The growth of Cross Country Marathon (XCM) racing in Australia accelerated in 2011 with the Real Insurance XCM Series, tying five of the top east coast events together into one cohesive series. Overall prize money and a higher profile drew more of the nations elite racers – and the sport has benefited. While drawing much of the top cross country and endurance talent, the race wins are becoming harder to come by. Indeed, across the men’s and women’s races, only three people have stood on the top step of the podium for the full distance events. Shaun Lewis and Jenny Fay (both Rockstar Racing) and Andy Blair (Swell-Redshift).
What’s their secret? Hard training and dedication.
What are the leading riders racing on? That’s easier to show. It is rare to see a 26″ wheeled bike within the men’s elite top 10, although in the women’s race, Becky Mates does race on a Cube 26″ hard tail.
The Merida Big Nine of Adrian Jackson. He is leading the 2012 XCM Series KOM score. Jason English runs the same frame.
Slammed. Jackson runs this super low stem, in an effort to gain the seat to bar drop he desires.
Getting the front end low is paramount for good bike handling either pushing into single track corners, or when climbing. Tall or short, most racers are running their stems ‘slammed’ right on the headset top cap. For more aggressive positions, stems with bigger negative drops are run. Shaun Lewis uses a similar stem to Adrian Jackson on his Rockstar Racing Giant XTC 29er.
Cannondale Hollowgram Cranks are run by Jackson, as they are substantially lighter than the stock SRAM XX set.
2 x 10 setups are pretty much standard for most cross country and XCM racers – save for a few people running a single chainring setup, such as Jet Racing rider Garry Millburn. With SRAM’s new XX.1 group set, there could well be a shift to more single ring setups.
Garry Millburn runs a single 34t chainring on his Jet Racing Specialized S-Works Epic 29er.
Wheels are obviously very important for a race bike. Stans Crest 29er rims are abundant, but carbon rimmed wheels are increasing. The Radical Lights Factory Racing Team run the Enve carbon rims on their Cannondale Flash 29er Ultimate team bikes. James Downing was also running the same setup for the Wollombi Wild Ride. Andy Blair uses the new SRAM Rise 60 wheels, that incorporate a carbon rim and a free hub with fast engagement. Adrian Jackson, while not running carbon, does use titanium spokes that are tied and soldered for extra stiffness.
Adrian Jackson has a set of traditional looking, hi spec wheels. ZTR Crests laced to DT Swiss hubs with Ti spokes. Tied and soldered to finish them off.
James Downing was running carbon Enve rims – as are a number of other racers.
The course at Wollombi was fast, by all accounts. Few people took risks on equipment, with most people running the tyres that they were used to running. Andy Blair used Maxxis Ikon’s, with the reinforced EXO version on his rear wheel, and the lightweight regular version up front. Similarly, Adrian Jackson ran a Schwalbe Ralph EVO front tyre, but the snake skin version on the rear.
Maxxis Ikon EXO on the back for Andy Blair. Pretty fast, pretty versatile. very strong.
Garry Millburn ran narrow 1.95″ S-Works tyres, citing their 120tpi casing as being strong and supple.
You need to look closely to see other changes that Elite racers are making to their bikes. Most of them are about small customisations for fit, or performance. Noatbly, Adrian Jackson runs a 140mm rear brake rotor, yet has a 180mm rotor on the front. And although most bike retailers will recommend running a longer top tube on a 29er with a shorter stem – a glance around bikes and riders shows elite riders sticking to a smaller frame with a lot of post and stem.
Handlebars are typically wide, for extra leverage on a larger 29″ wheel, and greater ease of control. With elite fields rarely bigger than 30 riders, the starts don’t require narrow bars to get through heavy traffic.
Part of the command centre for Andy Blair. SRAM XX Grip shift, hydraulic lock out for his SID fork, and Oziriders foam grips.
The next, and final, round of the Real Insurance XCM Series is the Highland Fling. With more points on offer, lots of cash, a fast course and the series being more open – we may see some tech changes again.