• I like the visual contradictions at work here. They complement each other really nicely! For instance, slammed horizontal stem and large tires. It looks like a fast bike that is comfy going cruisy, which I guess is the point.

  • I broke my back a few years ago; I feel way more comfortable while a bit stretched, with more weight on the arms and less on the back, hence the "racy" position.
    Endurance bikes with tall head tubes usually feel awful to me.

    Aero bars will complete the setup - again, not really for going fast, just to get a comfy position for long stretches of straight road.

    The bike is really made for long distance riding: the big tires absorb the buzz of the road.
    I think that they really start to shine when riding for several days in a row. You never get numbness, you don't care about the road quality, and you can confidently continue when the road ends and turns into gravel.
    Also, technical descents get a lot less stressful (more grip, better braking) and they allow mistakes due to sleep deprivation or exhaustion. Missed pothole? Fine. Slippery patch? Scary but fine.

    I'm somewhat surprised we don't see more of those kind of setups on ultras like the TCR. Not a the pointy end of course, but for people that enter with the objective to get to the end on time, I feel like such a setup would be a plus.

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