The Tour Divide poses a lot of challenges to riders. Not only is it one of the longest races on the calendar with this year's 4383 kilometers and mere 55000 meters of climbing.
71% percent of those nearly 4400 kilometers were unpaved. So either Gravelroads ranging from smooth rolling gravel up to corrugated washboards roads and rough chunks or rock to navigate and of course some sections of the famous Continental Divide Trail (or CDT in short).
Those single trail sections were often smooth rolling but sometimes technical and shaking you to the bone, slowing progress.
29% of Tarmac are worth considering as well. Over 1000km of smooth rolling tarmac will be a pain on some downhill specific tires. Having slicks on trails will be no fun and even a semi slick might be a disaster as soon as rain turns the trails into mud and peanut butter.
Oh… the weather. Yeah, that could be anything from being stuck in a blizzard, riding through single digit temperatures and rain to 40°C and scorching sun. Skipping on equipment was not an option here.
Same for the sleep setup. Even with extensive planning chances of me missing a spot for sleeping inside were high and a bivvy for emergency situations was needed anyways.
Difficult decisions all the way and we recently saw a change in the setups for the Divide. Justinas just last year broke the record aboard a TREK Full Suspension Mountainbike. I was tempted to go with my ZFS-5 however, here is what I took and what equipment I decided to use.
Let’s start with the bike
My Cervélo ZHT-5 dropbar MTB
- ZHT-5 frame Five Black, size M
- Reserve Wheels 28XC rear wheel with DT Swiss 250 Hub and a custom 30SL with a SON 28 dynamo hub (200mm front disc brake, 180mm rear)
- Cervélo AB09 Flared Carbon Handlebar 38cm
- Procraft 50mm stem
- RockShox SID Ultimate Fork 35mm chassis, 100mm travel (custom)
- SRAM Force AXS Shifters
- SRAM Level Ultimate brake calipers
- SRAM XO Transmission derailleur (10-52t Transmission cassette)
- SRAM XX Eagle AXS Powermeter crank (32t chain ring)
- SILCA Super Secret hot waxed SRAM XX Transmission chain with Endurance chip (topped up with drip wax, went all the way through!)
- SILCA SICURO Titanium bottle cage
- Posedla Joyseat ULTRA
- MAXXIS 2,4” Reckon Race front and 2,4” Aspen rear
- ZIPP Vuka aero clip-on bars (with blips)
- Tailfin Bar Bag accessory mount for GPX, Lights (no bag)
- SON Ladelux Dynamo light and charger
Bags and storage
- Tailfin Long Top Tube Bag 2.2L
- Tailfin Frame Bag Wedge 2,7L
- Tailfin AeroPack Cargo 18L, with carbon arch
- Ultimate Direction Trail Running Vest (6L)
- 2L bladder plus 0,75L ELITE Fly bottle and 2x 0,5L Soft Flask water capacity (3,75L total)
Clothing and shoes
- 7mesh MK3 Carbo Bib
- 7mesh Pace Jersey
- 7mesh arm and leg warmers
- 7mesh S2S vest
- Silca Aero Socks, Quoc Merino Socks
- 7mesh Freeflow Jacket
- 7mesh Revelation Rain Jacket
- 7mesh Thunder Pants Rain Pants
- 7mesh Outflow Puffy Jacket
- 7mesh Merino buff
- Quoc GT XC shoes with Silca 3d printed titanium SPD cleats
- Arcterycx insulated gloves and windbreaker mittens
- Alba Optics Delta Photocromatic Glasses
- KASK Elementor Aero Helmet
Sleep Setup
- Outdoor Research Helium Bivvy
- Seat To Summit Spark I sleeping bag
- Sea To Summit UL Sleeping pad
Electronics
- Coros DURA GPS computer
- SPOT Gen 3 Tracker
- Nightcore 10000mA battery (not used once)
- BBB Adventure Strike 600 Helmet/front light
- BBB Signal Rear light
- BBB Spark 2.0 backup rear light
- USB-C Charging cables
- Lightning charging cable
- Micro USB charging cable
- SRAM AXS charger
- 4x SRAM AXS battery
- Apple AirPods Pro 2
- Apple iPhone 13
Tools and spares
- Silca Tredici multi tool
- Wolf Tooth enCase Tubeless plug and chain tool
- Small knife/scissors
- 2x Schwalbe Aerothan inner tube
- Patches and tubeless plugs
- 2x SRAM chainlink
- Cable ties
- Electrical tape
- 2x SRAM sintered brake pads
- SILCA Super Secret Drip Chain Wax
- SILCA Gravelero Pump
- Hygienics and emergency items
- Tooth brush and paste (travel size, cut)
- Posedla Magic Butt Balm
- Sun Screen SP50
- Ibuprofen 5 pills
- Buscopan 5 pills
- Immodium Acute 5 pills
- Plasters
- 1x Compress
- Disinfectant spray
- Hygienic wipes
- Bear spray until brush mountain lodge
Nutrition to start with
- 15x STYRKR Gel 30
- 15x STYRKR Gel 30 + Caffeine
- 10x STYRKR Gel 50
- 6x STYRKR Carb Mix 90
- 6x STYRKR Carb Mix 90 + Caffeine
- 1x STYRKR Hypotonic Drink Mix Tube 1000
- Too many Snickers, Cookies and Danish…
- Dr Pepper… dozens of Gallons
Did it work?
Obviously I managed to finish and despite some rather large problems in a time and position I can be happy with. You can read the whole story in my report.
This was a great setup. Lightweight, fast and capable.
Did I sometimes wish I took the Full suspension MTB? Yes, but most of the time I was happy with what I brought.
It was a very reliable setup with little things to worry about. In fact I didn't really touch my tools or spares. Rode to the end on one set of brake pads and the same chain. It shifted like the first day till the end and looks clean! Just had to brush off the chain and cassette to remove the dirt.
I had plenty of hand positions and apart from the numbness in the outer fingers I didn't encounter any crazy pain or discomfort.
I managed to ride nearly all the trails and was very happy with the speed this setup delivered. It’s hard to say whether I would have left some items at home as the weather could have been way different so I’d prob take the same items again!
Maybe I would go a bit more risky and try and safe some weight? Who knows… Maybe I’d come up with a crazy setup completely different from this. Time will show, but I am very proud of what how and what bike I rode and this bike is the best Hardtail I ever owned. It is fast and capable on any type of terrain.
I didn’t weigh it before the race but the weight was around 14,2kg at home without water and food!
Any questions? Hit me up!
