I rolled off curbs. It wasn’t until I hit washboard trails at speed that I finally heard something, and even then it wasn’t all that harsh.

Matching white with Lizard Skins DSP.

OK, so what about on the dirt, with roots and rocks and such. I started off simple by dropped into some buff singletrack and the ride felt buttery smooth. Rolling fast through the park, I quickly encountered the rougher terrain. I tried changing gears quickly while dropping off some bridge crossings and over some really rocky sections, the chain did not come loose. That said, I can only go so fast on a rigid crosser with 32c tires. Now if I had rear suspension and some fat tires, I probably could of dropped the chain on some gnarly rock garden with a rear swing-arm bouncing up and down. On one of the downhill trails I did go fast enough to overshoot a turn, managing only to stop by using my shoulder and a tree. The disc brakes squealed a bit as they heated up near the end of my run, but they performed flawlessly. I thought I might feel them tug to one side on the front when braking hard, but I didn’t notice that at all, maybe on account of the fork being so beefy. Given the ample tire clearance, fatter tires are optional, which may push this bike into the realm of Monster Cross. But for now I chose the Small Block 8 because a lot of my riding will be on the road, and I wanted a smooth ride, which it delivers. 40 psi on the pavement, and it was smooth sailing. Once you get used to the narrow bars, even smooth to medium terrain singletrack was a lot of fun, and you can acquire and maintain a good amount of velocity as you slip between the trees.

Plenty of clearance around a 32c

The gearing was great, plenty on the road. My easiest gear (46×36) is roughly the equivalent to running a compact crank with a rear cassette 26 tooth cog. On the trail, I could have used maybe one more easier gear for climbing up a couple steep rockier sections, but for just motoring around singletrack and dirt access roads, I had all the gears I needed. I never noticed the spacing either, in other words, I never felt that I needed a gear somewhere between 2 gears, I could always find a gear that felt “just right”.

Improvements

I can use the full range of gears, but the cross chaining can get a bit extreme when up in the 36 rear cog. The SRAM XG-1080 cassette is not the smoothest nor is it the quietest of cassettes. In fact, I would even say it pings and pangs a bit too much for my liking, but it is fairly light. I have a bucket of cassette options, most of which are boat anchors, but will probably be smoother and more durable in the long run. While I was unable to get the chain to drop, it still makes me nervous as I look down at the bare chainring. Maybe it is because of my troubled past, not sure, but I would feel better running the new SRAM XX1. All SRAM needs to do is just produce one XX1 chainring in a 110BCD in a few cyclocross specific chainring sizes. That’s all I ask, just the chainring, just to give me a little more piece of mind. Would that be so difficult? I don’t need all the 11-speeds nor do I need a 42 tooth rear cog, just the chainring. Pretty Please!

Coming into this years race; Jake was nursing a broken finger, and Jonny was fresh out of surgery to speed the healing of a broken collarbone.

I lined up with a strong field of Pros, including a few from out of state.  It was cool, but comfortable at the start.  I was on a new bike I’d only ridden once before, a Scott Spark 29er that turned out to be the perfect bike for the course.

I had planned to take it easy on the first lap, to avoid the meltdown I had last year on the second lap.  This worked out…for the most part.  Jason Sager rode hard off the front, stringing out the group.  I rode just fast enough to be near the front down the short Green Pond descent, a trail that can be ridden much faster once you’ve learned it.  I didn’t want to be stuck too far back…for fear of a huge gap forming between myself and the front of the race.

Starting the descent from the top of the mountain, an hour into the race, I was in sixth position, and feeling pretty fresh…I figured I could catch one or two riders on the familiar descent.  Just as I was coming up on two riders, they both bobbled on the outside of a switchback, I took advantage and went by on the inside.  I was able to open up a gap by the climb up to Sardine Peak.  My legs weren’t feeling especially fresh, so the two riders caught up (Ben Aufderheide and Peter Kalmes), but were content to follow my wheel over the top.  A small gap formed again by the bottom at the Art Norde aid station.  It wasn’t to last though, as I was reeled in and passed by both shortly after the start of the second lap.  I knew I had to ride my own pace to finish without bonking so I let them ride away.  For the most part, I held my position from this point forward for a 6^th place finish.

It was a good race, and although I didn’t feel as strong as I would have liked, I’m thrilled with the result.  The organization was excellent and the course well marked.

Official Results:

Blake Zumbrunnen started off the race fast with Bryson Perry on his tail, then it was me trying to hold the pace. It stayed this way for the first couple of miles until the course opened up into some double track service road where Byrson Perry pulled away passing Blake. That was the last I saw of him for the remainder of the race… he’s fast! On the service road I was able to pass Blake too, but Chris Holley was on my wheel and remained there till he passed me on some double track midway through the first lap at which point my goal was to stay on his wheel. We rode the next 2 laps this way, Holley a short distance ahead and me trying to reel him in. Unfortunately on the last lap he pulled away. Seems he had some reserve in the tank which I didn’t have or maybe he had a bigger breakfast… who knows. He had a strong race though as with Bryson.

