US Gravel National Championships course preview 

None of that has to do with a national championship. People that do nationals for any sport expect to plan and spend money

I think people that do these Races plan, hope and expect to be sponsored. They plan for the sponsor to pay

Thanks, Hung.

😂

I bet he races fixed gear category too.

BIG shoutout to Andrew Kraft! Such a good dude

@@bensachs1855❤❤ my man!

That description you come up with is something you should trademark…

Sure is. Albeit a little more firm this time around!

Jumping between different bikes, the biggest thing I notice is variations in fit and feel: stack and reach, handling, comfort, tires, saddle, cockpit, etc. Performance? Nope. I mean, there's no way to quantitatively compare apples to apples within an event. Performance-related variables can be measured, of course, and their effects even modeled out with something like Best Bike Split: weight, c/da, rolling resistance. But the differences in *similar* bikes are pretty small, and the variables in any event are huge. We can see noticeable differences between broadly different things: an aero bike with deep wheels at speed will be faster than a standard bike with shallow wheels, and a crazy light bike will be faster uphill than a super heavy bike. But if you're comparing like to like (aero bikes each with 50mm wheels and the same tires/width/pressure), now you're getting into the realm where the differences are *measurable* in a lab, but probably not *detectable* by regular riders in terms of performance. Feel, perhaps; time gained or c/da reduced, no. So I think that the three main steps for good performance are: -get a bike and gear appropriate for the goal at hand -dial in the fit and feel (position, contact points, tires, tire pressure) -work on the engine! Feeling unsure of yourself or your bike or your tires or your deep wheels can definitely affect you mentally, which will affect your performance. Kinda a rambling answer, sorry!

The Giant Revolt went back (sigh), and I don't have Melee road bike in for test. I did just get test models of the Ridley Kanzo Fast, the Argonaut GR3, and the Riverside something or other. So maybe one of those? Almost certainly 40mm Schwalbe G-One RS tires though.

Oh, shoot; you are right! National championship non-binary race for the 131mi distance. Also a singlespeed category. Good catch.

Don’t worry I’ll have some for ya