Colin Strickland’s Winning Dirty Kanza ABLE
We knew that Dirty Kanza had been on Colin’s mind for a while. He had broken his pelvis in a mountain bike crash in October, which had derailed a lot of his early season base. Then he suffered a string of flats and crashes at LandRun100 and Belgian Waffle Ride. He was due for some things to go his way. And although his day at Dirty Kanza wasn’t flawless – a wrong turn and a couple of punctures he sealed up with plugs – his bold solo move around mile 110 earned him the win at the world’s most prestigious gravel race.
But we are bike geeks. So let’s talk about the bike, and dive into the details of the machine that he romped to the finish line in Emporia.
Colin chose the newly released ABLE for the 200 miles of Kanza. Big tire clearance, short chainstays for handling, light and nimble.
A long term partner with Enve, he chose the new 3.4 AR wheelset with Chris King R45 matte slate centerlock hubs. Tire choice is a hot topic, probably the biggest at DK – the technical, rocky nature of the route delivers thousands of flats each year. Colin went with a Specialized Pathfinder in size 42, with a healthy dose of Orange Seal tubeless sealant in each. As you can see, there is still a tubeless plug in his tire left over from a small puncture.
The drivetrain sets up full Shimano- or as Colin likes to say, Shima- YES please. Ultegra Di2 shifters and brakes, XTR Di2 rear derailleur, Ultegra r8000 Stages driveside power meter with Wolftooth 46T chainring, 11/40 cassette, and new XTR 140mm rotors. Also, in Colin’s particular fashion, a Shimano bar-end Di2 junction A box integrated with the ALLIED clean cable management system. Finished off with XTR pedals. It would be foolish to forget about the buttery smooth Kogel bottom bracket as well.
Full Enve cockpit follows with the standard 120mm road stem, 42mm aero bars, 25mm setback seatpost, and SES aero handlebar clip on extensions. Chris King headset, because it’s the best. Arundel bar tape – Colin’s own particular custom wrap. and Wahoo’s new Roam computer.
Finishing up on some details, Colin ran an Arundel pre production welded seam seat bag called the Gordo. Arundel also provided the three bottle cages – 2 Mandibles and 1 DTR/STR on the underside of the downtube. His saddle of choice is the Specialized Romin Evo 143. A last minute addition was the Silca Speed Capsule TT for extra storage.
Lastly, he spent the day in full Giordana custom kit, Specalized S-Works Recon shoes, custom Redbull Specialized Evade, and Roka custom eyewear.