Bryson won with Holley in 2nd and me in 3rd. In this 2 hour race I ended up drinking 4 bottles of water and didn’t cramp or fade which is good in my book.

Fellow Ogden racer Eric Dupuis and I pre rode the course together and his previous knowledge was helpful in navigating the course, which consisted of: (1) the “parade lap” around the start area, (2) 2-mile flat portion on the paved bike path, (3) 6-mile 2600’ climb, and (4) the 9-mile decent with 2 short climbs thrown in. It was still unknown whether the category 2 racers were going to ride the rock garden during the parade lap and/or the rock garden downhill at the end of the lap, but at the end, race directors decided to not include either for us.

At this event, the lineup process was new to me. There was a canopy where the back of the calf was marked with category & age and only after being marked, can you proceed to the staging area. I didn’t have the greatest position at the canopy so wound up lining up 3rd row at the start. After the gun went off, the parade lap proved to be like a criterium but with much worst yo-yo effect, so I wasted a lot of energy trying to keep contact with the strung out group.

Once we hit the paved path, most the group came together. I was a bit nervous since it appeared that many of the riders had little pack riding experience as some riders where pushed off the path into the dirt, and were pinching each other off in the curves. When I found a safe opening, I accelerated towards the front to stay out of trouble in the event of a crash. No one wanted to push wind in front so I attacked off the front with a couple of others going with me, making a gap off the group. I also figured this would make it safer for the upcoming tricky transition from paved path to dirt.

As we hit the long jeep road, a group of 10 caught us and then passed as the road pointed uphill. I expended a little too much energy on that attack and needed to recovery a bit, but was still surprised at the uphill speed of the group. But I sat in recovering and waited for the race to sort itself out as 3 of us floated slowly off the front. The two riders in front made a 25m gap on me by the end of the long steep jeep road climb, but I hoped things would change on the shallower single track climb. After about 10 minutes I reeled in the second place rider and I asked to pass. He let me by and we actually traded the front a few times as I hoped this synergy would help to catch the first place rider. But at this point it appeared first place was long gone.

Once we reached the crest of the climb, I attacked the 2nd place rider to lead out on the downhill while making a good gap. I concentrated on staying smooth and aggressive while not take too many risks, trying hard to catch the first place rider. But at that point, the gap was too big and my hands were fatigued from the long high speed decent. At the end, I held second place with a 5 minute deficit to first place. The rest of the placings came in with normal time spreads of a minute or less. The rider that was with me on the climb lost about 8 places and was off the podium! (He told me that he’s the worst downhiller you’ve ever seen). For him the extra-long downhill turned out to be a liability.

So there you have it!! I had great fun at my first national level race while earning a Category 1 upgrade. I will definitely have to raise performance to be competitive at the next level.

The family and I headed to Ketchum on Thursday, July 5 for US Mountain Bike Nationals.  I wanted to get there early enough to pre-ride the course and not feel rushed.   However, I was hesitant to ride the entire course as it is 20 miles and over 3000’ of climbing.  I went back and forth on whether to ride it and didn’t even fully commit until I started up the climb on Thursday evening.  I am glad I rode the course before the race.

The course is quite challenging and fairly unique for an XC race.  You start with a “parade” lap around the lower part of the Pro loop and then ride 2.5 miles down a paved bike path and then the racing starts.  The Cold Springs trail is a 6.5 mile HC climb that gains over 2600’ from the turnoff.  It starts up a gravel road, turns into jeep trail after about a mile and the last 3 miles or so are single-track.  From the top you have 2 small (less than 5 minute) climbs and the rest is all descending.

After pre-riding the loop I knew the race would most likely be determined on the initial climb.  I also knew that I wanted to be first or at least in the front group once the climb went to single-track since there is little passing on that section.  I figured I would go all-out to the single-track and then reassess there.  The first section of jeep trail had a really steep pitch (~ 20%) that lasted a few minutes.  Two of the pre-race favorites (Ty Kady, 3-time 30-34 national champ and Marco Archoa) surged and I covered.  We quickly got a gap on the rest of the field.  Marco led through the steep pitch and when the grade eased off a bit Marco and Ty sort of looked at each other and slowed a bit.  I punched it.

We were within sight of the single-track portion of the climb so I put my head down and went full-gas to the top of the double-track.  When I turned onto the single-track I had probably 45 seconds or so on the two chasers.  I never really looked back until the top.  I kept my tempo at LT and by the time I reached the top I couldn’t see anyone else behind me.  I knew I probably had a minute or two gap at least.  I started the descent and kept telling myself to not make mistakes.  I took it really easy on the way down.  I was willing to give up time if it meant not crashing and not flatting.  When I emerged from the single-track onto the final 5-minute double-track climb I went as hard as I possibly could.  I was gagging and seeing stars at the top but again I couldn’t see anyone else behind me and I started to think I was really going to win.

