As I personally see it, the preparation for the Transcontinental Race can be broken down into four major tasks: physical training, route planning, packing list and bike setup. In a previous article I’ve provided detailed insight into my packing list also discussing my decision-making process on the individual items. Now it’s time to do the same regarding my bike and setup choices. By the way, I’ve paid for all of this with my own money, or in other words, whenever I talk about something positively, I do so because I made good experiences using it and since I’ve done quite some riding before the TCR chances of me appreciating what I’m using are high.
- Frame: Time Alpe D’Huez 23
- Bottom Bracket: Hambini Racing BB386EVO Bottom Bracket
- Wheelset: Bontrager Aeolus 3 TLR
- Brakes: Shimano Dura Ace Disc
- Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace FD-R9250
- Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace RD-R9250
- Cassette: Shimano Dura Ace CS-R9200 12 speed 11-30
- Crank Set: Shimano Dura Ace R9100 with Power Meter
- Chainrings: Shimano Dura Ace 52-36
- Bar/Stem/Extension: Black Inc Integrated Aero Barstem with Extensions
- Bar Tape: Supcaz Super Sticky Kush Star Fade black/white
- Seatpost: Black Inc Carbon Seatpost
- Pedals: Look Keo 2 Max
- Bottle Cages: Tune Wasserträger 2.0
Frame: Time Alpe D’Huez 23 Road bike – Size XS
For almost five years I rode a Trek Domane SLR size 52, whereas the 52 translates into a size S/M. During preparation for the TCR, approximately half a year before the event, I’ve installed another set of bars with aero extensions, and I just couldn’t get the fit right anymore. During a 500-kilometer preparation ride over two mountain passes I developed severe knee pain to the extent that I couldn’t walk properly the days after. I was already aware of the fact that my bike was on the larger side for me but swapping the frame is quite a costly matter. Nonetheless, since I simply couldn’t see myself riding this bike for the entirety of the TCR, I took the decision to build a new bike.
As I’ve always been into bike-tech I’ve done a lot of research beforehand already. To me the two most important things when it comes to building a bike are fit and quality. Regarding fit I did schematic drawings of my body, which I then cross referenced with the future bikes frames size and geometry to get an understanding of things like hip and knee angle plus reach. Since I very much like to toy around with numbers this has been a way for me to come up with approximations that stably correlate with me sitting on a bike comfortably. This now leaves me with the quality side of the bike frame, which is a tricky one. To come up with an as educated decision as possible I basically form my opinion using three different sources: the Peak Torque YouTube channel, the Hambini Engineering YouTube channel and the Lüscher Teknik YouTube channel plus as many images as I can find of all the different angels on the bike, preferably with measurements being conducted. After lots of videos watched, reviews read, and bike geometry data compared I concluded that the Time Alpe D’Huez 23 Road Bike frame was the one to go with for me. And I have to say, now, that the frame has just shy of 10’000km on it, I don’t regret this decision for a second.
Finishing kit: Black Inc. cockpit and seat post
It was clear to me from the beginning that I’ll be running bars with extensions, and I wanted to find an integrated solution, that still allows for some degree of adjustability. Nonetheless before that I had to figure out how low I can comfortably get, and for that reason I’ve experimented with different Profile Design aerobars on my gravel bike. I ended up using the Profile Design Subsonic aerobars, which put your forearms almost at the height of the bike’s bars. That’s quite a bit lower than what’s achieved with standard clip-on aerobars and from there I took note of the stack height. Checking different options, I ended up with the Black Inc Integrated Aero Barstem with Extensions. In terms of reach I run a 90mm stem and the bars are 36cm narrow with a 7° flare, which puts their width in the drops at 38cm. 36cm at the hoods is on the narrow side of things, but since I’m a small and rather narrow fella, this makes sense in the way that I can rest my hands in a comfortable and relaxed position.
When it comes to setting the extensions up, I know that I feel most comfortable in my shoulder region when the tips of the extensions are pointing towards each other (inwards), and my thumbs are lightly touching. Furthermore, I must move the extensions as far back as possible and the arm rests into the mounting holes that are back the second furthest. The pads are rotated inwards a little bit more than the extensions themselves, which again puts my shoulders in a more relaxed position. Running the extensions and arm rests in these placements is extremely comfortable for me. I believe this is of utmost importance, as the more time you can spend in the aero position you’re not just riding faster, it also offloads your hands and wrists, which take possibly the hardest beating out of all the body parts on such a long trip (apart from your bottom if you suffer from saddle sores).
In the case of bar tape, I really like the Supacaz Sticky cush. It lasts an eternity, is very grippy and quite soft, although I might put additional padding underneath the wrapping for another edition of the TCR. The additional dampening could definitely be worth it as even now, two months after the race, the nerves leading to both my pinky and ring fingers have still not fully recovered and there is still a tingling sensation left.
For me the seat post wasn’t a critical part of the puzzle, which is why I simply went for a matching one from Black Inc with 25mm of setback, ending up having to pay a rather pretty penny.
Mechanical or electronic shifting plus which brakes?
On my road bike I’ve been running electronic shifting for the past 5 years and on my gravel bike I run mechanical shifting. I wanted to experience both systems to figure out what works best for me, concluding that my preference lies with electronic shifting. There is less maintenance required as there is no wear to the cables and pushing the buttons takes less effort than moving the shift/brake lever. The latter is actually an important point, as during a race like the TCR the hands are going to be so tired and/or cold that there is almost no force left in them, making it impossible to shift from the small to the big front chainring. This happened to me a few times with mechanical shifting but in the case of electronic gearing I was always able to change gears. The downside of a battery powered system is that after about 2’000km it will require recharging. As I run a Dura Ace 9200 groupset, I’m able to pair it with my Garmin 1030 Plus head unit and having a page with all the groupset related data allows me to see the battery status, so I know when the system needs a charge.
I’m currently at the point where I’d embrace the simplicity and purity of a completely mechanical bike including rim brakes but when it comes to something as exhaustive as the TCR I would choose disc brakes over rim brakes any time of the day as they allow for better and easier modulation, more braking power, better braking performance in the wet and no wear and heat build up on the rims, thus no danger of exploding inner tubes due to excessive heat. Weighing 56 kilograms I run a
Wheels and tires: Bontrager Aeolus 3 TLR and Continental GP5000 28mm
The carbon wheelset I’m running has kind of become a trusty old friend almost. In the past five years it’s survived quite a few interesting rides to say the least and almost 100’000km. I’ve replaced the bearings twice now and everything on them is perfectly smoot. To give you an example on how tough carbon rims are: During the TCR I rode 40km on a flat front tire, because I had no patches and inner tubes left and the next place where I could restock inner tubes was, well, 40km away. After close inspection the rim is still perfectly fine. Tires choice: this can be very tricky for a race such as the Transcontinental, as there is no such thing as the perfect one. Every tyre you choose is going to be a compromise either on rolling resistance, comfort and/or puncture resistance. Also deciding in favor of tubeless or tubed tires has its pros and cons. In normally ride 25mm Continental GP5000 tubed tires with latex innertubes for almost all my rides and I get a long with them very well even when riding on gravel. Knowing that the roads in the Balkans can be in miserable condition and knowing that the TCR is simply TCR, meaning that some of the mandatory parcours will inevitably push the rider and his bike to the absolute limit, I decided to run 28mm Conti GP5000’s. In hindsight it might have been a good idea to go wider, mainly because of the added comfort lower tyre pressure gives you. Most likely I’m going to experiment, running different tyre widths. Nonetheless, for me the TCR was perfectly doable on the 28mm GP5000’s.