Cannondale SuperX Review

There I was alone in what was a 110 mile gravel race, but for me it was now a 119 mile gravel race.  I was lost and alone in the middle of Kansas on gravel roads and, I had not seen a car or a rider in over an 2 hours only rarely seeing a farm house in the distance.  It was just me and my Cannondale SuperX, grinding through the gravel wondering if I would ever get back on the race course.  I couldn’t help but think “how did I get here”. 

Kansas Gravel - Photo Credit Chuck Vohsen

Flashback

For almost a year I had been coveting my teammate, Chuck’s, adventure/gravel bike.  He had scoured the earth and found all the perfect parts and built a Salsa Vaya, he even blogged the whole build process.  As he built his bike, he kept telling me what a great time he was going to have competing in all upcoming gravel races.  I was not convinced that gravel racing could ever be fun.  I had done plenty of adventure races on a mountain bike riding gravel roads and it was never what I would call fun.  I said “I will never gravel race, EVER, I don’t care how many times you tell me it’s fun”. 

So the more Chuck rode and the more stories he told me, the more I thought, maybe I want to try this, but I did not want to waste a bunch of money on a gravel bike and find out that I hated gravel racing.  Oh, but then the light bulb in my brain went on.  I had been wanting to start riding a few cyclocross races and I realized that a gravel bike is really just a cyclocross bike with bigger tires.  In my mind I could justify maybe making a purchase of a cyclocross bike and using it as a gravel bike also. 

Now this meant that I would have to start researching bikes, because I’m not mechanically inclined like Chuck, so much so, that the bike shop guys tell me to never ever do my own maintenance.  I hate to admit it, but every time I have tried to do my own maintenance, it has turned into a disaster and I end up running into the bike shop yelling “code blue” because it always happens the day I’m leaving town for a race. 

So after looking at Trek, Felt, Giant and Cannondale, I had narrowed the search to two CX bikes that I could afford.  My number one choice was the Trek Cronus Pro and the Cannondale SuperX was my second choice.  Since I race for the Cyclery which is sponsored by Trek, I was pretty sure I would go with the Trek. Plus the Trek had tubeless ready wheels, which I thought I would really need, but it had Shimano 105 components, and I really wanted the next step up to Ultegra.  It also had the Bontrager Evoke saddle which I like and of course the frame was carbon and I wanted the lightest bike I could get.  

I compared it to the Cannondale which was also carbon and it had the upgrade to the Ultegra components, it was not tubeless ready, which at the time was a strike in my mind, because I knew how hard gravel can be on tires and I was afraid of constant flats with tubed wheels.  The saddle was a Fizik Tundra, which seemed to be a very expensive saddle, but I have never actually tried one before so I didn’t know if I would like it or not.

After all my research and thinking about it, and let me tell you, I thought about it for 6 months before I made the purchase, I made a trip to the Cyclery, where Andy, a master mechanic and coach, fitted me for both the Trek and the Cannondale.  Andy was also a Trek Cronus lover, but in the end, he said fit is everything, and the smallest Cronus made was a 50 cm, which he couldn’t in good conscience tell me would fit. However Cannondale came in smaller sizes and I could get a 47 which is what I needed.  The Cannondale was a bit out of my price range, but with some coordination between the Cyclery and Cannondale, I was able to get an affordable price.

Robin's Cannondale SuperX

I was still not a believer and was worried that I would get the bike and hate it, I had heard some bad stuff from fellow riders about Cannondales, and was worried that it may be true.  I did have one friend who is a great road racer and all he rides is Cannondale, he told me I would love it and not to worry.  I ordered the bike, while I was still recovering from tailbone and heart surgery, it came in just a week before I was going to be released to ride.  

I started thinking about what kind of tires I needed for gravel racing, the bike came with Schwalbe Rapid Rob’s in a 35C size.  Everyone told me that they would never hold up to the gravel.  My adventure racing team, ROCK Racing, is sponsored by Schwalbe and I happen to really like their tires, so I wasn’t really worried, but the Rapid Rob is not considered a tough tire, so I ordered Schwalbe Marathons, the toughest tires they make.  I had to stay with the 35c’s because the next size up in the Marathons was a 40c and I thought it would be too big for the bike.  Unfortunately, the tires would not arrive in time for my first ride or my first race.  

Rapid Rob vs. Marathon

After a week of looking at the bike, I rode it one time on some gravel roads in the Busch Wildlife area, in Missouri.  It was only a 50 mile ride, but the bike felt pretty good, except for the saddle. 

