Hi everyone,
I’m registered for the mid gravel (55 mile) for Oct 5th and am just wondering if my mountain bike (a Trek Marlin 6) is the right bike for this race? In the event description they have a list of bikes recommended and one of them is mountain bikes, but literally every picture i’ve seen of this event everyone is on road/gravel bikes. Does anyone have any experience with this race? I’m not trying to win/place, just finish and feel good about crossing the line.
Thank you!!
I’ve done this ride a few times on my gravel bike and you could absolutely do it on a road bike (preferably with wider tires).
Nothing wrong with the Trek Marlin (I have one!) but a road/gravel bike will be faster.
It’s a fun ride with some beautiful scenery too. I think you’ll enjoy it especially with some fall foliage this year!
Of course you can ride it on your Marlin, but there’s nothing at Battenkill that requires an mtb. A gravel race bike would be optimal. You’ll just take a little longer to complete it than on an optimal bike. That said, this is as good an excuse to buy another bike as any.
Ok, this is helpful. I’ve only recently (the past 3 years) gotten into biking and have been riding the mtb 3 days a week for 15 miles per ride. I love my Marlin and don’t want to spend the $ to get a whole new bike just for this race. I’m seeing this mostly as an opportunity to get out and push myself a bit while taking in some of the fall scenery. Maybe this will springboard me into a new personal biking era, but i’d rather not feel forced into it by buying a new bike at this point.
Totally. Go with the goal finding out what’s it like, having fun, and see where it takes you. Longer organized rides can be a lot of fun and a challenge as well. On most all I’ve gone on I’ve seen a wide variety of bikes from high-dollar race bikes to hybrids, cruisers, and even unicycles in a few cases. Battenkill has race categories but it’s also a fun ride too so your Marlin will do fine.
Run what ya brung!