Carver 420 TI Review

Last year when I partnered with Carver, we talked about me doing a review of this bike and how it performed in my events and training. After a year of training and testing it out during the races I've completed, I have great experience on it and can give it a solid review.

I received this bike in November 2013 and went about setting up my fit on the bike, which for me always takes a bit of time as I'm always looking for the optimal fit and keep tweaking it as I'm on it 10-15 hours a week.

I've had this bike set up on my trainer, ridden it in the snow and on the trail and roads.  With a great deal of summer riding and races in the bank, I've tweaked it to a good fit and have a solid opinion of my ride and its features, so let's get started!

Out of the box the bike has clean welds and is very well constructed with certain design features that I really like, including:

1. Tapered head tube
2. Cable guides that allow the use of full cable housing
3. Rear sliders that allow the chain stays to be adjusted  down to 420mm, or shorter depending on the tire.
4. Good rear tire clearance 2.35
5. 73mm THREADED BB shell, with ample clearance for any size chain ring
6. Ovalized down tube
7. Awesome TI goodness
8. Solid build and clean welds

One of the nicest build qualities that I find it has is how the top tube is welded to the down tube and the head tube (as one), then both are welded to the head tube. I think this really makes the front end of this bike stiff. The other added feature is that the likelihood of a crack at this intersection is much less than other TI frames on the market, that don't make their connection like this. It's definitely a week point (IMO) and takes away relying on the welds alone.

I initially set the Carver up for the trainer and then on the road; 2 very similar setups and the use of my 48T chainring on my 1X10 system. On the road I could really feel the stiffness of the wide BB shell, I am used to the 68MM of my Lynskey, and I truly hated how soft the bottom end of the bike felt on the Lynskey. My SS type riding style has me spend the majority of the time out of the saddle mashing on my peddles, it was a welcome sensation to feel the bike push ahead on every pedal stroke on the Carver vs the slight lag I felt on my old Lynskey. Obviously the shorter stays of the Carver (420mm) over the (445mm) that I was familiar on the Lynskey played a hand in this as well. Handling was harder to evaluate on the road (or trainer for that matter) I can tell you this, the bike went where I pointed it.

I ordered the bike with the Carver Trail carbon fork, as this came with the 15mm TA.  My idea was to race my next 24 with this bike as a fully rigid setup.  Speaking of which, fast forward to race day 2014 24hrs of OP, Tucson Arizona. The 420 did exactly what I wanted, the carbon fork was super compliant throughout the whole event. It was only in the last few hours of the event did my hands feel sore from running the carbon fork and this was only because of how rough some sections of the course had become due to the shear number of riders in the event.

My next event was the 6 hours of Salty Dog.  I ran my Fox terralogic fork in this event and was happy I did. With 2 days of steady rain prior to the event and then sunny the day of the event, I found the exposed sections of the course in really good condition, but once you got into the trees the wet roots and muddy conditions were pretty sketchy. The Carver performed excellently under these conditions.

I raced next in the 24hrs of Round and Round. I really liked this course, and it was very well suited to my setup. Long climbs with some flow and some tech in between. I got a viral bug during this event so an 8 hour ride at this event was all that I could get done.

Since Spokane I have been able to get some decent long rides in the dirt. This is where I have really been able to evaluate this bike. No pressure while racing but just connecting with this tool while on the trail. Some of the highlights I really appreciate about the Carver has been the ability to ride in some really twisty single track. I can really lean into the corners, and kick myself out of the corner with enough time to setup for the next corner. It is uncanny how quick this endurance rig is.

My idea of an endurance bike is equal amounts of compliancy and stiffness, so as to get the job done and not be too beat up. This machine delivers!  With a few tiny adjustments, you can change this bike into a single track monster that you can throw into berms, or you can change it up for a bit more compliancy for some all day riding.

The next event I raced at was the 24 HOA at Canmore. I love this course and I loved riding this bike on this course. A great result and a fantastic ride left me in great shape after the race. No discomfort at all during the 24 hours of racing.

