Race King 2.2s, no inserts, Silca Ultimate sealant.
Just debating on the wheels. Last year ran the ENVE 4.5s and may stick with them, but 3.4s also an option.
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I run this combo on my Revolt. They are great tires, fast, and grip well. Have put them through the ringer from smooth dirt/gravel, to singletrack with a lot of rocks/baby heads. Handle well.
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Good to hear! Do you run them with or without inserts?
I don’t have any experience with those tires, but Big Sugar can be a bit of a flat fest. Just make sure whatever you run is fairly durable (hopefully those Schwalbe’s are). I’ve raced those roads a few times (Big Sugar x1 and Rule of 3 twice) and I’ve been lucky, but there are always a lot of flats on the course. Particularly early in the day when the packs are bigger/dustier and line choice can be a challenge. If you aren’t trying to stay with packs bombing the descents, probably much less flat risk.
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Weird. They haven’t posted the route yet?! Do people think it will mostly be the same as last year?
Wired. I was on a couple of days ago, and the route was posted. It sent a link to the 2024 route. So maybe they are changing it. I looked up the parking and it has for start/finish, Pineville and Whistling springs, so I would not get my hopes up for a new route. That would be a first for Big Sugar. We shall see.
I ran the 50 rx pro up front at unbound with no issue. I believe some of the elites were on that tire as well.
On something prone to flats, I may consider like a 48 thundero for the rear. I haven’t heard of many issues outside one (which sounded like a burped tire) on the new Schwalbes tho.
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THE ROUTE HAS CHANGED
Update: The route has changed and been shortened this year. Check the website. The 2024 route is not the same. It appears the 50m route will run backwards and the 100 mile route has been adjusted to accommodate this.
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Interesting to change the 50 mile route to run backwards of the 2024 route. At least no climb out of Whistling Springs. That climb was the worst.
I generally hate all climbs, but that wasn’t a bad spot for one coming out of the feed zone. Kind of takes the pressure off at the aid station if you are with a group since the group is likely to split up on the climb anyways. I hate rolling into a rest stop with a big group on flat/fast terrain when everyone is scrambling to refill water and then trying to use the aid station to drop people.
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Can I just take a second and complain about the 50-mile start? I have done the 50 many times and they need to fix the start. The neutral ends, sending everyone straight down a screaming descent with only 1 maybe 45 seconds to a minute climb breaking the descent up. So you have every single 50 miler going 40 down a decent. Not a great idea with varying skill levels.
Also last year, the lead motto I guess was lost or did not know when to end the loadout. I was first into it and he seemed to panic when he hit the gravel and caused me to have to slow down. Then he almost stopped mid-corner. What do yall think they should do?
I am thinking just send them down the same road as the finish, and have them go that way. At least then its paved and only really 1 turn. The decent does not do anything beneficial anyway.
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That sharp climb after the descent is really sketchy since people don’t keep their line.
I am glad the WS climb is out; last year it was kind of sketchy since there was a lot of car traffic going down it while we were going up it.
Not sure how I feel about doing the reverse course. I always liked the 2nd half of the course better than the first half and I will have no idea how to pace the reverse. 
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They should have some uphill sections to rip things apart a bit before any fast gravel descents. From what I remember about the 100m course last year, there was enough pavement climbing to spread things out pretty good before we hit gravel. I haven’t looked at the changes for this year yet. It was still sketchy racing for the first couple hours last year with decent sized groups bombing every descent, but that’s just the nature of the course. I think it’s probably the most dangerous race I’ve done and I’m not sure what they can do to make it safer. There are just a lot of loose/fast descents and people tend to ride beyond their abilities. And I’d argue that most people are significantly under biked on that course. I rode my FS MTB last year and that was the right tool for the job on the descents (for me and my average descending skills). I saw a bunch of wrecks on the descents last year, some at pretty high speed. And it’s not enough to control your own line and speed, you have to be able to dodge the people out of control and wrecking in front of you. I’ll be on a gravel bike this year, but running 2.2’s and suspension in the front. Fingers crossed that I’ll keep it upright and avoid flats. Pretty much my only goals for the race.
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Yeah, an uphill would be idea. But kinda hard to keep the same general loop and not have some kind of downhill start.
Raced last year with Cush Core inserts on Pathfinder 42. No flats…. this year, I’m on a new bike and planning on racing 2.2 Race Kings. With those size tires, are people still using inserts? I am leaning on not using the inserts because of the weight savings and the hassel of installing them. It also seems there have been less flats in recent years.
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Not me. Very low risk of pinch flat with a 2.2 on that course in my opinion. The only thing an insert buys you is the ability to ride a flat tire for a bit if needed.
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I won’t be. You need to run a ton of sealant with inserts in 2.2s since both the tire and the insert gets coated by the sealant.
It’s been pretty dry the last few years on race day and this has helped reduce the flats. The first year of Big Sugar the flats were much worse and there was some rain during the race as well.
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Looks like they have the events schedule up for Big Sugar. 2 questions, It didn’t appear they were having shake out rides. We’re there shake out rides last year? Also my wife is coming with me and we are deciding on attending the RAVE. Is it worth it? Thanks!!
There will almost certainly be a number of shake out rides with so many pro’s in attendance. Keep an eye on social media as the event gets closer and you’ll likely see athletes and sponsors announcing them.
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I’ve actually been thinking of offering up either a shake out ride or a brief meet and greet / coffee with the TR people doing Big Sugar. Might be fun to put some usernames to faces!
My wife had to drop out of the trip, so I’ll definitely be going to a lot of the events throughout the week. Maybe not the gravel rave though. I don’t really understand why that is a thing.
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