text: Whether racing toward a finish line or sticky, spiral-shaped carbohydrates, the RLT 9 RDO has proven itself to be a quick and comfortable gravel bike.
  This weekend, I raced the 2017 edition of the Rotor Big Race in Torrelaguna, about an hour north of Madrid.
  The original 75km, largely singletrack route was altered at the very last minute due to environmental concerns, to 47km — owing to unusually heavy rains in the weeks preceding the event — and on the day before the event we had the chance to ride around 30-very-gnarly-km of the route as practice.
  The event started with a chaotic, 400 strong mass-start and took us through the winding, ancient streets of Torrelaguna. For some unknown reason I was gridded right at the front of this mayhem and one place behind my pal Jose Antonio Hermida.
  We were given no details as to the type of terrain we’d encounter on the altered route and I foolishly assumed that we’d be riding a level of gnar comparable to the practice route. As such, I was running the already draggy — for XC racing — Minion/Ardent combo that my loaner Santa Cruz Tall Boy came with at around 25psi a piece.
  Unsurprisingly, this was hell on the flat gravel roads that made up the first 20km of the ride and I eventually gave up and dropped back from the furiously quick lead group to top up my tyres.
  With more spritely feeling rubber beneath me, I managed to make up a little time on the first draggy climb of the day. And although the Tall Boy was far too much bike for such a tame course, I was thankful to have a bike suitably burly enough that I could take sketchy high-lines on the rocky descents, passing those on less capable bikes.
  I ended up completing the 47km course in 2hrs 13 minutes and given how completely over-biked I was, I’m very pleased with my 126th/405 finish.
  Given that Rotor was only informed on the Thursday (by fax!) that the route was a no-goer, I was very impressed by the quality of the course that it managed to put together. Thanks to Saddleback — Rotor’s distributor in the UK — for inviting me to this great event.
  Aoife, Tom, Reuben and Joe are all out in Spain filming and testing for this year’s Bike of the Year awards. 25 trail bikes are being tested and it won’t be long now until we start revealing the winners. Keep your eyes peeled!
  I had another exciting first ride last week — the first UK test of the radical new Cervélo P5x. I’m testing it for our sister title 220 Triathlon, along with two equally wild-looking and exciting rivals.
  The P5x was designed purely for tri use, but its relevance stretches beyond even that huge market. Time trialling in the UK is massive and it’s all run under CTT regs so the only race for which you need a UCI-legal bike is the British Championships. You might not need its three storage bins, but you could race the seat-tube-less, seatstay-less and disc-braked P5x in any other event.