With my setup, I spend most of my time riding with the chainstay's set at 420mm and run my Carver Carbon fork with a 2.4 ardent up front and a Ikon 2.2 on the back. I really like this setup for training around Calgary and most trails in Bragg and Canmore. It is smooth enough ride that it saves the wear and tear on my suspension forks and makes me better at choosing lines. I find it's a much more compliant rigid bike than my old Giant, with the Niner carbon fork.

In Summary, with 4-24 hour races under my belt this season  and a pile of training hours on this bike, I will definitely be riding and racing it next season as well.  In fact, it's so awesome...that I'll be ordering another 420 TI this winter for some SS action .

A big thanks to Forrest Carver for setting me up with this rig.

http://carverbikes.com/bikes/titanium-420/

2014-24hrs of Adrenaline

2014 24 hours of Adrenaline

At the beginning of the season I started contemplating racing this event.  I mean what's not to like about this event...  it has a great vibe and being that it is basically in my backyard... I was in!

I was able to talk Julie and Steve Kelly into running my pit for me, which helps a ton. Cor was going to help with Zach, but it was good knowing that they could take a step back. It's big job to have a 7 year old all night and put up with my shenanagins for 24hrs.

With some great training volume and a crappy result at Spokane (due to some stomach issues), I certainly had the motivation as well.

July 19th had us set up at our pit location that evening, a prelap, a chat with friends and then off we head to the Stoney Nakoda Hotel for a quick dip in the pool and some much needed sleep.

Saturday morning we were running a bit late, but we still were able to hookup with Steve and Julie, got the bike prepped with my race number and we were able to chill for the next couple of hours before the gun goes off at noon.

Some chatting with fellow racers in the start lineup, had me next to Ryan Gardiner, Andrew Bovard, and Jesse Mong. Jesse looked fit as always and he looked like he brought his Ä game which I expected. I like Jesse a lot, he is a fierce competitor, and as genuine as they come.

The gun goes off and I run my leman start, make my way back to the start finish and climb on the bike for some 24hr goodness. An hour or so later I ride down solo pit area just in time to see our mechanics tent get blown across the course with Steve ending up on his butt trying to stop it and Cor chasing after the tent as it righted itself across the lane and stood straight up like it was meant to be there.

Julie, was on task running after me to hand me a bottle, and I went out on my 2nd lap with a few thoughts on my mind. When I returned from my second lap I had found out that everyone was ok, and all things were back to normal, and knowing some kind souls had lent my pit crew some tent pegs to make sure that the tent wouldn't blow across the course, again.

The next few laps were uneventful (thank goodness) and I was enjoying riding with Ryan for the most part of them.  I found the temps a bit on the warm side but the descents made up for that as they were a bit cooler.  Around 8pm Ryan and I separated to ride on our own. It was a bit after this that I was riding the Matching Jersey's section of the course and feeling great when I heard a loud, "snap" as my chain disintegated into 2 pieces. I pull off the trail and add 2 quick links, within 5 mins I was on my way to finish this lap.

Ryan leading

When I came in I asked Julie if she could get my spare chain (I kept on hand) installed for me by the mechanics on site. Then I would take out my spare bike and not lose any valuable time. I now had a trust issue with my primary bike and its chain, I figured it best to get it fixed while it was still quite bright out. Then I wouldn't have to worry about repairing this chain again, especially when it would get dark.

Out I go on my spare bike, it's nice and light but not very compliant.  I had installed my rigid fork for training on much smoother terrain, but it wasn't much fun to ride the choppy descents on and I was happy that this was only going to be a one lap affair on this bike.

I pass check mark 1 and head into the tree's (and roots) for some more climbing and I hear a really loud  "snap"! and my bike stops immediately.  I look down and see a branch jammed into my derraileur, pushing it into my spokes. One of the roots I just rode over has snapped back and hit my derraileur and chain . Seriously?! I take a a few minutes to fix it but it requires me to bend my deraileur by hand out of the spokes and my chain ends up in 2 pieces as a result. I sling the chain onto the side of the course and start pushing and coasting my bike back the way I came.

