Unravel the scratchgravels XC race report

 Went to Helena and raced the scratchgravels this weekend. This was the first mountain bike race I ever did, back in 2014, on my Kona King Kahuna. I think I won the cat 3 2 lap race, and remember getting lapped by Landon Beckner, who was a pretty promising young junior at the time. My laps were about 27min long and my average speed according to strava was 12.9mph.

I've since improved a little at bike racing, despite now being 10 years older. It appears my fastest recorded lap on strava was 22:10 in 2022, on my hei hei. the last two years I've done it on my procaliber, but the start got moved forward a bit so the first laps aren't getting counted on the strava segment.

Anyway, yeah, been going to this race for awhile now. it's on low elevation trails and double track on the northwest side of Helena, and is a great first race of the season in montana. It's also great for younger racers and beginners and i try to do a little promotion in Missoula to get people to go out to it. This year we had 3 of the team stampede kids but not too many others. Kalispell brought the usuals of Matt, Joel, Stella, Alan was there from bozeman, and I think they were fairly happy with the total registration numbers.

The start is uphill on a double track so it's a little narrow and at best you might get 5 wide on the line. I was on the 2nd row and at the start slotted into about 4th wheel on the left tire track. It took me about a minute to get a little impatient plus I noticed the guys in the track next to me possibly creeping up, so instead of staying there and getting boxed in and being in the bunch for the first downhill corner I picked up the pace and hopped over into the other track, then led over the crest of the first hill and into the turn. going into it first means I got a nice clean wide line and immediately created a little gap, leaving the others to chase me on the generally uphill but rolling double track, then there's an really annoyingly steep short climb into the first singletrack section.

I kept on it and had Matt and one other guy chasing me, just a few seconds back but never on my wheel through most of the 1st lap. You reach the low point of the course and then climb back up on doubletrack to the start finish and that was where Matt got the closest. he was essentially on my wheel but I really wanted to make him work for it since we were uphill into a headwind and he never quite got there. From there it was pretty uneventful- the gap kept creeping up and then I just kept up a steady pace and kept drinking my drink mix, and held on for the win. very cool to get that one and a nice start to the mtb season. Thanks Helena united cycling for putting it on.

Going to the strava data my overall time was over 4min faster than 2022 when I set that "fastest lap." but by selecting first lap it appears i was at least a few seconds faster. Was also about a minute and a half faster than last year on the same bike in similar conditions (cool, cloudy, some very light rain, a little wind). Average speed this time was 15.2, for 4 laps. 

Tire review - Schwalbe Thunder Burt

 Last summer before butte, I found myself with two sets of mtb tires that were getting a little worn down and wanted something that was fast, light, and had fresh tread for the race. The racing ray/ralph combo was been pretty good all around on the hei hei but is a little on the heavy side (770g/tire for 29x2.35 super ground). Pirelli XC/RCs are light at 700g in a 2.4 but never really felt super fast and after a spring of use the grip had fallen off significantly despite the tread wear still looking fairly ok (this is common with XC tires though- the fresh, sharp edges on the little knobs do a lot of work). It also turned out the pirellis test slow on bicycle rolling resistance. They looked cool I guess but yeah no sorry won't be buying those again.

So, deferring to the bicycle rolling resistance charts I went with the fastest tire they've tested- the schwalbe thunder burt

I'd always been curious about riding tires like this full time but was a little cautious. The kenda sabers are super light and fast and flimsy but only come out on special occasions, where these I was going to ride all the time on the hardtail plus at butte on the hei hei.

In 29x.2.25, super ground casing (there's also a lighter super race, which according to brr is slower) they came in at about 630g and measured a little on the small side with my 29mm internal width rims. I want to say 2.2 or so. Skinny and not much to them but the larger size was out of stock. With these on that loose sandy butte course, especially in the first half, I was a little all over the place but on a more normal trail and hardpack dirt they're fine. And they went fast and made it through the race. I didn't weigh my bike but with 630g tires and 1200g wheels, I'm guessing well into the 24s.

With that first set getting pretty worn I recently bought another set because I couldn't come up with a better option. This time n 2.35. They measure true to size on the same wheels and came in at 700g each. Been riding them at 19/20 psi f/r and they give a nice good cushy feel.

Mainly though, these tires roll really, really, really fast. They feel as fast as a good road tire going across town on the pavement and the bike just flies uphill out on the trails. Plus, for conditions where these would be a challenge I have the hei hei with more aggressive tires. My best description of traction on these is "better than you'd expect."

Is this a good all around tire for general mtb riding? no. But if you want to go fast, this is the one. The main downside is that they are expensive for a pretty limited condition, flimsy tire, but all the tires are getting fairly expensive these days.

Montana Gravel Challenge 2024

 I generally write up a little summary of most of my races but rarely post them on here. They just go in a dumb forum thread even though I could easily just copy and paste here too. So I'm going to try to do that more.

I did miss a gravel thing up in polson a few weeks ago I think because I was tired and felt bad and it was raining. This weekend was the 3-day montana gravel challenge, and it's raining. Friday we were out setting up the course for the afternoon time trial plus the Saturday course. Between this morning when I decided to shorten the TT a bit and when we actually raced it got a lot wetter so definitely good call to avoid the twisty descent that was already pretty fucked before it rained more.

Ivan won, followed by Will, another young person who is a speed skater from butte. The actual pro MTB racer was 4th. Then Dan, a damn junior, fucking Ben, then I came in 8th, but 1st in 40+. I think if I hadn't slowed down for a car at an intersection that was headed toward me really fast (but the course marshall did get it to stop) I possibly would have beat Ben and Porter but oh well. First time racing outside with a power meter and am ok with my numbers - 338 average and 361np for ~20min. I can average a higher HR for that amount of time and was asking myself if I should be pedaling harder some of the time but it's rolling and and uphill finish so having something left for that is good.

