As the season is coming to an end, I wanted to present to you the bike that I have been riding this season.
I love this bike. We’ve had a lot of good times together and I’m hoping the two of us have a few more good outings this year!
I loved it so much, in fact, that I wrote a poem for it, and I’d like to share it with you. So, before going through the nuts and bolts of the bike built, here is my poem:
“When the sun sets - an Ode to the Crux”.
Illustration by Pip Claffey
Look at that sunset fade…
You may have noticed throughout the season that ‘Make it Count’ was written on my top tube. Make it Count has been my motto this season, and the poem is based on the same idea…
- Photo from Balint Hamvas
And now, for all the bike setup details -
**Disclaimer: I am sponsored by all of the companies I mentioned here. However, I believe and I truly mean 100% of the things I said here. No one asked me to write this. And I partner with these companies because I truly think they make great products.
The first thing to know is that I have changed from the Crux Expert to the Crux S-Works this year. The frame is the same, but it comes built differently.
Model: Specialized Crux S-Works. I ride size 49cm.
Front/Rear 12mm Thru Axle (100mm wide in front, 142mm rear)
Made with the “Rider-First Engineering” which means the lay-up and the tube shapes of each size frame are refined across the size range to accommodate to the requirements of different height/weight of the cyclist.
Wheels: Roval CLX50 tubular wheels
Weight: 16.0 lbs (fully built, pedals included)
Tires: Challenge Tubulars Team Edition.
Here’s what I utilize in one season:
3 sets of wheels mounted with Chicane
2 sets of wheels mounted with Grifo
2 sets of wheels mounted with Baby Limus
4 sets of wheels mounted with Limus
Group set: I ride the SRAM Red E-Tap AXS group set. I ride the 1x group (12speed)
Derailleur: Red E-Tap AXS
Shift Levers: SRAM RED eTap AXS HRD Shift-Brake System
Brakes: Flat Mount Disc with ‘specially made - prototype’ extreme metallic brake pads because I find they brake better and last longer.
Cassette: SRAM RED XG-1290 Cassette (10/33T)
***Note about the cassette - I’ve been using the RED cassette on all my wheels that have ‘fast’ tires glued on them. However, all of my mud wheels are setup with the Force (XG-1270) cassette. Although the shifting is extremely smooth with the RED cassette, we found that when the mud is heavy, the shifting is smoother with the Force cassette because there is a tiny bit more spacing between the cogs which helps to clear mud better.
Chain: SRAM RED Chain
Crankset: SRAM RED 1 Crankset with Quarq D-Zero Carbon power meter
Chainrings: 38T and sometimes 40T
Handlebar: Zipp Service Course SL-80, Aluminum, 42cm (250g)
Stem: Zipp Service SL Speed, 100mm (123g)
Seatpost: Zipp SL Speed (20mm setback)
Saddle: S-Works Power with Mimic 143mm (159g)
Bar tape: Lizard Skins DSP V2. 1.8 or 2.5mm
Computer mount: K-Edge Garmin Race mount (32g)
Pedals: Xpedo CXR Pro (240g)
So, that’s how my bike is built. A 16lbs of pure pleasure. However, now that you know how I chose to build it, I’d like to share a few of my favorite things about this bike.
The beast in its natural ‘foggy’ environment
Some of my favorite things
SRAM (AXS) - 12 speed -
The 12 speed (AXS) cassette from SRAM has been a game changer for me this season. With this cassette, I’ve been riding the 38T chainring at all events. That set up has been good for every courses I’ve raced on this year, from the hilliest to the fastest.
I find there is another advantage in running this setup… When I travel for racing, I only bring my cross bikes with me and they are all built with a single chain ring and the SRAM E-Tap AXS group set. The wide range of gearing has allowed me to do all my intervals on the road when travelling without being spun-out and without messing around with changing the chain ring for every training ride.
The batteries on the SRAM RED eTap last quite a long time. They are also very easy to change. You just pop the battery out and replace it with another one.
12 speed (AXS) cassette. This is the Force cassette, which I use on wheels with mud tires.
SRAM RED Chain with flattop to enable X-Range (AXS - 12 spd)
So light -
I’ve said it last year, but I’ll say it again. This bike is so light and that is one of my favorite thing about it. It’s also extremely agile and responsive. After just a few rides (or really, after a few minutes of riding swoopy trails), you feel as one with the bike - you feel like you can move your weight around the bike to ride over humps and obstacles and it responds very efficiently. Or try one full-on sprint out of the saddle and you’ll automatically feel what I mean by responsive.