I get stopped by the marshalls as I ride back to the checkpoint I just pass and am told that I will have to forfeit this lap or run the balance of the 17kms to make it back to the pit to make this lap count. The idea of running the balance of the lap in my carbon soled biking shoes was not appealing at all.

So there it is, I forfeit my lap via the Marshall's radio call. I  start running and coasting my bike back down to the pits. When I arrive at the pits, I hear from Cor that Julie is on her way back with my  Carver... fixed and ready to roll. I can't say thanks enough to Outside Bike and Ski, for bailing me out!

Julie runs back into the pit, and I jump on my Carver 420 Ti, and head back to the timing tent first so that my laps can restart. Now I can get back to the task at hand... trying to make up lost time.

I'm told I lost 54 mins (not counting the ride around to the timing tent). This also put me a lap down from the leaders, and put me somewhere in the 6th placing, from my previous 3rd place standing.

Ugh, anything can happen in a 24hr race and it just did. So I settled into some smart racing, ticking away the miles hoping that I could make up the time and maybe try for an attack in the morning.

After this lap I come back in and get my lights on the bike and helmet, and get out for some night riding.

The night goes pretty much as expected, just chipping away and cautiously planning for the money lap. I get back out on my last night lap and decide to pick up my pace a bit as I seemed to be closing the gap on some of the current podium contenders. I get deep into the climbs on the first part of the course and come up on Ryan. We chat for a few minutes and I get back after it, and start pulling back some riders.

Trying to make up some time and feeling it

Money Lap

I come upon the 4th place rider and he and I chatted for a quick sec and I could see that he was hurting so I just pulled away. Around the last bunch of climbs after "long road to ruin", I recognize a familiar jersey riding ahead of me.  I could see that it was Jesse, and I was looking forward to riding with him.

I pull him back just in time to the last downhill before the only piece of pavement in the event. It's at this point I decide to test our legs a bit.  I ride up next  to Jesse, and he sees me and we both start sprinting, which is funny as we still have quite bit of riding left to go. I look back now and I start laughing, because of how funny it must have looked as we both sprint up the hill and down to the pit lane, especially with some cheering coming from the sidelines kinda going like this "way to go solo's" way to finish a lap". We were both full on racing.

I drop into my pit just ahead of Jesse and he drops into his, ahead of mine. A split second later and he is back out on course riding for all he was worth. I had Cor and Julie take my lights and gear off, I take a sip of coke and start mashing away at the 3-4 min lead that Jesse has just  put into me. I'm feeling good and my legs are feeling awesome, 5kms later I am able to grab Jesse's wheel and pull past him with just a bit of jostling between the two of us. I love racing with and against Jesse he will make you work right to the finish. I had better legs today.

I get out in front and start mashing away to put sometime into him and to pull back the second place contender, who is on this current lap as well. 40 mins later I was able to pull back this rider, .

A lap or so later .....

I am now somewhere around the high 30 mins behind the leader and I am trying to catch him, but I'm running out of time. It was around this time that  it starts raining, and up near the top  on all the exposed rocks it is getting slick. With a couple of close calls I am forced to slow down. The upside of this was that it only rained for around 30 minutes or so. It was then that, I pretty much knew 2nd place would be the best I can do today, there just isn't enough time left....

Goofin around

Heading out for the rain lap

 

I'm happy with this result, I had to overcome some challenges, not to mention race with and against some of the best endurance racers around.

In summary this is the 4th time I have raced this event solo. 1 top 5 finish and 3 podiums.  The icing on the cake was that this was the 10th 24 hour solo event I have competed in and it all began here.

 

I want to say a huge thanks to my wife Coralee and my son Zach... they put up with my training schedule....

To Steve and Julie Kelly, (mostly Julie) :) I owe you this one, totally there Julie, top notch support. and friendship

To my coach and friend Shaun Taylor.

To Forrest Carver, (Carver bikes) thanks for the bike, the setup and advice. Carver Bikes are awesome. If you don't believe me ride one. (And no you can't ride mine!)

