Road Racing on a Gravel Bike?
This season one of my goals was to ride the same bike in as wide a variety of events as possible. As a member of the Hustlin Racing Team which competes in the Korean Masters Cycling Tour road racing series I regularly compete in long road races. In the most recent round of the series I decided to put the 3T Exploro Racemax to the test. It was a resounding success as I finished reasonably well and was fully satisfied with the performance of the bike in the mountainous race. As a result, I plan to bring the bike to more road races and criteriums this season.
What is the MCT?
Road racing in Korea consists of two main kinds of races: Independent one day races and the season long Masters Cycling Tour (MCT). The MCT is organized by the Korean Cycling Federation (KCF) and is raced by teams of amateur cyclists from around Korea. In general, there is one round of the series each month from February thru July and the top 20 teams at the end of the series compete in a 3-day stage race in the fall. All of the races are road races generally about 80 – 100km long (50-60 miles). As this is the national amateur series of Korea the best racers in the country target these races with the peloton usually consisting of 300 riders from 35 teams!
Course & Bike Set Up
The Yang Yang round of the series is held in the eastern part of Korea each summer. The course consists of 3 laps of a 25km loop with a 2km long climb each lap followed by a twisty descent. The finish is a long gradually uphill drag that favors climbers over sprinters like myself.
For this race I chose the Boyd Podium Carbon 36mm Wheels with Pirelli Race Zero 26cc tires. This made the bike feel essentially like a road bike other than having a slightly higher position and lower gearing.
How did the bike perform?
I felt great on the bike all race. It was stiff and responsive when climbing out of the saddle and the wheel tire combination helped me rail the descent which was important for catching back onto the main group after the long hard climb.
The disc brakes performed amazingly giving me more confidence to carry speed on the descents and into corners. It was also great to have a wide range of gearing for the climb. I never felt under geared either as I was able to spin the 46 x 10 up to 65km/h on the flat sections in the pack.
Overall, if you want one bike that truly can do it all, the 3T Exploro Racemax is a great choice if you can get a couple of different sets of wheels. I plan to use this bike in a 3 round criterium race series starting next month!
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