Bike Check: Anka Martin's Santa Cruz Blur TRc
Anka Martin with her Santa Cruz Blur TRc at Trans Provence. Although a Nomad would have been better-suited for some stages, the Trans-Provence is 320km and seven days long, with a total of 9500m on-bike height gain (15200m height drop). Story by Sven Martin
Anka chose the lighter, more efficient Blur TRc, coupled with a 150mm RockShox Revelation fork for an aggressive enduro feel with relaxed geometry. It weighs 25lbs.
This Crank Brothers Cobalt 3 wheelset did the Cape Epic earlier in the year and they held up perfectly on some of Southern France's roughest trails during Trans Provence.
Tire choice is crucial during any enduro. Anka went with lighter weight tires for the earlier stages, but beefed up to 2.35 DH casing tires as the terrain became more aggressive.
SRAM XO 10-speed drivetrain with 11-36 rear and 32 tooth up front. There were no smooth fire road sections on the Trans-Provence, so spinning out the 32 was not an issue.
RockShox Monarch Plus rear shock set with 30% sag for a plusher feel. Flip the floodgate compression leaver for a firmer, yet active climb. 5-inches of travel and 66.6 degree head angle with the Revelation at 150mm...the best of both worlds.
Some Trans Provence stages had more than 300 feet of climbing, so suspension lockout is extremely helpful. RockShox Revelation DPA.
Wide bars, aggressive stem and clean cable routing thanks to the SRAM Matchmaker setup.
SRAM XO 180 rotors front and rear. With the revelation 15mm mAxle. Check out some sneaky weight saving in place of a regular adapter.
SDG Allure women's specific saddle. The saddle did roughly seven hundred km's in seven days at the Cape Epic so the 340km at Trans Provence was no problem. Rock Shox Reverb with 5-inches of drop.
Reverb cable routed to the side to avoid tire rubbing in the low position. Bike assembled by the one and only Terry Chanethomvong from Unik.
Some call it Christmas. Anka hates a matching bike. Truvativ XO guide and 32-tooth single ring setup.
New Crankbrothers Malette 3 pedals. Lightweight material on the inside where their is less abuse compared to the outside as you can see here. Nice mid sized platform for enduro.
This is the first 100 meters of the very first stage. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The point-to-point format of this event is what makes it so special you ride and race your bike through so many different eco-systems.
The final stage above the shores of Monaco contrast the lush, damp first stage. It was fast, loose rough and dry. If you want to hit up the Trans Provence, or any enduro race, make sure your bike is ready for some abuse!
Enduro slasher, downhill ripper, XC railer and all-around awesome lady, Anka Martin, takes you through her Santa Cruz Blur TRc.
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Joe_Graney
11/3/2011 9:21 PM
nice bike and nice feature! got to ride with anka and her trc today which was great, but also had to suffer though sven trying to pimp crank bros. pedals and wheels the whole ride.
@oldmandave: the bike's plenty strong for a 150 fork, but we usually try to draw the line somewhere because you'd be surprised what some folks end up wanting to do - or complaining about after they put together a combination of parts that are outside the norm. even when a company offers a dozen ways to configure the kit and offers frame-only prices that are reasonableish (compared to the big boys anyway), you still can't get the right combination for all the riding the internet has to offer.
ballr
11/3/2011 3:21 PM
nice build Anka. Almost identical to the way I set mine up. Cant wait to see you and your hairy husband this weekend.
Vital dudes, more content like this please. Dig seeing others' setups.
ZEPtechniques
11/3/2011 2:21 PM
Would love to do that race... maybe one day! Nice little insight to Anka's set up and thoughts on it all.
fraxinus
11/3/2011 10:48 AM
dirt_drifter: yes it's real, no it's not a PR exercise... 56 riders indeed, the camps are extremely limited in size because this is the backend of Alpine France we're talking about. No football fields to use. As for being "selected", who told you that?! Trans-Provence is first-come-first-serve. Would love to grow, *might* work out a way of going up to 70.
Big Bird
11/3/2011 10:11 AM
I like the "Certain photographers" comment. I'm pretty sure that Anka and Sven are married. Sorry lev. @BeigeWolf. Is your capslock key broken? It seems like you're always SHOUTING!
dirt_drifter
11/3/2011 10:09 AM
Is the Trans-Provence a real race? I get the impression that it's just a PR event. Am I the only one that thinks it's sort of strange? 56 riders? You have to register in December and you only get in if you're selected? I wonder if they have plans to grow? What am I missing? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's tons of fun...
lev
11/3/2011 2:17 AM
What's Anka's phone number? I'm married, but my wife would like to chat about sag.
oldmandave
11/2/2011 8:33 PM
Super serious, Sven. For god's sake, my house smells of leatherbound books. . . sorry it took a few hours for the response, I was doing 1000 curls for my serious training regimen.
BeigeWolf
11/2/2011 8:05 PM
THIS IS THE INTERNET, THINGS ARE SERIOUS AROUND HERE.
Sven Martin
11/2/2011 7:55 PM
Oldmandave ... Chill out a bit, there isn't always room in a bike check for all boring details and backstory... Ankas Revelation has been stepped down by RS to 140mm now, as you pointed out and in 99 % of circumstances it does give the bike better handling. The bike was built up literally two days before the event in France...At Ankas weight she runs the fork so soft it pretty much rode like a 140mm
oldmandave
11/2/2011 7:06 PM
It would be an ideal bike for a lot of people. . . and it would void the warranty. . . and per certain SC industry folks who lurk the interweb, it would result in poor handling due to the longer AC length, higher BB and 'too slack a head angle'. I'm sure Anka thought the handling sucked, too. ;-)
Dear SC, if you had endorsed a setup like Anka's, you would have had a lot more customers.
k.shiz
11/2/2011 5:39 PM
That right there is nearly my ideal bike! Pretty slick Anka!