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I rode the Glorious Gravel Peaks sportive yesterday on my 2021 Planet X Tempest. Its got a 42 chainset and a 1x11 11-42 cassette on 38mm Pannaracer Comet Hardpack tyres. This is stock as it came when I bought it. It was a pretty tough day out in that I struggled for an easier gear and was grinding at 50 rpm up the hills and my tyres were slidding everywhere in the mud... It was pretty obvious yesterday that the tyres were rubbish in the mud and from looking at other riders tyres at the aid stations, mine are pretty thin...
I'm doing a few of the gravel sportives this year and don't really want to be on the edge of what I can do again...
What can I do to make the bike ride better for things like this??
What groupset does it have ?
Wolftooth have chainrings to fit most things
https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/collections/chainrings
Rival 1x11
2021 is the V4 tempest if i remember correctly
Depending on what freehub you have and how big a cassette your rear mech can take then id look at a 11 speed 11-50 or 11-52 cassette from one of the alternative brands like ZTTO, Clarks etc… obviously a new chain would be needed
As for tyres if i remember correctly my 2021 Tempest had a max tyre clearance of 43mm so you could increase the tyre size to that
Other option is to swap out the 700c wheels for a set of 650b wheels and then i think the tyre size can be increased to 48mm
I've got Rival 1 on my Pickenflick, running a 40t (I think) chainring and 11-46 cassette - gives a good enough range.
I've recently fitted some Maxxis Ravager 45mm tyres - which are great, noticeably more comfy and capable in chunky gravel than the WTB Nano's I had fitted before, and generally just more capable off road. Possibly a touch more tyre than you need for tarmac and easy gravel, but so far, I'm impressed.