Austin, TX resident Colin Strickland surprised quite a few folks with his dominating performance at the Dirty Kanza 200 and the course record 9:58:49 time. Strickland broke away from the leading front group just past the midway point of this hard 200 mile race, and then put the hammer down. His name was likely a popular search term on Google that night, but here now is a closer look at his sweet blue Allied Cycle Works Able, a gravel bike that was just recently unveiled. Allied Cycle Works actually had double the joy on that day as the female champion Amity Rockwell also rode an Allied Cycleworks Able.
Colin Strickland rode almost half of the race by himself and during that time put his aero extensions to good use.
The Allied Cycle Works Able of Colin Strickland fully dirty and happy.
Word had it that Strickland could not get into the Dirty Kanza last year, but he made up for it this year with bib number 2282 on his ENVE Composites cockpit. A 42mm wide ENVE aero road bar with ENVE SES extensions allowed Strickland to ride down and relatively aero. The headset is by Chris King.
A look at the Enve cockpit from above also shows the 120mm ENVE road stem and the Wahoo Roam cycling computer. The bartape is by Arundel.
The Allied Cycle Works Able has a driveside elevated chainstay design and that design was popular way back in mountain bike designs, and allows for a shorter wheel base and big tire clearance.
Riders in the Dirty Kanza have to be self sufficient and thus the big bento box and saddle bag. The top tube storage is the Silca Speed Capsule TT.
Strickland rides on a Specialized Romin EVO 143 saddle and that for 200 miles of tough terrain.
There are three bottle cages on this Able. Two Arundel Mandible ones inside the frame and one Arundel DTR / STR below the downtube.
In this pic the Arundel DTR / STR is visible behind the Ultegra r8000 Stages power meter. There is only a singular Wolftooth 46 tooth chainring and Shimano XTR pedals give Strickland a great contact point.
The rear cassette is an 11-40 and the rear derailleur is Shimano XTR Di2. The wheels are ENVE 3.4 AR.
Chris King R45 matte slate centerlock hubs and XTR 140mm rotor disc brakes.
A Kogel bottom bracket allowed Strickland to pedal smoothly.
42mm Specialized Pathfinder tires were mounted on the ENVE 3.4 AR wheels, and a decent amount of Orange Seal tubeless tire sealant.
Colin Strickland was the first rider to break that magical 10 hour barrier and he was thrilled. The rider next to him however is finishing the 100 mile event.
Signing posters and the arms and t-shirts of fans.
Images 2-13 are © Andy Chasteen.
Images 1, 14, 15 are © Linda Guerrette (JC Photography)
