Next weekend is the first race of the year. The Ouachita (Wa-sh-it-ta) Challenge in Arkansas is 60 miles of some of the best singletrack in the entire USA! Littered with tons of sharp rocks this course takes a huge toll on equipment and body. Last year I ran a aluminum HT for the race due to a lot of dirt road sections connecting that awesome selection of singletrack. This year, the course sees a change towards more trail and less road. This is where I made the choice to take the FS bike over HT. Below is the bike I plan to run for the 60 miles.
Carbon FS bike from the folks at Rotwild.de
630mm wide Syntace bar with the new GX3 grips/barends.
Because of the sharp rocks, I am going with the tried and true Continental Race King 2.2 Protection....set up tubeless with Stan's.This will be my last race on Shimano XTR. For 2010, the team has partnered with SRAM to run XX for the 2010 season and beyond. When the new bikes arrive while we are in Arkansas, we will return to a massive bike building session to get the rigs ready for the next event, Sea Otter.