Racing on Springs

The Tallboy, then.

Like riding a sofa of fun.

Bases covered – 29er, 100mm of suspension either end, full xt drivetrain, fox RP23 shock with ProPedal platform damper on the back, RockShox Reba RL on the front, and, just to make sure that there was a low point, Avid Elixir brakes, which did the job, but, like most Avid brakes, weren’t set up fantastically well and didn’t have wonderful “lever feel.” The rest of the bike, though, put a smile on my face for the whole time I rode it.

I was allowed to take the black beauty out for an orientation spin around the course. My first blast around the skills loop demonstrated the sheer volume of grip now available at the back through the combination of larger wheel and supple suspension. Power could go down whenever the pedals were in a position to spin, and with the smoothness of the ride, my feet were almost always in place.

Though not exactly a racer’s bike, it didn’t feel lardy going uphill; the platform damping losing little energy when climbing seated, and the steepish head angle preventing the front wheel wandering too far. This is one of the obvious compromises SC decided to make in the Tallboy’s geometry sheet – a steep headtube angle to sharpen the steering, lowering the otherwise truck-like wheelbase and countering the gyroscopic tendency for the bike to plough through the corners. I feel that they might have taken things just a tiny bit too far, though, as once or twice the bike did feel a little divey through corners, but it’s a reasonable compromise to make.

The 700mm bar felt perfectly adequate leverage-wise for the short-ish cockpit, and I never felt cramped through my chest or wrists. Shifting weight back and forth was easy and effective, though at times a little more length on the front might have been useful.

My only major complaint was that, with rather wide, flat pedals, I was frequently striking rocks – particularly awkward on the one set of steps that I never managed to clear. Whether the bottom bracket is particularly low, or whether it was just inattentiveness on my part with worse-case-scenario pedals, I don’t know, but it was one of the few aggravations in the ride.

For everything else, it was fantastic fun. The VPP geometry never felt like it was buckling under pressure, never put too much feedback through the chain, and, despite obviously hitting its limits at some points, never bottomed-out harshly. The chain did derail at a couple of points, but a clutch-type derailleur could probably solve this. If anything, perhaps the bike was too detached, floating above the trail, encouraging speed where it might have been prudent to slow – especially when chasing after riders, post-race, I failed to lift-off over a rise which concealed a slight right-hander and, with my wheels unweighted, I carried straight on into the bushes, the pins on the platform pedals carving some deep parallel grooves into my shin.

I didn’t care. I was having too much fun.

The race itself went well, as I sat comfortably on Phil’s wheel, with him in second place, waiting for the final dash up the fire road. Sadly, with only a couple of miles to go, I hung up my rear wheel and pinch-flatted. Hands shaking with adrenaline, it took a couple of spectators to help me strip the tyre off, and almost ten minutes went by until I was back on the trail.

It was still the most fun I’d had in a race this year.

No mere binary decision making – push on, stay back, move up, sprint, draft…. – the race was a constant battle against the trail, myself and my fellow competitors, egging them on or following their wheels. Passing was a nightmare on single track, but the delight at clawing riders back on the climbs, and feeling no-one on your rear wheel as you pressed for home was a delight closer to running than bike racing, but infinitely more exciting.

My confidence boosted, I now cannot wait for Relentless. If I ride half the bike that the Santa Cruz is, I will be happy.

So, a Tallboy unicycle, then.