I choose to not use a chain catcher -
Early in the season, when we were figuring out the new group, I thought I would need a chain catcher to make sure my chain would not drop. Turns out we just needed to put the chain at length that SRAM suggests to have it, which is a little shorter than what we had it originally installed. The shorter chain creates more tension, and prevents it from falling off, and it helps to have a very smooth, direct, and instant shifting.
My chained dropped once this season in all my training rides and races, but it was my own fault. The system is very reliable without using a chain catcher.
E-Tap (Magic at the tip of my fingers) -
It’s no secret that e-tap is amazing. It is an electronic shifting system that works wirelessly. Pretty freaking awesome. Easy for the mechanic to install, easy to sync, easy to repair, and so smooth to shift.
But the situations where I found it to be the most incredible?! In a cyclocross race, when your drive train is full of mud and you can’t feel your fingers because your hands are completely frozen. In those situation, you can trust that a small tap of the finger on the shifter will do the trick and change the gear. The muc does not really affect the efficiency of shifting. And even better - since the left side downshifts and the right side switch to a harder gear - you are certain that you are shifting the right gear, even if you can’t feel where exactly your hand is on the shifter. Magic!
XPedo Pedals -
I switched to XPedo pedals this year. What attracted me at first was the shape of the pedal. If you look at it, you can see that the X shape allows the pedal to be more open. I thought that would be super helpful to clear the mud, and I was right. The pedals have been designed specifically for cyclocross and they are really good in the mud.
Another feature I like is the tension gauge on the pedal. You can see exactly how tight your pedal is and adjust easily depending on the conditions.
On top of that, the pedals work with SPD cleats, which made it very easy for me to adapt, and they come in all sorts of fun colours. Finally, they are also lighter (and much cheaper) than the competition.
Roval CLX 50 wheels -
I’ve said before that the Roval wheels almost feel like an unfair advantage…I feel like they give me so much extra speed and that they allow me to keep my momentum and speed in transition of terrain. Another thing I love is that the rim is really wide, which allows for the tubular to sit well on it and it makes for a bigger surface of contact.
New fit, New position -
This spring, I visited the Specialized head quarters and did a Retül fit. Having a good position on the bike is crucial for many reasons. Being comfortable will allow you to spend more time on the bike, to enjoy that time spent on the bike, and to focus your attention on the task at hand, rather than being annoyed by an aching body part. And, if you can slightly adjust your position to optimize your power output, why not do it?!
Here are a few things that we changed when doing the fit:
Saddle: I switched from the S-Works Power saddle to the S-Works Power saddle with Mimic. The Mimic is a women specific saddle. It has a soft compound that helps to absorb and distribute pressure, which helps to minimize swelling in soft tissue. In other words - no more pain on your va-gay-gay and no more annoying swelling.
Being more comfortable on the saddle allowed me to have a better pelvic support (I could tilt my pelvis backwards a bit more) which then allowed to put the saddle a little further back. That allows my knee to be more in line with the pedal, making sure no power is lost. On top of that, the saddle position allowed to put a stem 10mm longer.
All of these changes give me a longer reach on the bike which makes it more comfortable for me to be in the drop bars. That position is more stable on tricky descents and more aero, so it’s nice to feel more comfy there for the CX races.
Size: Last year I rode a 49cm Crux. During the fit we determined that I could have an efficient position either on the 49 or on the 52cm. In the end, I decided to settle for the 49cm size, because I feel like I have a better reach with my arm when I put the bike on my shoulder to run.
Bar tape -
In 2019, the Lizard Skins bar tape got even better than it was. They changed the bar end plugs, which has been a real game changer. I used to loose the bar end plugs pretty often. But now, they make a screw in bar end plug, and it is still super duper light and extremely efficient.
Last year, I was pretty adamant with riding the 1.8mm bar tape from Lizard Skins. This year, I decided to try the 2.5mm and it’s been really nice. I have small hands and both of these thickness offer a really good grip, control, and feel for me. The 2.5mm obviously has a bit more cushion, which is nice when riding super bumpy terrain. However, I wouldn’t want to do thicker, because the rough CX conditions often sees us riding with thicker gloves. And obviously, I love all the nice colours of bar tape that Lizard Skins make!
I run a season with four Crux bikes -
Why 4 bikes? Good question.
On race day, it’s useful to have 3 bikes. One that stays on the Feedback Sports Omnium trainer, one that I am riding, and one that is in the pits with David.
On a muddy race day, we run 3 bikes during the race as David keeps 2 with him in the pits, in case I need to change bikes every half-lap or in case I break one of the bikes.
Why the fourth? This year, I left my bikes in Europe between the races, so I kept one at home for training.
3 out of 4 bikes are equipped with a Quarq D-Zero power meter.
You can see this is bike 3. All four bikes have a number on them to help us keep track.
One last one, because it looks good in any kind of environment