For the inaugural 2021 Big Sugar Gravel Race, recovering roadie Pete Stetina rode his “B” bike to a 13th place finish in the Men’s pro field (15th overall), about 35 minutes off the blistering pace set by Adam Roberge.
Since his main “A” bike is a custom painted Canyon Grail Grizl that he’s wary of throwing into an airplane’s luggage boot, Pete brought his back up bike which has most of the same kit on it, with a few stock Canyon cockpit pieces filling in the gaps.
The front end of the cockpit sticks with the stock Canyon alloy stem and handlebar, but he’s normally running PRO components as part of his sponsorship arrangement with Shimano. This includes a carbon fiber handlebar.
Most of the group is Shimano GRX Di2…
…except for the cranks, which are Dura-Ace with integrated power meter. XTR mountain bike pedals round it out.
Cross chaining? What cross chaining? Look, squirrel!
Gearing is 50/34 up front, with an 11-34 cassette in the rear. If this seems surprisingly human (as opposed to the massive gear combos some pros run), there’s a good reason for that…
These are the biggest chainrings that’ll fit on the Grizl…check out the tight clearance between chainstay and teeth. But there was a ton of climbing on this course, so going with the larger 11-34 GRX cassette rather than an 11-32 (or smaller) Ultegra cassette gave him the easy gears if needed without hurting the top end since they all end in 11-tooth cogs.
Clearance for the non-driveside power meter strain gauge is a bit tight, too.
A PRO Turnix Carbon saddles sits atop the split-rail carbon Canyon seatpost, which is a great component thanks to the added compliance it offers.
The PRO saddlebag is actually one of our favorites, too (keep scrolling to see what’s inside it). Up front is a K-Edge mount with Wahoo computer.
Life Time required front and rear lights on all bikes (we started before sunrise), and the Bontrager Ion front and rear lights are some of the smallest, lightest lights on the market, yet put out impressive light (which is why we ranked them so highly in our Bike Light Buyer’s Guide)
He’s running IRC Boken Doublecross TLR 700×42 gravel tires. Considering how many bottles we saw ejected along the course, 42s were about the narrowest tire that made sense.
A tightly packed, elongated center tread pattern rolls fast, splitting off to surprisingly sparse corner knobs. They were mounted to Shimano Dura-Ace wheels, though he’s often racing on Stan’s NoTubes wheels.
Inside his saddle bag are:
- 2x Tubolito CX/Gravel tubes
- PRO Mini Tool 8
- PRO CO2 chuck
- Maxxis tire lever
- Stan’s DART tire plug kit & spare darts
- Squirt lube mini bottle
Huge thanks to Pete for showing off his bike. Check out our attempt to keep up with him on his home turf for more shenanigans.
