2017 Scott Scale 900 World Cup - my first impressions

Being an amateur racer I don't get to upgrade my bikes as often as I'd like. I usually replace the drivetrain and brakes before forking out for a new bike and my last XC race bike fell into this scenario. It usually works out that I get 2 years out of my bike before moving it on and setting up a new one.

The decision to upgrade this year was made easy as Scott Sports have made some huge developments on the Scale. The entire range has been reworked but I will talk about the Scale 900 here today. I'll do a review on the Foil in coming months. The shipment arrived at HQ and OnyaBIKE Canberra provided a seamless process to get me rolling on the new machine

Its safe to say that Scott Sports HQ in Switzerland have spent many hours at the drawing board and on the trail during the development of the Scale. Scott have stayed up to date with recent 29er trends in a slightly slacker head angle and shorter chain-stays. However Scott have taken this further by limiting the top tier frames to be 1x specific. There are plenty of reviews online that go into geometry numbers, I'm just going to talk about the ride.

On first ride and cruising down fast and rocky fire trails the bike glides effortlessly. Hitting technical rocky descents, provides plenty of, input on your contact points. Meaning you get plenty of feedback and feel most of the bumps, but thats what you expect from a hard tail.

I'm still finding the right setup for the Rockshox SID Solo Air forks. So far they are ok but I'm going to add a bottomless token and adjust from there. I'll give a follow up review once I've found the right setup.

If you're into training hard, and delivering a solid performance on race day, the Scale 900 is the tool for the job. This bike accelerates and is the epitome of efficiency in an XC race bike! It honestly feels like you can enter a corner in a taller gear, knowing that it will hop back up to speed with 2 or 3 stomps on the pedals. Out of the saddle the Ritchey carbon bars are stiff, and the power delivery through the Eagle carbon cranks is supreme.

The Scale accelerates to high speed, then what…Well it has a  slightly slacker head angle then the previous model, this worried me when I saw it on paper. I like the handling to be sharp and aggressive. I found that entering a corner takes a little more input but once you hit mid corner the bike starts to perform. The new frame has a shorter stack (lower front end) so naturally your riding position is lowered. The rear end seems to whip around tight corners, and I'm putting this down to shorter chain stays. Then getting the power on exit comes efficiently and with minimal flex.

Eagle Groupset, I was sceptical to say the least, why would anyone put 32x50 gearing on a race bike. To test it out I did some touring around steep fire roads around the northern beaches of Sydney, and tackled some of my favourite hills at Stromlo Forest Canberra, including part of an World Cup course. Amazingly I did actually use 32x50 a few times. Even though I felt slower in places I posted some PRs, illustrating to I may have been somewhat inefficient with the 36-36 granny gear that I had on my last bike. The gear changing experience is very different to XTR Shimano. Changing into shorter gears is immediate and can be done with a reasonable amount of load on the drivetrain. However changing into taller gears is delayed in comparison and you have to be careful how much power you are delivering at the same time as changing. I'm not looking forward to replacing that finely machined cassette so I will be throwing on a new chain every few months to keep the wear down.

After 500kms on the bike I'm really happy with this new frame and drivetrain combination. Can't wait to race it this weekend at the CORC 3HR Sparrow Hill.

Ride on.

Dave

2015 CORC A Grade Series Champion

CORC Clubbie A Grade standings

My experiement of turning up to all the races and giving my best at each is paying dividends. Going to be hard to catch with only a few rounds to go.

2015 Mitas Ruben Tathra Enduro 50km - 30-39 - 3rd place

Everyone I have spoken to who rides have at least heard of the Tathra mtb trails. Sweet flowing single track in humble settings of a small coastal town. Not to mention access to the trails only a few hundred metres from the local pub and golf club. People who have ridden the trails always speak of them highly. I heard about relentless gully runs, trees so close together you have to wheelie through them with your bars sideways, sweet berms that flow perfectly. Rocks, roots and jumps.  With a little hype in the pipe, it was easy for me to enter the Tathra enduro when it came online. I managed to plan and train for this race with a good amount of time. Actually I think its the most prepared I have ever been for a race. I even had my good friend Duncan there with me to hand out a water bottle or two #semipro.