NiteRider lights, Tommy Bryant, You guys are always  in the trenches with the racers... all night long and it shows. Thank you

NOX composites for the dope wheels.

 

To Dr Dave and the staff at AST Sports Therapy, for putting up with all my injuries this year and for fixing me up, as always...  I couldn't do this without your continued support

To Pedalhead Bike and ski, thanks to Al for the post race recovery beer, and the rest of the guys at the shop.

Next race

http://25hoursinfroghollow.com/

2014 24hrs of Old Pueblo

Let's get to it:


Back in November I decided to sign up for this epic race. 24+hrs of racing in the middle of the desert sounds like a great idea when winter comes a calling in Calgary, especially this winter as it seemed to start earlier this year and man we had some cold cold days to show for it. Now throw in the fact that I didn't finish the race my last attempt, thanks to some eye sight issues.

So for a quickie update, I'm on a new bike, I hooked up with Carver bikes and Bikeman internet sales, to get me a sweet Ti frame (a full review to follow), with  Ti post and carbon fork.

I was planning on racing this setup at OP as I really didn't see the need for suspension on this course. Not extremely bumpy or choppy, long laps (16 miles) and the vert gain is somewhere between 1000' and 1200' per lap. Everybody's GPS was different so pick a number.
  
Leading up to the race Shaun had me riding outside (when the temps were warmer than -20C) and the balance was spent on the suffer machine in the basement (trainer). I got some great sessions out at Fish Creek on my Giant HT, running SS and Ice spiker tires. Later on I was throwing down some riding with my Carver 420 TI with gears and race setup. A weekend retreat had Julie, I and Shaun getting some great snow riding in at Rossland. Great food and great laughs rounded out the weekend.

Before that, I was able to get a good day of riding in the Tustin, CA  (Sierra mountains) while holidaying in San Diego over Christmas.

Some highlights from this 3 month training block were:

• A 1" half thickness tear in my right rotater cuff.
• Full fingertip dislocation 3 weeks prior to race day.
• An annoying cold like cough that just seemed to hang on.

Gotta throw a big thanks out to AST for sorting my shoulder out, the pain was manageable during waking hours, but as soon as I went to bed the darn thing would wake me 2-3 times a night with a dull aching pain. In the last few weeks leading up to the event my shoulder had normalized quite nicely.

 All thing's aside, Suffice to say, I was in really good form when it was time to load up my gear and head to Oracle, Arizona for this event.

I met up with Julie at the airport, and then we boarded our Alaskan Airlines flight for the roughest flight possible to Seattle. We were supposed to meet up with Shaun in Seattle but that busted out as he was having his own challenges with flights, as we later found out. Off to Phoenix, AZ rent a car and wait for Shaun to arrive from his flight with Delta (ugh) and off we were to Whole Foods and then a drive to Tucson and then over to Oracle, AZ.

Julie booked us in the 3C Ranch and it was perfect. Great accommodations and only 20 minutes or so from the race course at 24hr town.

Here we meet up with 2 more of Shaun's athelete's; Ryan (Jasper, AB) and Tony (Austin, TX) and their wives. We were lucky enough to secure Antonio and Holly for pit support, who were scheduled to arrive Friday evening. They drove 14+ hrs from Austin to helps us out and we were all very thankful they did. It was unfortunate as we were expecting JR, and his girlfriend Laura to head out for the race as well, but their schedules just didn't mesh with the race. Too bad as we all missed them.

Friday early afternoon the 5 of us went out on course for a prelap. It was interesting for me as this would be the very first time I was able to get out on dirt and ride my new bike and setup. It felt great after that first lap, and here's hoping it feels the same after 10+ laps in the middle of the night.

Ok... enough of the prelim, let's get after it.

Race day:

Standing at the lemans start line about 1/2 mile away from my bike in the desert sun was uncomfortable. Hearing the gun go off was a welcoming sound. I start my run and watch Shaun and Julie disappear ahead as I fumble my way through my run. I'm swallowed up by the crowd but that's how these starts go for me.

