On Saturday I raced the T42 which runs along the 48km of the 42nd Traverse in NZ. Weather was perfect and the track was in generally good condition. Mainly double track with some greasy rocky rutted downhills, deep n cold stream crossings, short muddy uphills which meant a push n 3 steps forward, two back type of going, some long gravel/pumice climbs followed by a fast blast back down into the next valley and finished up with a long metalled road into a nasty climb to the finish.
I took my three week old 6fattie pro for the ride and it was awesome. The grip from the tyres let me get away with some ridiculous lines and from starting dead last, I managed to overtake over 100 riders, something I am really chuffed about.
The drag from the tyres (ran them tubeless) wasn’t a problem as they made up for it with the grip and even on the longer uphill gradients I made good time. 1×11 was perfect, no dropped chains and a good spread of gears.
The brakes need bigger rotors and/or better pads as they were a little lacking on some of the downhill sections.

There was some suffering especially on the last 3km uphill to the finish.

But I made it and had a real blast doing it.

Good going there!

I did the 42 back in 1995 on a rigid Rocky Mountain with cantis, one of the best rides ever.