If less weight is important, I’d skip the camel back for sure. Good luck on the race Chef!
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Course is great based on the pre riding I’ve done so far, and weather looks really good too……just a little cool at the start. But as soon as we’re climbing the first paved stretch it will feel plenty warm.
I’m sticking with my Schwalbe G-one RS 45s, the volume of a bigger tire is needed in the sandy and single track sections. I haven’t been wishing I had more knobby tires.
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Good luck! It’ll be a great day for sure!
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What a day, I did the wafer 68 miles, 4k climbing.
The first hour was absolute carnage on the downhill Moto segment. Roadies all over the place, saw some crazy crashes on that part. I passed maybe 35 people on that trail alone. The McDowell MTB trail was amazing and honestly so fun on a gravel bike. Conditions seemed dry but I’ve never ridden here so I don’t know how they normally are. I felt like I was back in Florida at parts with lots of loose rocks sort of like sand.
The real kick in the teeth was miles 55-60 going back up the moto trail. Was a great day that I’ll never forget. Came in 8th in my 40-44 group! The top 20 riders overall had times under 4 hours! I finished at 4:22 mins, 58th overall.
Just an awesome day, 90 grams of sugar water an hour for the whole event with 3 bottles and only stopped at 1. aid station for water.
Well I did stop to help get a chunk of cactus off of someone’s butt!
I could go on and on about the day but definitely a mtb style course for some parts. I rode 40c maxxis reavers which held up well. Don’t think I’d go wider but I’m pretty decent at handling and did decent my first time riding these trails. Amazing views too!
Thought I’d share a little info about the event and definitely recommend it to anyone to try it sometime!
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I’m guessing we probably rode together at times today! I finished just a few minutes ahead of you. I’m also wondering if I was the one the one with the cactus on them, hah! It was on the single track return section, and I came around a downhill corner a little wide and got into some loose sand, and end up smoking a cactus. I just kept going, but after a few minutes realized I had chuck of it on my hip so finally stopped to take it off. There were a couple of riders there then, maybe one was you? I was just sitting in my room pulling out cactus needles from my leg, arm, bibs and socks.
Besides my smashing a Cholla, it was a great event. Loved all the single track and moto trails, could definitely pick out the non-mountain bikers. I would definitely like to do it again next year.
It was pretty wild seeing Keegan fly by us part way through, makes you really appreciate the level those top riders are at.
And I was very happy with my 45 g-one RS’, fast on the road and no issues with grip.
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Oh wow, maybe it was you, did you forget your comb? This guy was at the top of one of the hills on the return moto section. Sounds like it might be, we became instant friends after that 
That part of the route crushed me, I felt good until then. If it was you, what a small world !
My mind was blown that Keegan flew past me, they did finish after us, so they did have more left than we did. Either way he must have been flying through McDowell.
I definitely want to do this event again next year.
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Of course I didn’t bring the “cactus comb”……what are the odds I’d actually run into a cactus 
. And even if I did, I wasn’t going to stop and pick out 100 cactus needles in the middle of a race.
I had some thorns but not as bad as you!
Crazy it’s a small world! Great day out there besides the cactus! 
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It sounds like a fun event. Thanks for sharing your experiences and tire choices.
Im just gonna say if Keegan rode 50s then probably bigger was better
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Which tires did Keegan use?
Can’t find results anywhere. I know who won, but are there top 5 or podium results?
Either keegan or sophia had a link on instagram, i think in a reel.
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Maxxis 50 something or other, maybe ramblers. Cant remember. He posted on IG his setup. I think i saw sopia use 47 tracers, but not 100%
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I found it…he used 50mm Ramblers and a Rock Shox Rudy fork on his Stigmata.
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Keegans setup makes sense, especially for him. He a great mountain biker, and there is so much single track that he could really put some time in on those sections, then just survive during the road and smooth gravel parts. And being at the front, he wouldn’t be at the mercy of all the riders around him like we were, especially on the first big stretch of off road. Even if you were on a full sus mountain bike it would be hard to get around so many people and make up much time.
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How very Bonk Bros/Ignition Coach Co of him, lol. Also, surprised to see some big names further down the list. Maybe just still building fitness and not on form.
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There was a lot of singletrack and the moto trails going up were not easy. That last section up the moto trails was my slowest time of the day.
I do agree that even though pros use certain things it’s not always optimal for average Joe’s. I passed a lot of people on singletrack with 40c tires and I might go a little wider next time, but I was happy how my equipment was.
I also could benefit from doing longer rides more frequently. I was doing 1 4-5 hour ride a week. Maybe need to do more 5-6 hour rides. Such a fun day regardless of results.
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Agreed on the longer rides thing. I’m almost entirely on the trainer in the winter, been doing lots of 2 hour rides but rarely anything longer. I felt great for the first 3 hours yesterday, but was coming apart the last 30-45 minutes. Back was really bothering me and the legs weren’t producing much power, and I think if I could do more longer rides it would help a bunch. But I’m not really wanting to spend more than 2 hours at a time on the trainer.
That’s part of what made that last moto section so tough….those punchy steep climbs needed high power and torque and really took a toll on whatever people had left at that point, after already going for 3+ hours.
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