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

Then six days later I took the bike to Herman Missouri and competed in Tour of Herman Gravel Race.  If you know anything about Herman Missouri, you know that it is crazy hilly. 

Hills of Herman - Photo Credit Dan Singer

So I’m on a new bike, rolling down steep hills at 40 mph in deep river gravel. I was more than a little scared and I was riding a race tire, instead of a tough tire. Guess what!  It was all good, not one flat tire, and I only fish tailed to the point of hysteria one time.  After finishing 68 miles of tortuous hills and heavy gravel, I decided that I really liked my SuperX.  The only thing I really hated about the entire bike was the saddle, it was not made for a butt the size of mine.  I knew I would be swapping it out for one of my favorite saddles before my next ride.

Saddle from Hell - Photo Credit Dan Singer

I left Herman, still as out of shape as ever, but feeling good, I mean for the shape I was in, I should have been sore from being rattled to death over the gravel and hills, but I really felt good and I felt good the next two days too with no residual back aches. So the bike did a great job handling the some of the roughest roads in the Midwest. 

Fast Forward

Just a few weeks after the Tour of Herman, and not very many rides on my SuperX, I found myself in Kansas racing in the Dirty Kanza.  

The Epic Gravel Race

As far as the course went, it was all hills, but not the steep grueling hills of Herman, mostly long climbs with one after the next and the gravel of course was much tougher than the Herman gravel.  I had to constantly find a line left from previous riders to follow. Yes, I was scared a couple times, but I was able to keep both wheels on the road. 

Who said Kansas was flat

Oh and I was riding the half pint race of 110 miles, but since I got lost once, I ended up riding 119 miles.  Never once did I curse the bike, or feel like it was killing me on the rough roads. I had put on the Schwalbe Marathon tires and they were really working well.  I never felt like crying or like I wasn’t going to make it, I never wanted to throw my bike in the gravel and walk away.  I have to give credit to my SuperX, it was so comfortable, so light, and so freaking awesome, that I was even smiling when I crossed the finish line and I finished it faster than I had expected even with the extra nine miles. 

119 miles later

Now if I were my teammate Chuck, I would have given you a more technical review of the bike, but Chuck thinks like a engineer and he is a guy, so all the mechanical stuff means something to him.  For me though, the icing on the cake was finishing a Dirty Kanza and thinking, well I might just do this again.  Well it actually took a couple days before I really thought that.

So next up, I will be putting the Schwalbe Rapid Robs back on and race some cyclocross and I have no doubt that I will love the SuperX just as much, when I’m racing a cyclocross course.

Tour of Hermann Gravel Race 2013

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

Gravel racing seems to be a quickly growing bike racing event.  Just a couple years ago, I had never heard of gravel racing, now these races are popping up all over the place.  Being an adventure racer, this type of racing caught my eye, because in adventure races, we do a lot of gravel riding.

 

Chuck and I had been watching this sport grow from the sidelines, but last summer Chuck started building a gravel bike, you might have seen his gravel bike build posts.  Well, as soon as he finished his bike, I of course did not want to be left out, so I started shopping for a gravel bike. Chuck built a true adventure bike, so it’s a bit heavy, and like a tank, it can go anywhere.  Me on the other hand, I was thinking about trying some cyclocross this year, so I went with a gravel/cyclocross bike.  It’s much lighter than Chuck’s, and since I’m not as strong as him, it helps me keep up.

Chuck and I showed up about an hour before race time, did all our pre-race rituals, checked-in and picked up our schwag.  We both got a bottle of wine, Chuck picked red and I chose the sparkling grape juice.  I don’t drink much wine.  We also got a jar to fill with gravel, which was kind of cool.

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

We rode over the bridge and out of town, and then turned on to the Katy Trail.  For a few short miles we were on the flat trail, and everyone just took off, I on the other hand hung back, I was almost last at that point, but I knew it was going to be a long day and I just didn’t have it in me to ride fast that early.  I have to warm up for a long time, I’m more of the endurance rider and less of the sprinter.  Chuck was pretty far in front of me, but when I made it to the turn on a paved road section he was waiting for me.  I told him not to let me ruin his race, so drop me and go on, but he said this was just training for him, not to worry.  I do worry though, I don’t want anyone holding back just so I can stay on.  He stuck with me though, the good thing was as the day went on I got stronger, so I didn’t slow him down as much as I thought I would. 

