Can a gravel race bike get me through an ultra?
I don't really know, but that's what's been tumbling around my mind lately.
Those of you who know me, have ridden with me or follow me know I've got a rather tasty 3T Exploro Racemax. It was a spontaneous purchase during my time at Rouleur.
I was - at the time - won over by the simplicity of the thing. One bike, with the characteristics to do gravel and road with some basic tweaks. Little did I know this would be an innovative concept and lead to a seismic industry shift in the years to come.
Regardless, that was my justification. One bike I could use to go off-road, race in bad weather, club rides in the winter and maybe even a little cyclo-cross.
Interestingly, with the benefit of hindsight, I might have made a different choice. But I'll come back to that.
Returning to the Racemax, for those that don't know it, it's a relatively aggressive, aero gravel race bike—designed to tackle fast gravel roads and the paved roads in between with equal (deftness). The question I've been asking of it recently though, is would it survive a gravel ultra?
For those I've spent time with recently, you'll know that I've got a somewhat strange fascination with Badlands. An 800km race through not one, but two deserts in southern Spain, with the 2023 route climbing 16,000ft of elevation. It's a little bit spicy and it's - for some odd reason - made its way onto my bucket list. The terrain is challenging, steep, rugged and demanding, so I'll need both bike and body to be ready for such a feat.
Now the realist in me would say that if anything was going to hold me back, it was going to be me. This is likely to be my biggest issue and one I still hope to solve over the next 12 months. But the optimist in me thinks, "I wonder if a different bike would make it easier". This may be unfair to my dear old 3t which has already proven itself capable around some tough trails in the UK, but my confidence was shaken when 3t released the Racemax Ultra, built for bigger tyres, bigger gears, bigger distances and bigger adventures. It made me question the specialism of my own bike, would it look after me in what would be my biggest challenge ever, or would I regret not opting for something a little more suited?
Let's explore that for a moment, as you're here and you've made it this far. The Racemax is fast, rigid, reasonably comfortable at the right tyre pressures and impressively light. What it lacks is in the detail. Gearing is tough. If you want 2x you're limited in your chainring and tyre size, needing to compromise on one or both. Tyres themselves top out at 43mm for a 1x setup on 700c wheels. You can opt for smaller 650b wheels but that's an added expense I could do without. Mounting points are plenty, fortunately, but I do have a bugbear with the cable routing on the top tube which disrupts your ability to secure top tube-mounted accessories. Lastly, the geometry is pretty, well, racy. It does say it right there in the name, but just to reiterate.
All in all, it's a very capable bike, but not without some compromises. It's a big question, but the bigger one is do I act on my gut and make a change, or stick it out and see what happens? I might be 24 months away from attempting Badlands, or it might be on the horizon a little sooner. Who knows?
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