Highway 1 on new Tarmacs
Langster has a bike named after him, he’s a world champ, and drove a pace on Highway 1 that I buried myself to stay on. It was a Zen-like release that ended with a hard right before I couldn’t hold it anymore. That turn led to a strip of pavement on a ranch road and more climbing into the Santa Cruz mountains before a deep breath and the descents. We were on new Tarmacs, just a Tarmac without any SL designation anymore, and it’s Specialized’s road masterpiece.
Ranch Road
I’d nickname it a Tarbaix, cause it combines the best traits of Roubaix with a Tarmac for all-day comfort and racing performance. We rode 5 hours, on hardman routes, and some very rough road. Each day ended not feeling beat up or fatigued with my legs, power, and stamina the only thing tested.
Climbing
How Spesh achieved this new, improved design, I’ll go into more in our magazine and follow-on posts, but tuning each size of the bike for the best performance is what the new Tarmac is about. You can read about it in their marketing and live chat tonight.
Descending
Know this for now, I was climbing with my hands off the bars the bike tracks so true and roaring across the dirt and gravel, on a carbon road bike with hydraulic discs.
Back at the beach house, relaxed and ready to ride some more
Find more photos on G+ and in our magazine on Monday.
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