 

We soon hit all the gravel roads, the rock on the first lap, was mostly small and only deep in spots, most of the time we could pick a line that wasn’t too bad.  The hills on the other hand, SUCKED, they were so steep and so long, but every hill we rode up we would see someone walking, I would think to myself, “you will not walk this hill, even if this bike falls over, you will not walk this hill”, and I didn’t.  Chuck of course made it up all the hills too, there were even a couple hills I beat Chuck up, not many, but a couple.  The down hills were probably more treacherous than the uphills.  They were so steep and the gravel made it really sketchy coming down.  My max speed on the downhills was 40 mph and Chucks was over 41 mph.  On one hills we both hit some deep gravel and started fish tailing.  I think my life was passing before my eyes at that time, but somehow, both of us kept our wheels on the road.  I was so scared that I was shaking at the bottom of the hill, but not to worry, there was another uphill right in front of us, so I was quickly in oxygen debt again and didn’t have time to start crying. 

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

I wish I could explain how big these hills were, the pictures just don’t do them justice.  I was thinking, that riding hills is much easier in the dark because you can’t see how big the hill are, you just keep grinding away until you come to the top.  Chuck and I discussed how we had ridden to the top of the LaSalle Mountains in Utah during the CPT National Adventure race championships, it took us over 6 hours and it was uphill the entire time, but we did most of it in the dark and I think that is what helped us make it to the top. 

We finished the first lap, and refueled at the Adventure Jeep, we probably wasted a little time, we were taking off layers, eating, filling water bottle and packing our pockets with food.  We headed back out for loop two which had longer steeper hills and deeper bigger gravel than lap one.  

Lap 2

I felt pretty good though and I think Chuck was in good shape too.  We were somewhat worried because we thought the cutoff to start lap 3 was at 3:30, but at the start of the race, the race director said it was 2:30, I was thinking he probably just said that in error, but we knew we wouldn’t make it back by 2:30. 

Right from the start of the lap, it was uphill and it seemed to last forever, but it was a paved section of road so at least we wouldn’t have to worry about spinning tires.

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

After the first hill the roads turned to gravel and it was a chunkier, thicker gravel than what was on lap one.  It reminded me of the gravel that you see in a river bottom.

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

The gravel went on and on, the downhills were getting tougher and tougher, plus I was so tired from the uphills, I just didn’t have the strength needed to really control my bike, so I just started loosening my grip and hoped the bike would take me where I wanted to go.  We stopped at the top of a hill where we rode through a small town, and grabbed some food from our pockets, and took off more clothes.  The day was getting warmer, but the wind was making it cool on the downhills. It was really a hard day to dress for. We looked at our watches and the mileage, and knew that we would not make it back by 2:30, but maybe we could be there by 3:30.  We hoped that 3:30 was the cutoff for the third lap. 

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

Once we were back on the road we started passing people, some were just slowing down, others were having mechanical problems. No one needed help, so we just kept riding. As we rode into Hermann, I knew it was going to be really close to the cutoff, but didn’t know just how close.  We made the turn to ride the last hill into the chute and as we were just about to the top we heard the announcer say, “we have just reached the cutoff time”.  We finished in 6:30:30, just 30 seconds too late to start the third lap. 

 

On one hand I was upset because I wanted to do the full 3 laps, on the other hand I was secretly glad because I was so tired that the last lap would have been brutal.  The good thing was, when we rode back to the jeep there were racers everywhere who did not go out on the third lap, so we didn’t feel like real losers at all.  We stopped and talked to our friend Wendy, who is in great shape and she made the decision not to do the third lap, so now we felt a lot better.  Chuck made a good point too, we could still walk after the ride and we had a really fun time with good memories, so maybe not riding the third lap was a way of keeping the memories good because I know I would not have finished that last lap with any good memories.

Photo Credit - Wendy Davis

So our first gravel race went really well, we both want to do more.  I do need to have my brakes looked at and Chuck needs to learn that it’s ok to drop me, but all in all, it was a beautiful day, spent riding bikes with good friends, you really can’t ask for more than that.  

Oh, and one last thing, I love my new Cannondale SuperX, I will have a bike review coming soon. 

Thanks to the race sponsors for having this race, and having such great support out on the course, I think I saw the race truck about 50 times, it was always around when someone needed help.  Like the guy on the ground that looked like he broke his collarbone. See neither Chuck nor I broke anything and we didn’t have any mechanical problems, well Chuck dropped his chain once, but I don’t think that counts.