Short video of the race, filmed by Duncan, edited by me:
https://youtu.be/7b8UTAUxu4M

Ed was heading down to same race and a had a new cvar that needed a run so the three of us piled in and drove down the highway for a typical race day trip. I would just like say that I am now a massive fan of heated leather seats fo the trip to a race. I felt like my hamstrings were ready to go before I even got on the bike.

I still feel very new to 120min+ races so I had the usual plan. Get a strong start, stay in touch with the lead group, push hard on the climbs, recover on the descents, keep momentum and stay smooth. As with any plan the world usual has a chaotic way of changing things pretty fast.

Chaos 1 - 5mins into the race, Ben Henderson nearly decapitates a poor little wallaby and flies over the bars in the process. Bike upside down in a bush and wallaby twicthing by the edge of the track.

Chaos 2 - Shortly after Ben passes me after an awesome comeback from a massive off. The lead group hits a steep uphill gully and someone unclipped on the way out, one guy fell back into the gully and I was left high and dry, stopped waiting for everyone to get going again.

Back on the grind and into the first climb. I was already going lactic and my SenseCore app was telling me to slow down but I wanted to get back in touch with the leaders. On a long straight down a fencline I could see the tail end of them but they were 300m down the road. I thought I beter get back to a good pace and slowly draw them back.

The next period of the race I settled into a groove and repeated my mantra, smooth is fast, breath, recover, push. It was a tad lonely for awhile but it wasn't long before I was being blown away by awesome technical trails, bar brushing trees and generally just loving the variety of the trails.

Chaos 3 - Managed to turn left out of a gully when the trail went right, got caught by the rider behind as I was hugging a tree like its life depended on it.

The final 1/3 of the race got interesting I starting catching a few riders and it gave me new motivation to push hard to the end. I was feeling strong and my simple hydration plan of moderatly mixed Hammertime Heed and elctrolyte capsules was paying. There was a long slow 4WD track so I got up and smashed it, still didnt catch the next guy but I could see I was closing the gap. Slowly but surely I closed it up and finally I overtook him and shortly after 2 more riders fell back. "Ferrk what a powerhouse" one dude said as I tried to make it look like I was fresh and wanting more. But I was in the zone now, everything hurting, but still feeling like I had some power.

5kms to go, I get stopped at a road crossing, 1, 2, 3 cars, oh man that rocked me and mad me angry, I told Mr Lollipop to do the same to the rider behind me. Sure enough a few mins down the track a new rider had closed up on me. He was charging and I was hurting. With no idea what the final trail looked like I just had to focus and smash everything, brake late, out of the saddle, spin, smash, stomp, no brakes, focus.

He was right there and I was riding these trails as fast as my tyres would allow. I sensed we were in the final 1km, keep it clean, lay down the power, be ready for a sprint finish.

I just managed to hold him at bay by a few bike lengths. But it wasn't him I needed to worry about, the 2 guys I had caught a few kms earlier were in my category and I just managed to climb onto the podium. With 60+ riders in the field, totally new trails and no practice lap, I was stoked to finish where I did.

This felt like a personal best effort, although with some practice of the trails and a few less mishaps I think I can get a better result next year. I want to some social rides down there between now and then to dial in the trails a bit better.

The Mont 24 Hour 2015 - behind the scenes with SenseCore

Filmed by Trent, edited by me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKCHxGK9eAo

CORC XCO Rnd 3 - A Grade - 3rd Place

Mont 24hr - SenseCore Racing - 1st place

This years Mont 24hr marks my 8th attempt and it was as exciting as ever. SenseCore came to the party and provided fresh support for the team. SPE provided a magical new track layout that was longer with more climbing than last year but somehow felt like it was flatter and faster. Maybe I am a bit stronger, hehe. Our team was super strong and reliable and the new comer, Cosi Hofman blended into the campsite with ease. TLC Cycles tried extremly hard to get me back on my Scott. But unfortunately with my frame waylaid in transit from the USA I had to borrow a Niner Air 9 Carbon from the gentleman himself, Brad Dalton. This bike proved to be a suitable weapon for carving up the flowing trails of Kowen Forest.

From a captains perpesctive there were plenty of highs and lows and the race did not go as smoothly as we hoped. Our attrition began on the Friday before the race when Gordo had an OTB and was banged up badly. Worried that he wouldn't be able to recover and race he asked me to find a reserve. With some negotiating around night laps I found a replacement. Gordo spent friday evening bathing himself and chomping down on anti inflammatory and pain killers. By 730pm his groin and lower back were numbed enough that he felt good to go. So we took the gamble and Gordo recommitted. Alright, the team is back together let's focus.