First lap, it took me almost a full lap to catch up with Julie.  She was riding very, very strong...the strongest I have seen her ride. We literally pull into the pit almost side by side and I notice about half way through that lap my BB is making a grinding noise. A minute on the stand or so with a dab of oil at the crank arm and off I go to start another lap. This doesn't concern me a whole lot as sometimes you can get some noise and it will work itself out or not. It doesn't matter until it matters. What was starting to irritate me was my new jersey. I ordered a medium and normally it fits me quite well. This one, well it fit like a large, and so it was flapping all over the place.  Once I started to sweat it felt like I was wearing a parachute with the zipper bouncing off my nipple. So fun.... I'll be wearing a small before the next event, that's for sure.

2- 4 laps my BB is really starting sound like a squeeze toy my dog has gotten hold of. At this point I really don't care. I am going to keep riding until that damn thing seizes, or whatever sand has gotten itself in there has worked itself free. Around the 5:30 mark I pull into the pit and set about getting my lights on my bike, which was the mandatory time to get your lights on. I was thankful for this as it gave Antonio much needed time to try and get my BB sorted out. Which he did. It turns out it was my left side crank arm that had worked itself loose and was moving around on the crankshaft. Not the BB itself like I had thought.

Interesting time of the race for me.... I'm starting to feel off. My legs and body feel good, but I am really starting to feel thirsty and dehydrated. With desert racing even though it's only in the 90's (which I don't mind) it's the never ending exposure to the sun and no shade, (which I do mind). I grab a couple of sips of water and head out on this lap.

I'm loving my setup. I'm quick on the climbs and hitting the flowy sections nice and smooth. Some of the course is showing signs of chop, so I'm having to choose my line a bit more on the tight downhills, the typical drag your back wheel into the turns by some of the team racers was the cause of the rutting.

So getting back to this lap.... I am out on course and about 1/3 of the lap in I start getting a dry mouth, my first real concrete symptoms of dehydration. So I make a big mistake and start hitting my nutrition harder, like gulping it. This was really getting difficult for me as I didn't even have enough moisture in my mouth to swallow my own spit. Between the intense sun and the neverending wind, I was hitting a wall. 

It was around this time that Shaun rode up to me and asks how I'm doing. But I can't even answer... my mouth is that dry.  A few minutes later he passes me with a 3 riders on his wheel and starts pulling all of them up the series of climbs and as I am watching, he is even gapping the dude off the back. It was cool to see but I couldn't do any of that action (which I wanted to) as now I am dehydrated and I have a protein gut from gulping my nutrition.

My race has turned side ways in the matter of a lap, I'm out of nutrition and fluid and I am so dang thirsty it's not even funny.

I make it through this lap and I get back into the pits. I grab an extra bottle of water for the lap, and my regular bottle of nutrition and off I go.

For the next series of laps it goes like this:
Ride until I get super hungry, take a small sip of nutrition, a few seconds later get stomach cramps, sip some water as I am dying of thirst, have another bout of stomach cramps. Repeat until this crap sorts itself out. Absolutely rubbish, my legs are great, I just can't initiate cause I have no power to drive them and my stomach hurts like no other time in recent memory.

Some highlights in this stage of the race for me:

• Pulling long cactus needles out of my forearm with my teeth as I ride
• Pulling short cactus needles out of my legs as I ride (no teeth)
• Dreaming of an ice cold slurpee

On some parts of the course the cactus lined both sides of the trail and were  daring you  to screw up or even brush up against . Not "if "but "when " you did, you paid the price.

3 am I come in on my 10th lap and I'm starting to get cold (as the temps really drop in the desert at night). I'm fighting the cramps and I am still thirsty beyond belief. I get some warm clothes on and chat with Amber and Antonio for a few minutes. I take a few minutes off the bike hoping I can at least burp and feel better but it's not happening. I do something I never do and ask Antonio if I can drink his coke so that maybe I can clear my stomach. The look on Antonio's face was priceless as I drank his Mexican coke. I felt a little bad about it really, but I got over it as soon as my stomach started feeling better :)  Now I have been sitting in the pit for at least 20 mins, the top ten place I was sitting at when I came in, now had me down to 14 or so.

