Almanzo 100

I have not done it, but I think most ride cyclocross bikes..

That's how it looks from the video. Unfortunately though I don't have a cyclocross bike or the funds to go get one. So it's either 29er mountain bike or Allez roadie for me, just not sure which would be better

In my eyes those are perfect rides for a cyclecross "type" bike. I say "type" because you can get skinny rast rolling 29ner tires for an mtb or get some wider tires for the allez. I think I saw one flat bar bike in the video. Go with what your comfortable with. My background is mtb so I'd probably lean that route... give up some speed for comfort and better climbing over 100 miles and 8, 000 feet of elevation!

What ever you end up riding,  Good on YOU!  I can do a 100 mile road ride, but I can't bring myself to try a 100 mile gravel ride with all of that climbing..  Can't wait to read the race report...

Most of the folks I know who do it either use a cross bike or a road bike with as big/grippy of tires as they can run. I can't imagine riding that on a MTB, esp. a 29er. Just too much bike to drag around.

How big of tires can you squeeze in on the Allez? 27mm+ My only concern w/ the Allez is if you can't run 27-29mm+ sized tires, you may be in for a long day on the rocks. Many road frames won't run those larger cross-type tires, but perhaps an older Allez can. 25mm tires, even GP 4 Seasons or Gatorskins running low tire pressure, may still not be able to absorb the beating, and you may end up w/ a lot of flats. Almanzo is self-supported, meaning there are no sags. That means you may have a short race should those skinnier tires not be reliable enough. I'm not saying it can't be done. But based on that video, there does appear to be a lot of sections on loose gravel or roads that aren't really even roads.

Plus, IMO, anything less than 27mm will likely get sketchy on lose gravel stretches. I run 25mm down here in early/late season on the dirt roads of Scott/Dakota county, and there are times when I swear I spend more time going sideways than actually going forward.

If you can't wedge a fatter road tire on the Allez, I'd go w/ the 29'er w/ XC slicks. At least you're bike won't stop you from finishing the race (your fitness, the weather, the course, etc, is another matter!).

Edited by cooutdoors 2013-02-15 3:18 PM

Looks like it is going to be a decent day for a bike ride. 

I saw a fair number of 29ers out there. Even some crazy people on single speeds.

Best bike event I have ever done

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It was a great event. Looking forward to doing it again next year.