Like many of my fellow participants in last year’s Breck Epic, I had no illusions of glory heading into the six-day stage race. I certainly posed no threat to the men’s overall champion Alex Grant. Sure, I could probably beat him at drinking or doughnut eating, but that’s not his game, nor was it mine for six days last August.
While my fellow tech head James Huang focused on making his Ibis Ripley as light and speedy as possible for last year's Laramie Enduro, I took a decidedly different approach to the Breck Epic. My strategy was simple: ride strong, keep the rubber-side down and enjoy each and every mile of singletrack (and there were plenty).
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There is plenty of time to take in the landscape while gasping for air on the high altitude climbs
With that in mind, I focused on building a steed that, while still completely race-worthy, placed a premium on fun, rather all out performance. In short, I measured my components by trail-induced grins, not grams.
Does this sound like your type of racing? Then read on, because even if you never toe the starting line at the Breck Epic (which you should) you might still learn a thing or two about building up a race bike that you look forward to riding when you’re not rubbing tyres and racing the clock in your superhero outfit.
- The course: The Breck Epic, a six-day mountain bike stage race that totals 240mi in length and nearly 12,200m of climbing
- The equipment goal: A light, efficient and reliable stage racer that would see me through six days of racing
- The horse: Santa Cruz Tallboy 2 with a cherry-picked build kit intended to maximize fun and minimize suffering
Frame: Santa Cruz Tallboy 2
Suspension: RockShox RS-1 fork and Monarch DebonAir shock
Drivetrain: SRAM X01
Brakes: SRAM Guide RSC
Wheels: ENVE M60 rims
Tyres: Maxxis Ardent and Ikon
Cockpit: Tried and true components
Post race recap
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