Back out on course and yeah, the caff is working on my brain and the sugar is helping me get some power back. But that feeling is short lived as the cramps come back again because I am drinking my nutrition and water again, I don't have a choice.  I can't race on Cokes, that would be worse. So I'm just pounding out the miles knowing that my dream of a top 5 finish is diminishing.

I can honestly say that it's not about that anymore for me now. It's about digging myself out of this hole and finishing the best I can with no regrets. I know and accept that this is the hardest event I have had to race and now it's all about that.

The witching hour...I roll in and see Shaun, Julie, Ryan and the rest of the crew at the pit. Everyone has had their own challenge and they are all knee deep into it the same as I am. I pull off my helmet and my helmet light and decide it's time to go back out with just my bar light as we all figured that it was maybe 30 mins or so before sunrise. This felt awesome on my head and I decide that I am going to ride a hard lap as my stomach is starting to sort itself out a bit and I am feeling a bit better.

A 1:14 lap and I make up 2 placings in the race and now I am just interested in as many placings I can make up as possible. Next lap I do about the same time, a bit slower maybe and I'm feeling so much better.

So out I go and the sun is sitting higher in the sky. After a sip off my bottle I notice that my drink tastes weird, like... warm water.

It's starting to get really hot by now, (for me anyhow) and I know that I may be in trouble with just water in my bottle with these temps and my current effort. As the miles tick off I start bonking, I mean hard, I am super hungry and now I am seeing stars.

I start thinking about when Shaun went out on a lap without a bottle at this event (by mistake) a couple years past and how he says he scoured the ground for used gels or bottles or anything that can help him get through this lap and start doing the same. My head is all over the map and I am having a hard time focusing on this new task until I come upon a bottle that's lying in the middle of the trail. I stop to pick it up and see if it has anything in it besides water, and dang it's bone dry.  It was bad enough that the bottle was empty it was even worse trying to get back on my bike and try and ride  again.  It was then I decided I wasn't stopping again unless I was interested in walking...

I make it back in to the pit. I don't know how long it took to finish this lap, and to be honest I haven't even looked at my lap times since the race. But I do know this, I threw my bike down and almost fell on my head. Shaun, Ryan and everyone else got me cooled down with ice and water as I was seriously overheated and dehydrated again. I was glad they were there to help me. Holly ran and got me an RC Cola and with a couple of handfuls of ice in my jersey pockets I'm going back out.

This lap went much better.

16 laps at 16 miles a lap and a whole lotta stuff in between means I get it done, with an 8th place finish. 

As for nutrition, I usually get 20-23 bottles of nutrition down in a typical 24hr event. I would think that with the temps I should've been up around 25 bottles.  All toll I was told it was more like 10 bottles, and 2-3 bottles of water, with 2 cokes.....  messed up. 



Next year... 3 times a charm!

A big shout out to those who support me:
Pedalhead ski works, AST, Nite Rider, Forrest Carver/Carver bikes, Shaun Taylor.

 Shaun, Julie, Antonio, Holly, Amber and Ryan, Tony and Patty. All people I consider my friends, thanks for your help.

 a special thanks to  my wife Coralee and Zachary, my son.

A little snowriding 2014

I got out the other morning (early) just in time for the snow to hit.  Almost whiteout conditions on the way to and from the trailhead thanks to the 40-50 km winds. This was a couple days  earlier than our current cold snap. I was glad  temps were only in the low single digit - temps.

 

 The conditions and trail were giving me a great session. As you can see the trail was hard packed under the 100mm of fresh Powder, and riding SS I was having to really engage some body action, just  to stay on course  It was a fun ride.

 Thanks to Nite Rider lights there wasn't much I couldn't see on the trail. I was operating the Pro 1800 (bar )  on low and the 750 (helmet) on medium. 

D