Rode my new orbea terra with road wheels and 34mm corsa n.exts at like 42/46 psi. Felt pretty decent on the slippery descents and corners. Going to ride same bike setup all weekend I think. Tomorrow is mainly road but with a few dirt parts and it'll be wet and there are potholes and stuff. One of the dirt sections might get cut out depending on how much it's raining. It was greasy this morning then will only get worse.

Then days 2 and 3 happened. Day 2 has been the long gravel stage of the race with 3 being a more road circuit. This year we didn't do the long gravel loop because it's a lot of logistics and probably kind of dangerous especially toward the end of the 1 lane gravel road where you're descending around blind corners. Anyway, 2nd day more pavement, with a few out and backs, one pretty gradually uphill for like 10mi, the next shorter with more climbing. The 2nd section was muddy and slick and I was out of position, went super hard chasing onto the lead group, then was almost immediately dropped up a short dirt climb near the end. Our 2nd group of 3 stayed away and Ivan won so at least there was that. So I think 9th overall but Matt beat me to win 40+. Was a little disappointed because I spent the race not really where I wanted to be, plus dressed for cold and rain which was forecast but didn't really happen, and by the time the hard pedaling began I didn't really have an opportunity to try to take off my gloves and jacket. Essentially my race summary could be "hot, flappy, bad tactics, bad positioning."

Day 3 was the "road race" with an out on dirt to a 10mi circuit that's mostly paved, with a climb on mud but thankfully the descent side was dry. This mud climb is a section I cut out of the TT on friday morning because it was a little iffy and it has only gotten worse over the last few days of periodic rain and cool temps. Andrew was there, who has some pretty good pro road and cx results, and with fresh legs, and definitely wanted the win. Ivan had the overall GC pretty locked down and just wanted a good result and a fun, hard race. We had a good team of like 5 of us, with Ivan's dad, Porter (the jr who beat me in the TT), Brian, and myself. Ivan's dad went off the front early with 2 others and we caught them at the top of the climb. 2nd lap, I find myself riding away with Cory and hold that for over a lap, and then I see a small group chasing us down on lap 3 (of 4). It's Andrew drilling it on the front, along with Will from butte who got 2nd in the TT, Carter the pro MTB racer, and Ivan and Porter. Awesome. I hop on and then Andrew goes up the climb super hard. I'm on the back behind Carter and he gets dropped so I guess I'm dropped too and a small chase group with Jake, Dan, and a couple other guys picks us up. Ok cool I get to sit in for the last lap. After the climb and descent on the circuit, which we took fairly easy, it's about 2k generally uphill to the finish. Things slowed down a bit and I went up the side, not attacking super hard, but getting a gap and going for it. Everyone had been working except me and I kind of blew things up, but Micheal (3rd in TT), got up to me and then another guy Shawn from canada put in a good dig too and just barely got me at the line for 5th. Andrew won, porter 2nd, ivan 3rd, and 6th for me is pretty good for the team. Then Ivan won overall plus I got the 40+ win.

I think I'm happy with my power numbers but also don't have a lot of "not zwift in the winter" numbers. Got an email from intervals.icu after every day of racing. Yesterday I had a pretty good but not good enough average power for the last 40min, today I had a normalized power of 305w for 2 hours plus a best 1min, 2min, and 5min for the season. Also yesterday morning I felt like garbage and my watch told me my "training readiness" was 14. This morning it said 7 but I felt better and had more sleep.

Next weekend is a mountain bike race in helena, then our wed night xc series gets started although I'm not sure what the plan is for that. Usually it's a whole thing for me setting up all the courses and gradually getting the pro xc ready but it's apparently a lot lower profile this year.

Also did a really good job of fucking up my bike. Really hoping the headset bearings are ok because guess where the brake hoses go. The bike, wheel, and tire setup was perfect all weekend though. The guy who hosts the race had bike wash stations in his yard so after every stage I hosed off my bike, put it in the stand and wiped everything down good, then put some silca super secret on the chain every night once it dried out. Even after the nasty slick mud section on day 2 my shifting felt good and drivetrain seemed quiet.

Pirelli cinturato gravel follow up

 Last year I put up a little review of the Pirelli gravel H that I was using. It's here.

I rode those all the rest of the year and was pretty happy with them, although by june-july, as the tires wore and road and trail conditions got drier and looser, I was starting to notice a pretty good lack of grip especially up front. At garden city gravel especially I felt like I was really lacking traction on the final descent, where I got dropped and then just barely chased back on to our group. Not long after that I bought a new front tire- the gravel RC, which is a pretty good match with a little more aggressive knobs. It's a mini version of the XC-RC (which tbh I didn't like that much) and shares the double edge knob thing you see on some other tires like the maxxis aspen and ardents etc.

This combo I like really well when you want a little more traction. The front end bites better and gives you better turn in response.

I rode the gravel H f/r for about half the year and then put that RC up front in the late summer, and overall was really happy with these tires. They don't have the most supple feel, like, say, a handmade challenge tire, but they roll fast and have good durability for all the gravel and forest road type riding I do around here. I had plenty of those impacts where you think "uh oh that might be a puncture" without issue.

So I bought a fresh set of the gravel H tires for this year, although I do also want to try some other things like the conti terra speed, or maybe a challenge getaway, which both test faster than the pirellis by a little but I do like how well these have held up. Anyway, I guess review summary is they get my "would buy again" seal of approval.