Cosi after another solid lap. Me on the right.

Gordo started us out with a spectacular lap that not only had him posted all over the media but also had the team running inside the top 10. John and Cosi both put down blazingly quick times with John grabbing a top 5 fastest day lap for the weekend. Brad came in on time and as expected fast lap in the low 51mins. 3 mins into my lap I looked down at my SenseCore app and  I chuckled as the HR was reading 178 and I was breathing hard, but everything felt lubricated and the legs were turning with ease. 25mins into the lap and I felt like I had dropped off the power, I got out of the saddle and soon realized my rear tire was losing pressure. I pushed on for another 5mins but decided to cut my loses and grabbed a shady spot under a tree to do a tyre change. The tube went in smoothly and within 5mins I was back on the chase. I was shattered for losing so much time but stomped as hard as I could to bring my 1st lap home in about 57mins. How some guys like Dylan Cooper change their tyre in less then 2mins is still a mystery. I tagged in Trent and when he returned in under 52mins we had completed our first revolution. By this time we were already in 1st place for the category but Synergy Synners were only minutes behind us. Today's Plan had galloped away to a 15min lead in the unclassified overall.

Gordo on the start lap and loving it

The rest of the afternoon and night went very smoothly for us, slowly creeping away from Synergy and slowly gaining on TP. It was exciting watching the times come in as we knew TP were going to be hard to beat. Great times were had hanging out in between laps. Everyone keeping busy upgrading the campsite to keep the cold and dampness out.

White men can jump! Trent letting it go.

Eventually the early morning fog rolled in and riders were coming back with legs and frames caked with a thick layer of dust. It seemed that the later and darker it got, the faster Cosi was going. Obviously he didn't admit to us that he was an offspring of Bruce Wayne, this young blood batman laid down sneaky fast laps all night long and even on his last lap had very little fade.

My 4th lap at 730am was to be my last but it was special. The sun was just coming up, the event center was smothered in fog but half way through the lap, the top of the course took us up above the cloud and gave a beautiful warm boost of motivation. I channeled it and punched out my fastest lap of the race. Coming down beer garden track through the fog and into transition to meet Trent completed my Mont contribution and left me with a huge smile.

With the sun breaking through the mist and 3hrs to go the gap from Synergy was over a lap and the gap to TP was down to 2mins. It was looking likely that we could take the double. In a champion effort Andrew Hall from TP threw down a 50min flat on the 2nd last lap of the race. This proved to be the nail in the coffin for us. Now it should be mentioned that I'm talking about competing with TP but they were running with a team of 4 and we were in a team of 6. So for Mr Hall to lay down one of the fastests laps of the race on his last lap is nothing short of awe inspiring. Brad went out as our last rider with an near impossible gap to close, only a puncture or crash from TP would give us  a chance. But none of us knew this at the time and Brad literally sent himself cross eyed trying to catch up. In doing so Brad clipped a tree on the final descent and had a spectacular crash in the pines. Brad rolled straight through transition and I knew something wasn't right as he pulled up in the crowd. With a crokey voice from looming bronchitis, spent body from 24hrs of racing and a rattled head from a helmet smashing crash, the only thing the gentleman could repeat was "how do you bonk at the 40min mark".

Brad dusted and done. Champion effort!

Race over. I was worried about our man Brad, he was scattered and seemed concussed. It was a sour note to finish on and made me review all the circumstances that lead to it. But after a good sit down and chin wag with us all he came good and bounced up on the podium to receive our 1st place trophy.

Massive shout out to our families (and Cosi's mum) for holding the fort while we are out on the bikes. This cycling business can be all consuming and can take its toll but be assured that it makes us extremely happy.

So lads, who is up for the Mont 2016? Who is going to step up to the mens 6 category in 2016? Will Onya return to retake the title? What happened to Specialized, I saw the Mont in their racing calendar but they were no show. This is the best MTB 24hr in Australia, let's keep it that way with plenty of sharp competition.

Ride on.
Dave

Wrap Up Vid from SPE

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=780788718695860&permPage=1