Gorrick Autumn Classic 2018

It felt as though the air had gone thick like treacle, or perhaps my brakes were locked on? I checked and no both tyres weren’t flat! Why did it feel like such hard work today?

I was on the limit, my thighs were throbbing, my heart was racing and I was trying hard to fight off stitch. I wanted to sprint and chase after the riders ahead, but my body just flatly refused to respond to the request. I hadn’t pushed myself so deeply into red since my last XC race at the end of July and during the first lap of the Gorrick Autumn Classic that lack of race fitness really showed!

There were some mitigating circumstances. Earlier that morning I’d punctured only 5 minutes into my warm-up lap. I’d limped back to the car, leaving puddles of latex on the ground as I’d fought to get the tyre to seal. Hearing the 5 minute warning echo through the trees I pumped up the tyre and hoped for the best, rolling up to the back of the grid just as the starter got the race underway. Sprinting away cold from the very back of the pack I was last man to cross the start line. I’d tried to make up positions on the opening undulating fire road, but it wasn’t the charge to the front I’d hoped for and in fact as we approached the singletrack some of those I had overtaken slipped back ahead again. Taking my muscles from cold to a flat out sprint, and from a resting heart rate immediately to the redline without properly warming up wasn’t the optimum race strategy! I decided to play the long game and work my way forward more steadily. Actually I didn’t decide - I had no choice!

The added disadvantage of my earlier puncture was missing out on my recon lap. Despite having raced at Crowthorne for over 10 years I wasn’t familiar with Sundays course. So at every unsighted corner or drop I had to be slightly cautious. Slowing down costs time and then having to pick up speed again is wasted effort.

The course was a flat 4 mile loop of glorious singletrack. Despite the suffering I couldn’t help but enjoy sweeping around the flowing corners, clattering over the roots, and diving down the sandy slopes amongst the trees. It wasn’t until deep into the 2^nd lap that I felt the race coming back to me. Finally the legs responded to requests for more power, but it was too late to make any real impact. I managed to drag myself back into the top 20, but those I’d normally expect to race were already minutes up the trail. I didn’t see them until I crossed the line, where they had recovered their breath enough to already be reliving the highlights and excitedly sharing tails of their races.

So yes a disappointing result, but on such a brilliant course I had had too much fun to be depressed.

S-Works Epic HT 2018 Review

I’ve now enjoyed several rides on the Epic Hard Tail. Enough miles to form my initial impressions of the new S-Works frame.

I have ridden the two previous incarnations of the S-Works Stumpjumper HT. For the past few years the 2014 Stumpy was my race bike and the 2011 frame has been used for commuter duties. Directly swapping the kit over from the newer race bike, meant I was able to quickly form a direct comparison between the last three iterations of Specialized race hard tail.

Two things immediately stand out about the new frame geometry. First is the shorter head tube. It might only be 1cm, but at 5ft 10in the 90mm length enabled me to get more of a drop between the saddle and bars on my medium sized bike. I’ve been running a negative 17 degree stem for the past couple of years and I’ve kept that, but the further drop definitely helped me weight the front of the bike better, a bonus in technical terrain and fast corners, where the front tyre is fighting for grip.

The second obvious characteristic is the slacker head angle. Riding different bikes back to back I am always surprised how pronounced the ride characteristics can be, even with subtle differences like half a degree. In this case the sub-70 degree head angle definitely increased my confidence at speed on flowing descents.

The two changes in combination really added to my enjoyment and commitment through the sweeping bermed descent at the QE trail park. Definitely these changes are an improvement over the previous bike. The difference the head tube length change makes, will depend on your height and is probably more of a benefit to shorter riders.

Specialized specify a 51mm offset fork on the Epic HT. I however transferred my own DT Swiss fork which has a 45mm offset. The smaller offset increases the trail of the front wheel, which in theory results in slower steering. I can understand why you might want sharp handling on an XC race bike, but so far I’ve really enjoyed the stable, confidence inspiring feel of the Epic. The head angle is partly responsible, but the offset will also be a factor. I’ve been offered a 51mm offset fork by a friend so I can compare, but actually I’m really happy with the bike at the moment so will stick with the current fork, at least until I’ve got a few more races under my belt. I certainly didn't have any problems on the tight switchbacked climb at QE.

The frame is advertised as the lightest Specialized have ever produced. Mine just scraped under 1kg including the mech hanger. So definitely noticeably lighter than both of my previous bikes, although all three have been consistently (and disappointingly) heavier than the figures quoted by the big ‘S’ in their marketing blurb. I’m sure they quote weights for bare unpainted frames, but why not provide us with real world figures so customers don’t feel cheated immediately after shelling out £2000?

The internal cable routing is the usual faff to set-up and has to be done with the fork out of the frame. In a change since the previous Stumpy the rear gear cable runs through the frame without an outer. This saves several grams and reduces the chances of noisey rattles. It does however expose the cable to the elements once it pops out the downtube and wraps around the bottom bracket.

The cable exit at the bottom bracket.

To save weight the down tube is straight, which meant Spesh had to fit bump stops behind the headset to prevent the fork damaging the frame when fully rotated in an accident. I love the look of the frame overall, but the bump stops are pretty ugly. Also I still managed to damage the paint on my frame during assembly, because the stops don’t quite prevent the compression dial on the top of my DT Swiss fork just kissing the frame.

First damage to the paint just above the down tube bump stops.

I’ve heard much made of this bike's abilities to 'soften' the ride. However, it’s not something I’ve really noticed. Maybe it’ll become more apparent during the of 4 hour marathon races I have planned over the winter. My initial impression is that it is marginally more forgiving that the 2014 frame and probably similar to the 2011.

Initial impressions are immensely positive. The handling has definitely improved compared to the previous Stumpjumper. So far this has meant more smiles on my Sunday social rides. Next weekend I’m hoping it will also translate into speed and reduced lap times at my first XC race on-board the Epic. I’ve got to justify the cost somehow! I’ll post an updated review in the Spring, by which time I’ll have chalked up many more racing miles including some longer XCM events.