Keegan Swenson stepped-up from his second-place end of 2022 to assert victory within the Garmin Unbound Gravel offered by Craft race this yr. Swenson outsprinted the seven-rider-leading group on the end to take the win from Petr Vakoc and Lachlan Morton.
The climate closed in through the later levels of the 200-mile race within the Flint Hills of Kansas and Swenson defined his dash end techniques to Cyclingnews on the end.
“Everybody appeared like they have been going fairly nicely. There have been assaults in the previous few miles. The end chute was fairly hectic, so I figured I’d go somewhat bit lengthy.”
Swenson is a Santa Cruz athlete and makes use of the model’s Stigmata gravel bike for drop bar racing. The bike was kitted out with a mix-and-match Sram drivetrain and brakes, Reserve wheels fitted with Maxxis tyres in addition to a Zipp handlebar stem and Prologo saddle.
The bike was caked with mud and mud on the end and there have been a couple of little tweaks and additions included to assist get the bike by the testing 200-mile occasion unscathed.
Swenson’s body and fork itself look somewhat bit completely different to a inventory Stigmata body and might be a prototype or customized body for the rider or maybe an indication that there’s a new Stigmata body and fork within the works from the American model. In addition to the body variations the purple color the body is painted seems to be customized and is not supplied as an on choice on the Santa Cruz web site.
One thing that is already being mentioned is whether or not Swenson raced on a prototype or customized Stigmata or perhaps a brand-new Santa Cruz gravel bike.
The entrance finish of the bike is the place the variations from a inventory Stigmata are most noticeable. The fork legs look like wider than the inventory fork and the crown additionally seems to be a barely completely different form.
The headtube and junction between the highest and down tubes additionally seem to have completely different profiles. Swenson rides a small body measurement which highlights the variations extra clearly.
This shot highlights the different-looking fork crown and headtube junction space most clearly, may this be customized geo or a prototype body?
Gear-wise, Swenson used a reasonably normal setup with a Zipp alloy handlebar stem, with a reasonably slender bar and shifters turned in. There did not look to be an excessive amount of further padding on the handlebars to accommodate the pet paw’s place after aero bars weren’t allowed on this yr’s race.
Swenson used a small prime tube mounted body bag for spares and or meals and ran his fork stack just about slammed, with a 10mm handlebar spacer on prime of the stem. Barely out of shot are the Sram Purple AXS shift and brake levers.
A number of riders taped sticks or instruments to their bikes to make use of a mud-clearing instrument in case the bikes grew to become too clogged with cheesy mud. Swenson seems to have used matching purple tape to connect a chunk of wooden beneath his prime tube to race with.
A prime tube identify sticker and steel bottle cages (we assume to stop bottles from leaping out on the tough stuff) have been additionally fitted.
Swenson’s drivetrain setup may be very fascinating it seems a mixture of 12-speed T-Sort Sram XX Eagle MTB collection and Purple One AXS highway parts have been used.
Swenson’s bike was fitted with a Sram Purple 1 AXS energy meter crankset with an aero 1x chainring. Chainrings for this chainset can be found in 36-50T sizes in two tooth increments. A small chain keeper machine can be fitted, however it’s tough to make out the model by the mud.
On the rear, a Sram XX Eagle MTB collection rear derailleur was fitted to the bike. Able to accommodating a 50t max sprocket measurement on the rear and utilizing the brand new Sram UDH Hangerless Interface, Full Mount attachment methodology. (maybe that is a part of the explanation for a brand new body design?). The pedals look like Shimano SPD models.
The silver derailleur arm on the XX rear derailleur exhibits it’s the usual model (for those who can name this very costly mech normal), not the SL model which makes use of carbon fibre cage materials.
The wheels are from Reserve, while the tyres are Maxxis Rambler fashions, in an virtually all-American bike construct. Reserve Fillmore tubeless valves look like fitted to the wheels.
