Hardtail Race Weapon

About 6 months ago I had a little too much to drink and clicked “buy now” on a cheap carbon hardtail frame on eBay. At $289 my drunk brain could not resist. I did have buyers remorse… still do. The frame arrived quickly and in fine shape but I really shouldn’t have bought it.

I quickly built it up when it arrived but only got two rides on it before I needed to scavenge some parts from it. So it hung in the garage until this week.

On Sunday I’m racing in Fernandina Beach on a course that is flat, smooth and has over a mile of pavement per 7 mile lap. Everyone said it’s a hardtail course so I built up the carbon hardtail again. It’s kind of rough since it’s mostly garage bin parts but I’ve been riding it all week and it’s holding up ok.

Thanks to MacGyver who inspired me to use two rubberbands, a zip tie and a piece of an old grip to hold the cpu to the stem.

It’s been a while since I raced a hardtail. I rode a steel hardtail all winter but come March I went to the race bike. The ride isn’t near as jarring as I was expecting and of course it accelerates super fast. Feels good. I used the 40t chainring off the fully so I shouldn’t need to shift at all up front. The old R7 fork is a little rough but still does the job.

Without any hills or technical stuff to make gaps I’m expecting this race to be tactical. Should be fun.