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Testing The Brand New Pivot Mach 4 SL Full Suspension Race Bike At The Grand Junction Off-Road
Jun 10, 2019
As part of the Pivot Cycles launch for the brand new Mach 4 SL, Wil and the rest of the journalists were given the option of racing a 15, 30 or 40-mile race as part of the 2019 Grand Junction Off-Road event in Colorado.
Of course Wil chose to race the 40-mile category, mostly because he'd flown halfway round the world from Australia, and he wanted to experience as much of that glorious Grand Junction singletrack as possible. Let's be honest though - it’s probably also because his imperial-to-metric conversions are a bit sketchy.
Turns out the race was a little longer than planned. Wil and his competitors clocked up 70km and over 1800m of climbing in the end, which took him over 4 hours to complete.
According to our Antipodean Tech Editor, it was simultaneously one of the toughest and the best days of riding he has ever had on a bike.
It was also a perfect torture test for the new Pivot Mach 4 SL, which he'd been riding for the two days prior to the race. If you'd like to hear more about Wil's experience with the Mach 4 SL and the Fox Live Valve suspension system, you can read the full review here: https://singletrackworld.com/2019/05/review-pivot-cycles-mach-4-sl-team-xtr-fox-live-valve/
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0:00
took about ten minutes to go before the
0:02
start of the race Rudolph I just wish I
0:14
wasn't so tired race update but make it
0:22
hello everybody its will hear from
0:24
single track magazine and single track
0:26
WorldCom and I am coming to you from
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this very eclectic 1970s kitchen here
0:33
I'm in a small house in fruta in
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Colorado now I've been invited out to
0:37
Colorado on behalf of pivots cycles who
0:40
are launching a brand new bike let's
0:42
take a quick look at it right now this
0:44
is the new amok for SL there we go so
0:49
this is the replacement for the existing
0:51
27.5 inch Mach 4 carbon and the 4 to 9
0:55
SL this is a bit of a mash-up of the two
0:57
29-inch wheels 100 Miller travel DW link
1:00
suspension design of course full carbon
1:02
fiber frame and two different builds you
1:05
can get them with a 100 millimeter or as
1:07
we've got here 120 millimeter travel
1:09
fork now I've been riding this bike for
1:12
the last couple of days here getting it
1:14
all dialed in I've been shooting photos
1:15
doing some video getting a really good
1:18
feel for this bike but the launch is not
1:20
over there is a third day to this pivot
1:22
cycles launch and for the third day
1:25
we're gonna be doing a race it's part of
1:27
the epic ride series and it's going to
1:29
be in Grand Junction the race is going
1:31
to be kicking off tomorrow and races
1:33
will be able to do a thirty mile or a 40
1:35
mile option now me having no idea what
1:38
miles actually are I've stupidly entered
1:40
the 40 mile race so we're gonna see how
1:42
that pans out tomorrow
1:44
you'll be getting up quite early in the
1:45
morning to shuttle from fruta out to
1:47
Grand Junction and lining up on the
1:49
start line I think around 8:00 8:30 in
1:51
the morning and I'll be taking this bike
1:53
with me so the ultimate test of this
1:55
brand new Mach 4 SL we'll see if it will
1:59
hopefully get me from one end of the
2:01
racecourse to the other in one piece I'm
2:05
not so confident about my own fitness
2:06
levels the riding out here so I'm told
2:09
is quite rocky and tech
2:11
we're not that far from Moab in Utah so
2:13
that might give you a bit of an idea of
2:15
the kind of terrain that we're dealing
2:16
with out here but I am very much looking
2:18
forward to exploring these trails I've
2:20
heard a lot of good things about them
2:22
what we've written for the last couple
2:23
of days has been fantastic but I'm a
2:26
little bit worried about that 40 mile
2:28
distance and my ability to finish it so
2:31
we'll see how we go now I'm gonna bring
2:32
you guys along with me on this race or
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perhaps I should call it a ride or event
2:37
I'll be participating not racing
2:40
necessarily we'll take you guys along
2:42
for the ride because from all reports it
2:45
sounds like a fantastic event with lots
2:47
on aside from just the racing itself so
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strap yourself in wish me luck and we'll
2:54
see you in the morning on the start line
2:55
for the Grand Junction epic ride hmm
3:05
[Music]
3:06
[Applause]
3:08
[Music]
3:16
so it's the Friday night before the race
3:20
on Saturday and this is the center of
3:23
Grand Junction and we've got a whole
3:25
bunch of racing on tonight we've got the
3:27
clunker race on the bow but check this
3:30
out
3:30
[Music]
3:32
we've got loads of people racing around
3:34
town they've got a the streets blocked
3:35
off or just for this race and then we've
3:39
got a flat tire dirt creek coming up
3:41
which is going to be super fast that's
3:42
going to be actually a lot of the pros
3:44
racing will be racing on Sundays that's
3:47
gonna be really really fast well show
3:48
you some of that so this is a bit of a
3:50
bit of a party night before the racing
3:52
action that goes on tomorrow
4:01
[Music]
4:15
[Music]
4:19
[Applause]
4:23
[Music]
4:26