I took the really loose double-track part of the final descent extremely cautiously and then rode a nice safe tempo down the final single-track parts.  I hadn’t ridden the final “rock-drop” so I again rode that really cautiously.  When I got to the bottom I was in sight of the finish line and knew I had it.  I pumped my fist, made the final corner and rolled across the line for my first ever USAC National Championship.  This win has been a long-time coming.  I have been on the podium at nationals 6 times but never the top step.  I was met by my wife and 7-month old daughter and couldn’t believe I had finally done it.

Ideally I wanted something that would not just be accurate in measuring my body dimensions motionless, but precise in figuring out all the angles, and movements that my body was making as I rode at my typical cruising speed. I also wanted a cheat sheet that I could use to fine tune my current ride, and give me the information I needed to help choose my next ride.  After a thorough search, I found that the Retul system would be ideal. Now this may sound like a  shameless plug, but I assure you, I first went to the Retul site to see where the system is implemented in Utah. Here is what I found:

Boo-yah, Biker’s Edge! I captured the image above right from Retul’s website. Biker’s Edge, the shop that graciously supports our racing team is the only Retul University Certified Fitter in Utah. I immediately setup an appointment with Tyler at the shop and he was hooking me up to the system within a couple days.

After a quick rundown of what we would be doing, I got up on the sensor platform and Tyler went to working hooking up the bike and sticking sensors at specific reference points on my body. Once everything was connected, the Retul system captured all my movements as I pedaled at about 65% effort. Move the sensors over to the other side, spin the platform around to face the camera, and repeat. Now my left and right sides were compared, along with how much my knees were moving out of alignment, along with with a dizzying array of measurements shown side by side on a big screen behind me. The system analyses the numbers and checks them against recommended tolerances.

Now the tweaking begins. To get the ideal position, changes must be made to the bike, and fresh measurements after each change. As much as I like to boast of my home bike shop, one thing I lack is an array of stem lengths and seatposts with different setbacks. I was also reluctant to remove the carbon headset cap that came with the frameset. Tyler pulled it off and I was somehow saddened to see it go, right up until he said “feel how heavy this is”. I love to climb and I am a weight weenie at heart. Out of curiousity, I weighed the spacer when I got home. Now 17 grams may not sound like much, but compared to the typical 4 gram carbon headset spacers, it was a relative boat anchor, and all of the sudden I was happy to see it go.

Better fit and a little weight savings = win win

Once the saddle height, saddle setback, stem length and stack height were all adjusted, and they all were modified quite drastically in comparison to my typical micro-adjustments, it just felt right. A couple more captures of my pedal motions on each side, a quick check of the numbers, and I was dialed in. The final pedal strokes felt smooth, while my knees felt perfectly in line with no fore/aft pressure. My upper body was lower (more aero), but I didn’t feel like I had more pressure on my hands or shoulders. We verified this by reviewing a photo of me riding before and after the adjustment.

I want to thank Tyler for tirelessly spending close to 3 hours testing every possible tweak and change. In the past most all my bike fittings were the basic fit you get with a new frame and I never really thought is was worth the cost of doing anything more extensive. But when you are going to drop thousands of dollars on a new bike, buying all the right sized carbon parts with confidence is worth it.

Nick, Quin, and Brent showed up to take on some of Utah’s top pros.  Thanks to punishing training from the Salt Lake Tuesday night BushLeague Short Track Series, Quin was able to lead out from the gun up the start climb.  However, the order quickly shuffled and by the single track at the top of the climb; Keegan Swenson had a 10 second gap on Brent, Nick, and Quin.  That gap remained at 10 seconds through the descent and across the flats at the bottom of the course.  The bottom portion of the course consists of some flowy and some techy rocky rolly sections through the sage brush before turning up hill again toward the start/finish line.

Quin was unable to close the gap that formed at the top of the first climb and remained in 4^th place until he was overtaken by Jackson Hole’s Ben Aufderheide on the climb back to the start/finish.  Nate Page of team Kuhl joined up with Quin at the top of the long climb of lap 2^nd lap. These two rode the rest of the race together swapping positions here and there until Nate turning on the gas on the last climb to the finish line. (Note to self (Quin) doing start so hard next race! J)

As for the battle between Keegan, Nick, and Brent……after the descent of the 1^st lap, Keegan hit the gas when the pitch turned up and wasn’t to be seen again.  Nick came around Brent and rode most of the race alone to finish in second. Props to Nick and Brent for holding strong throughout the race.

Brent was passed and gapped by Ben Aufderheide at the start of the second lap, but was able to close the gap back down at the bottom of the descent.  This pattern would repeat itself on the third and fourth laps.  In the end, it came down to a sprint finish, with Aufderheide coming around Brent at the line to take third by inches.

Thanks to Utah State Championship Series for putting on a fun mtb circuit race! If you weren’t able to make it to this race this year it is a must do for next year.

Top 10 Pro Men (Roosters/Bikers Edge riders in bold):