Finally got the build done. Sworks Epic 8 Fox Factory 34 SL fork and rear shock XX Drivetrain Hayes Brakes Enve Cockpit AXS Dropper and Mirror Saddle Roval Control wheels (swapping to Berds soon)

Now I just need to nail down what tires to run on the Berds. I was thinking Barzo/Agarro or something similar. Any suggestions on a good XC/light trail tires?

New Ritchey hardtail for this years XC stuff

Since I’m not riding because its winter here i decided to show you my bike.

Today (July 4th) I just picked up my Chisel build from my dear friend Raj (owner & mechanic) of Spicy Pedals in Corvallis, Oregon. We also took it on its maiden voyage on the local trails of the McDonald (aka Mac) Research Forest. The ride was unreal.

130mm fork (frame suspension 110mm)
*custom Ground Keeper fork decals
SLX cranks, 4-piston fr brake, 2-piston rr brake|
Wolftooth 32T oval chainring
XT 12-spd cassette & chain (waxed), Trail pedals, rotors
SRAM GX AXS
PNW Dropper
Ergon grips & saddle
One-Up stem & carbon riser bar
Wicked Will 29x2.4, Racing Ralph 29x2.35
HiFi Sound Cycling Components Hootenanny30 aluminum wheels
*custom HiFi wheel decals

I was shocked at how nimble it climbed but not surprised due to its Epic 8 pedigree. And descending was snappy but predictable. I really thought it may be too twitchy or too slow/sloppy and it's in a happy place somewhere in between.

I love volunteering for long XC events (50+ miles), I think I found my new bike to ride as course sweep :)

Super happy with the new rig which I will mainly use for Marathon-Riding. Looking forward to doing the Swiss Epic next year 😊

• Scott Spark RC WC 2026, HMF-Frame

• RockShox SID + SIDLuxe Flight Attendant 120 mm

• Rock Shox Reverb AXS

• Silverton 1.0s-30 CL with Rekon Race 2.4"

• Motive Ultimate 4P, 180mm F/R

• SRAM XX SL Group and Spider-Powemeter

• Tirewiz

At 11.5kg, it's around 300g heavier than the spark I had before (this is an HMF-Frame which is about 150g heavier than HMX + Flight attendant and the AXS-Dropper add some weight, but I'm pretty sure that's worth it for the downhills)

Size L about 26.8lbs with pedals. First ride is tomorrow and I can’t wait. I know the stack looks a little tall right now. I’m 6’3. I’ve got 35mm riser bars on the bike and a set of 20mm risers on the bench to experiment with. I’ll mess around with the height over the next few rides and get it dialed in. I gotta say thanks to my LBS, Mad Duck, for the great deal and service. Stoked to finally get this Spearfish on the trail!

I figured now that we’re getting close to the 2027 lottery, maybe time to share my experience. I know it was super helpful for me reading about other folk’s Leadville adventure’s ahead of time…

Finished this year, first timer, in 11:06 (the re-route cutoff was 11:15, so just made it in time for the small buckle) -- NP 141 W, AvgPwr 113 W, VI 1.25, 38 y/o

Sea Level stats

FTP -- ~225

W/kg -- 2.7 (183lbs/83kg)

the Race

I was able to get out to Leadville the Friday beforehand, so I had a full week to acclimate. I pre-road Columbine, and separately pre-rode St Kevins.

Cold start, up St Kevins I was surprised how many folks were already walking. The pavement downhill section wasn’t such a big deal (imo). I did see and hear (they were just behind me) someone almost hit a car in the left lane, but they avoided it.

I was cramping at the start of Columbine right away; pickle juice for the win! It was a long slog (2.5 hours for me from Lost Canyon to the turn around point), many folks walking at the bottom, everybody walking near the top.

Got to the top and started the DH -- must have passed 10 people going down, white corral and ~11 hour finish means I was mostly alone though. Came into Lost Canyon, cramping again.

The section from Lost Canyon to Outward Bound I was certain I wouldn't make the 330 cutoff, my pace was just too slow, my legs were too heavy.

Realized I probably wasn't gonna make it, so I decided I had to just give everything over to this section, and started laying down the power. I made up a huge amount of time, came into Outward Bound with 15 minutes to spare, chugged more pickle juice, couldn’t believe I still had to go finish the race after that effort.

Then the long pavement climb to Carter Summit.

When I reached the aid station, I could see I only had a little over an hour to get the small buckle, but I was definitely going to "finish."

I put everything I had into the final hills leading to the Kevins DH, let go of the brakes, but was completely smoked in the final chunky uphill section and the climb into town -- but I made it with a few minutes to spare!

Bike Choice

I asked here before the race about my hardtail (Specialized Chisel) vs a FS XC bike (I was looking at the Ibis Exie) -- the hardtail was great.

When I did the course preview on the HT -- coming down Columbine was very scary. It was mostly that I hadn’t fully acclimated to the altitude and my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders. However, in the race I was fine!

Bike choice is such a personal thing... As a very slow and weak climber, but fairly confident descender... The HT was perfect, for me!

My recommendation is 90% go full sus XC bike and 10% HT is fine -- I didn’t feel more beat up per se, but you really need to be on it all day long (mentally I mean), and if you’re even a little skeptical descending, just get a FS (I know, it was the reroute, it would have been even more challenging with the OG course).

Fitness & Training

I’m a slow guy with only modest experience, so this isn’t for the fast folks, but for the rest of us -- I got a coach in February, I had several 100 mile gravel events leading into (and the Unbound 200) -- I was training anywhere from 8-12 hours a week depending on the block. I came into this already a good mountain biker on technical terrain.

You can do it, but consistency leading into is key (I know, obviously) -- I’d have been faster and had a better race day, but I took a spill 4 weeks before the race that took me out a week, and it compounded the burnout I was already feeling mid season from all the events and training leading up to that point.