brought put some pressure on right now
4:33
taxes Rider
4:35
[Music]
4:46
so it's the morning of the race in
4:49
downtown Fruita Colorado heading to the
4:54
main house that all the pivot people are
4:56
staying at we're about to get a shuttle
4:59
out to Grand Junction and I think we're
5:01
probably about just a little over an
5:03
hour from the start of the race so the
5:06
nerves the butterflies are starting to
5:09
just start move inside we'll see how we
5:12
go we've got to get there first and then
5:14
get on the start line with hundreds of
5:16
other people as part of this event so
5:18
that'll be really exciting I'm sure
5:20
nerve-racking but exciting
5:30
[Music]
5:34
ready Tyler yes you got that ten minutes
5:39
to go before the start of the race it
5:41
runs lining up here so go everyone
5:43
lining up in the starlight chute and
5:46
then there you go so there's the flag
5:48
there for the start you've got ten
5:50
minutes before we set off on 40 mile
5:52
race which I've been told works out to
5:54
be about 65 kilometers so it's probably
5:57
the longest I've raced in a long time
6:00
better get in there
6:05
[Applause]
6:07
three
6:07
[Music]
6:18
Hey
6:36
just done you right just behind you mate
6:40
thank you thank you
7:03
hmm howdy g40 whoo thank you
7:19
[Applause]
7:23
all right race update I'm up to
7:27
something like 38 kilometers in so over
7:32
halfway which is good
7:34
good huh I legs if you land Holly hmm so
7:39
far
7:40
Rudy done over a thousand meters of
7:43
climbing and I'm feeling it just try to
7:47
keep the water coming in food coming in
7:51
ah this long dragging section of a
7:55
moment kind of rough I rode surprisingly
8:01
difficult fitness wires to keep momentum
8:04
over all these rocks still got a long
8:08
way to go my legs aren't feeling too
8:13
crash they're certainly feeling the last
8:15
60 kilometers are riding from from the
8:18
last two day probably know the best
8:20
preparation before a race
8:38
would would be great yeah thank you
8:44
kindly I'm gonna have a pickle that is
8:55
[Music]
8:56
[Laughter]
9:05
[Music]
9:11
brutal first time first time riding in
9:17
this area is amazing so good I just wish
9:22
I wasn't so tired
9:35
race update sitting around 46 kilometer
9:41
so good just under 20 kilometers left
9:45
that's if my miles 2 kilometer
9:49
calculations are correct and we've done
9:53
one horrible climb we're now in another
9:56
one it's just all slick rock like all
9:59
this stuff
10:00
I mean Grand Junction isn't far from
10:01
Moab and you can tell this sort of stuff
10:04
is very very similar to Moab oh man
10:08
I'm absolutely pooped I don't know how
10:11
I'm gonna go with this last 20k but make
10:14
it so tired
10:30
oh my god
11:09
[Applause]
11:11
[Music]
11:26
are you Beauty thank you sir
11:48
[Music]
11:59
all right
12:01
I've been finished I managed to cross
12:03
the line and finish the race
12:05
there was a pretty dark moment there
12:07
where I thought I might not make it
12:10
somehow pulled it together maybe the
12:13
gels kicked in actually it might have
12:15
been the pickle that I had at the second
12:16
feed station that was amazing actually
12:19
I've never eaten a pickle on a mountain
12:20
bike ride but I'm gonna be doing that a
12:21
lot more from now on because I think
12:23
that gave me the extra special powers
12:26
came good on like the last of the single
12:28
track the sandwich was just absolutely
12:31
wild so tired so mentally fatigued the
12:35
bike definitely carried me through a lot
12:37
but yeah managed to finish in four hours
12:43
and 18 minutes was my time apparently
12:47
I won the Open women's category which is
12:50
absolutely fantastic I've never won
12:52
anything like that before so I'm I'm
12:54
absolutely thrilled but I think my time
12:56
in the open mail category was like top
12:59
thirty or something so I'm really really
13:01
happy with that given how bad I felt in
13:04
the middle of that set in the middle of
13:05
that race on that horrible climb which
13:08
just very very nearly broke me both
13:10
physically and mentally that was tough
13:12
but all made up for by the amazing
13:15
single track it was properly properly
13:17
good so the writing here in Grand
13:19
Junction mind-blowing so goods had an
13:23
absolute blast the events great so many
13:25
people here it's just packed out with
13:27
people and you probably saw in the video
13:28
how many people there are annulled
13:30
course just cheering competitors along
13:33
which kind of was really good when
13:35
you're that tired it's nice to have a
13:37
little bit of extra motivation to help
13:39
keep you going so yeah the whole town's
13:41
just going off with this this mountain
13:43
bike event they've got roads closed off
13:44
there are police like guiding all the
13:46
races through it's just unlike anything
13:49
I've ever experienced before so
13:51
absolutely shove to bits but I got to be
13:54
a part of it but now I'm gonna go get my
13:56
free beer with my wristband cuz I think
13:59
after four and four and a half hours of
14:02
racing so I hope you guys enjoyed
14:03
watching and if you haven't already make
14:07
sure you subscribe to our YouTube
14:08
channel if you enjoyed this video give
14:10
us a thumbs up and I'll see you guys
14:12
next time we have some sort of stupid
14:15
challenge where I tried wrecked myself
14:16
on a bike
14:18
alright do
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