Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne77
Great perspective! I have several takeaways to think about based on this and all the other excellent contributions in this thread. I think you’re touching one one aspect of competitive gravel racing (and gravel riding in general): So much is about the tiniest equipment details...you can really obsess over the tiniest config choices and I get a kick out of it. Much more that I do for road races. The interesting thing is sometimes it’s a matter of thinking about all the minutia as a ‘sum of the whole’. Every choice has an upside and a down side...together they form a very individualized selection that makes sense. Oftentimes for that one person. There are also certain tiny details that are probably more placebo than real benefit...and that’s totally legit too; if it’s in your head something is gonna help, it probably will. If it’s in your head something is gonna hurt, it probably will.
I love talking to people at the start line about their equipment...there’s a certain prideful confidence people get when explaining choices. Sometimes you have these conversations mid-race!
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Yep, I love to agonize over the smallest equipment choices, so events of this genre where the demands of the course change constantly and can vary year to year, really appeal to me. Love over analyzing stuff to the point of analysis paralysis
That said, while there have been times where I have optimized the stuff on my bike, and I knew at certain points of race courses that other bikes might be faster on that section, I "knew" in other sections they would be slower, so on the whole, the only time I thought I was "on the wrong bike" was when I decided to ride my 29er instead of my Litespeed T5G was at a race earlier this year and it turned out to not have rained as much as I had thought and there were only a few muddy spots.