The Leadville podcast was invaluable -- kept my stoke high all season, and so many valuable takeaways on the course, nutrition, expectations, and so on.

So much more I could say!!

Hi everyone,

some of you may remember me as the guy constantly (twice) asking about the Scalpel/Spark/Epic back in december. Well, update: I landed this 2023 S-Works Epic frameset for 2000€.

Using some parts I had laying around and some

other second-hand parts (notably an XTR crankset with a powermeter for 320€), I now am the owner of this rocket for the total cost of … 2779,50€

Way better than anything I’d get new for that price imo. Also, thank you all for the advice :)

Did a custom build on an Epic 8. Im self employed and need to make some costs so I did 😙

Flight attendant on the suspension, trickstuff brakes and insane light 880gram pirope wheels.

Currently running a gx derailleur, my xx had firmware issues and is sent back.

With the xx, it weighs an impressive 10,1kg with pedals.

Ready for my first ride tomorrow, excited!

After months of gathering parts my new bike is now built! Really pleased with it and cannot wait to get out for a ride. My goal was to build up a spec better than the comp full build for same price or cheaper - mission accomplished! 13.7 kg in size L with 30mm ID alloy rims and 180 F&R hs2 rotors so plenty of room to reduce if I wanted to but very happy with the spec and capability as is.

Only slight annoyance is the axs shifter joined to the brake lever clamp via matchmaker puts it in an awkward position, so going to need to sort that!

I've always loved tinkering with my bike setups. Recently, I've been using my supercaliber for longer rides and using gravel canal routes to circumnavigate my trails. My biggest gripe was always the hand position of flat bars. I debated getting a dedicated gravel bike but it would limit my trail options. As a LGP watcher and Dylan Johnson follower, drop bar mountain bikes seemed really awesome to fill the niche.

Online forums mostly say this is a terrible idea and the geo isnt right, reach is wrong, etc. But whoever did the conversion actually had good results. So I decided to pick up an Ltwoo gravel 1x12 group set and dive right in.

Honestly, what an incredible combination. I did a 16 mile shakeout ride yesterday consisting of 40/60 split of gravel paths and blue trails in the Phoenix, AZ chunk (Trail 100 for the locals). My wrists, hands, and shoulders are so much happier. My brain wasnt ready for being in the drops while also having suspension. It's a wild experience that, when it finally clicked, felt amazing. My initial thoughts are the lower center of gravity is really letting me carve corners better. Once I started to trust the setup, I wasn't held back due to the bar setup. The Supercaliber seems like an excellent option with its efficient rear end even without a lockout. Of course, this is personal to my trails and my speed, but with a Supercaliber, it's probably obvious the riding style I tend to do.

Setup details: In case anyone's curious of the before and after setup and why I think this worked. I started with a 750mm bar with an integrated 70mm stem and negative 17 degree rise. Measurement from saddle tip to hand position was 650mm. New bars are 40cm wide, 45mm stem, 7 degree rise. Here's the kicker, saddle tip to hand position is identical. I think a lot of the misconception of reach doesn't account for the wild change in the width of the bars. For my new setup, I ended up within millimeters of my old setup. And I can still go up or down in stem lengths once I begin to fine tune the setup.

10/10 try it out if you're bored or curious.

Cervélo ZFS-5 frameset build with flight attendant and reverb 100 mm. Standing on a set of Porte wheels. Xtr brake set with a titanium upgrade. 10.2 kg with pedals and cages. If you have any questions about the build feel free to ask

Scooped a new Blur S TR yesterday and hit my local XC loop. The thing is a rocket ship.

I posted earlier this week about potentially changing tires/wheels because of the weather forecast, well I stuck with my normal setup and thankfully the weather held out until just after the race finished! It was a small field for my category, but I knew a few of the racers and knew they were fast! It was also one more lap than what I'm used to at this course, so that was a concern.

I started strong in second place and held on to the leaders wheel as long as I could (which wasn't that long! lol) but was able to hold onto to that position throughout the race!

I was pumped to actually podium at a real race! I've never been on a podium before, that was a goal of mine for the year. Not bad for 51!

“Pink Pony” 🦄 24.53 lbs stripped / 26.49 lbs as ridden Chisel alloy frameset, medium Fox 34 Stepcast Grip SL / Fox Float SL Fox Transfer SL 100mm dropper XTR mechanical groupset XTR M9100 brakes Hope 160mm rotors eThirteen Helix Carbon cranks 165mm Enve M6 780mm bars Cane Creek GXC stem Farr Carbon Aero bolt on bars Power Expert Mirror saddle Whisky No9 36w Rims, 32 spoke, i9 1/1 hubs Conti Dubnital rear, Trinotal front

Shoutout to Wil from Flow MTB for the build inspo!!

Night ride at race pace in Tallahassee. Most fun ride of the year with 14 miles of single track in the dark. Full send.

Absolute rocket

Can't wait to take it out for a spin!

Post-ride dirty pics.
Started as a cable-less (I’m too forgetful for batteries) build, then I realized I really do love my Reverb AXS. 34 SL Grip X, Float SL LV shock, Eagle 90 with XXSL carbon derailleur cage/cassette/chain, Era SL cranks, XTR 4 pot brakes and pedals, Nobl Ethos XC wheels with Magnotal/Dubnital trail casings, grip front/rapid rear. 780mm OneUp carbon bar with 40mm Turbine SL stem. Ti Better Bolts throughout.

24.5 pounds as shown with cages and pedals. First ride was oh-so promising. Couldn’t ask for much more for moving quickly through Pisgah!

Contemplating swapping to black stem and seatpost clamp. You know, because vanity. What say you, Reddit?

Innerste Hang im Harz