The Rig: Huracan 300 “ Original” - 2023
The Hurracan 300 “original” route is a 370-mile route comprised of just about everything you can throw at a bike, from singletrack, wilderness hike bike scenarios, fast gravel, and beautiful bike paths. If you’re looking for a fast time, you need a bike that is comfortable and fast at almost everything. Conventional bikes typically don’t cut it, so I found myself looking at a “Franken bike” or a combination of all my bike parts to get the job done. I thought about doing it on a gravel bike this year, but in some parts of the route you need fatter tires and suspension. So I put that tallest gearing I could on my hardtail and some tires that would be fast on the smooth stuff. I’d say it worked pretty well. There are a few things that I’d change if I did it again, but overall I was very pleased with how my equipment choices this year worked out.
This rig took me 370 miles around Central Florida through Swamps, Wilderness, Single Track, Gravel, and paved roads. I raced this bike the year before, but without nearly enough knowledge about what worked and what didn’t. I brought a fair bit more knowledge into this year’s race. I should have taken more photos of the gear on the bike, but I’ll be sure to include that next time!
The Bike: I have come to enjoy this bike. I find myself liking this type of “ATB or All-terrain bike” that works well in a host of scenarios.
Frame: 2021 Specialized Chisel Frame (Yes Alloy can be good)
Wheels: Industry9 Trail 270s 1/1 29” Wheels wrapped in. Terravail Sparwood 2.2 Tires and cush-core inserts.
Fork: Rockshox Sid Select 35mm/120mm
Groupset: A mashup of Sram AXS, a 10-22 Garbaruk Cassette with XT cranks, and a 38t Chainring.
Brakes: Sram Guide Ultimate 4-piston brakes with 180mm rotors front and rear.
Cockpit: I ran an 80mm stem with Salsa Russler bars, ESI Extra Chunky Grips, and my favorite - SQ Labs Inner Bar Ends.
Saddle: Ergon SM Pro
Lighting: I went with a Fenix PD36R on the bars and a Fenix HM35R on my helmet. I own a dynamo setup, but for this race, I opted not to have the drag, and the constant light from the helmet was particularly helpful in the slow-moving sections. The ability to carry spare batteries takes the fear out of running out of light and I accidentally ran my bar-mounted light during most of the first day and still only needed to switch the battery just before sunrise the following morning getting 16ish hours out of the batter!
The Bags: I went lightweight with what I was bringing. I bargained on not being out there past 40 hours, so no sleep system (sans an emergency bivy) and minimal clothing.
Seat Bag: I have a Relevate Deisngs Screw seat bag containing my Rapha Gortex jacket, some wool socks, an emergency bivy, and a first aid kit.
Downtube Bag: On the down tube, you’ll find a Dakine Gripper with a couple of C02s, a trusty Crankbrothers M19 tool, and tire boots. I wrapped this with a spare Voile strap because you never know when you might need one of these!
Top tube Bag: A new addition for this race is a J-Paks Footlong EXT Snakpak. This thing is AWESOME. You can cram so much gear in I was constantly in and out of it throughout the race. I went with a “Bolt-on” version connected to a 76Projects Anti-Strap System, making for a clean look and no pesky velcro strap rubbing on my inner thy. I kept a Nitecore 10000 MAh external charger + Cords inside this bag. Half a dozen Pro Meal Bars, ibuprofen, and caffeine pills. These were my “Easy to Access items,” and I refilled this with snacks from gas stations along the way once my Pro Bars ran out.
Miscellaneous: I carried two Zefal 1L bottles on the bike along with a Lezyne HV pump (the kind with the hose, so you don’t tweak your valve stem) I also had a small fanny pack on that held some more snacks and my BeFree water filter + a Hydopack soft bottle in case I needed to fill up more water. I actually didn’t filter water the entire time, as the route has plenty of resupply points, and I found a trail angle at the spot where I would have normally needed to filter water!
Hindsight in 2020:
So, How did it all work? I’d say I was pleased with this kit. I carried just enough gear to get me through everything, I had a few unused items, but overall everything I packed had a purpose (or purposes). The bike felt great. I probably won’t run the tires I ran this year for a few reasons. The Sparwoods are fast on the pavement but have no cornering grip on single track. I found myself slipping out of corners a lot, which killed my speed in several sections. Florida’s single track is flat, so cornering traction is a big deal. I did get a very small puncture halfway through the night, which lead to me pumping the tire up, and to prevent having to stop again, I overfilled the tire thinking it would lose pressure, but it didn’t. The tire insert must have moved within the tire because I couldn’t get any air out of the tire when I stopped leaving me with a rock-hard tire for the last 170 or so miles.
I really enjoyed the cockpit setup I made, It was comfortable, but I did find myself using the inner bar-ends as stops for my forearms so I could relax and get down out of the wind on the tops of the bars. In hindsight, I probably should have put some aero bars on.
The gearing was perfect (for me). The 38t chainring put me up a cog or two from the smallest cog on my cassette, making those pavement sections where I could cruse a bit easier. I still didn’t use the low-end gearing much, but it was there for the couple of times I had to bail into it.
As I mentioned before. The Jpaks Footlong top tube bag was amazing. I used that to stash food, charging items, and things I needed to access while riding. The Footlong has dual zippers so you can get into the bottom of the bag or the top. Plus it just looks fun!