What ride essentials do EWS pros carry?
You don’t want to carry a heavy pack on race day when you’re climbing thousands of feet.
Every wonder what Enduro World Series pros carry while racing? To find out, Mtbr spoke with Curtis Keene and Alex McGuinnis (aka KrunkShox).
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgV4iqAYh8E
Keene is a Specialized sponsored athlete, so he doesn’t have to resort to strapping spare tubes to his bike. Instead, he can stash them in his downtube inside his SWAT box. He carries a tube, tire levers, Dynaplug, C02, spoke tool, and zip ties. Attached to his water bottle cage is a small multi-tool. If he needs to make repairs and he’s not carrying a spare, that means something catastrophic has failed. In that case, he says it’s best to head back to the pits and have a beer. Aside from the tools and water he keeps on his bike, Keene also carries food and other miscellaneous items in his SWAT bib pockets.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=scWci266HGg
While Keene squeezes most of his essential items into his frame, McGuinnis carries his spares in a small tool roll that he keeps in his bibs. Despite the small volume, his kit is bit more substantial.
Inside his tool roll is a spare derailleur hanger, three CO2 canisters, two tire boots (made from cut down hotel room keys), tire plugs, duct tape, a multi-tool (with chainbreaker and T25 that will actually reach your brake rotor bolts), brake pads, derailleur cable, tire lever, and a full SRAM derailleur cage and assembly. In addition to these items, he carries a spare tube and water bottle on his frame. He also stores food and additional water in his bib pockets.
Part of the reason both Keene and McGuinnis can get away with such minimal kits is that they can pop into the pits between certain EWS stages. The number of pits can vary depending on the race venue, but that gives riders the opportunity to top off essentials.
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