Not hard choices for bicycle hardware

What bike setup should I run?

Ted King here, co-founder of Rooted Vermont, chief parking lot attendant, and course creator. I’m not certain, but I might be the person with the most miles tallied along the course, so it’s fitting that I’m asked this question often and it’s fun to walk through your options.

When it comes to equipment selection, obviously we need to think of the routes. Both Rooted Vermont courses feature hard pack gravel roads with punchy climbs. There is a higher ratio of paved roads linking the dirt together on the Little Sip course. Additionally the Sip of Sunshine features a handful of Vermont’s Class IV roads which are unmaintained roads, ancient by modern American standards.

The advantage of modern day bikes is they’re remarkably capable. Theoretically, depending on your level of risk – and desired speed on all types of terrain – you could get by on both courses with a road bike. You’ll be fast on the hard pack and pavement, but be slow on the class IV where your narrow tires are in jeopardy of flatting, so it’s all but guaranteed that you will walk some sections.

On the opposite spectrum, you wouldn’t be the first rider to run a mountain bike at Rooted Vermont if that’s the bike at your disposal, so consider that an option too. A wide, slick tire would be a perfectly fine choice and the flat bars would offer confidence in some of the speedy downhills or chunky class IV.

Which brings us to the natural choice of a gravel bike. Speaking specifically, the Cannondale SuperSix EVO SE (below, left) links together the slippery aero benefits from the road with the wide, capable characteristics of a gravel bike.

The Synapse (above, right) is a perfectly fine choice too. I’d run the widest tires possible, where a slick 35mm fits safely. That said, if speed is your primary goal, opting back to the gravel bike will give you the best opportunity. 

Tire choice is likely your first question, based on how frequently I’m asked. I’ve run as wide as knobby 48mm and as narrow as a 35mm slick on my EVO SE. On event day, I’d suggest taking the Goldilocks route and aim somewhere in the middle. Anything from the Steilacoom knobby 38mm, Barlow Pass 38mm slick, Hurricane Ridge 42mm knobby, or Snoqualmie Pass slick 44mm are all fine choices all by Rene Herse. If the course is dry, slick is the tire of choice. If we have some rain, the knobby tires from Rene Herse are negligibly slower but offer all the confidence of knobbies.

Next up is gearing. I find the range of a SRAM mullet setup to be terrific for virtually all my gravel riding. I run a 46t front paired with a 10-50 rear. That tends to be on the speedier side, so a 44t or 42t front is likely fine too. SRAM’s XPLR lineup is a 10-44 rear, which obviously doesn’t offer the easy spinning 50t cog in the back. It’s not mandatory on this course, but even if the courses are “only” 48 or 85 miles (as opposed to the 200+ mile gravel races around the country), they are taxing miles, so you likely won’t regret bringing a bail out gear.

What’s my personal setup? I’d run the Cannondale SuperSix EVO with Rene Herse 700x44 Snoqualmie and SRAM Eagle 10-50.