Bike Check: Jenny Blair's Specialized Era

Few riders have dominated endurance mountain biking like Jenny Blair (nee Fay) has in the past 5 years. Not only has Blair set course records at many of the most prestigious marathon events around Australia, she has often gone back and knocked further time off those records. Blair was Irish National Marathon Champion in 2013, and made a huge impact on the European XCM circuit. That August, she took the race to the favourites at the Grand Raid in Switzerland before finishing 4th in what could be described as an apocalyptic storm on the final 25km descent. With a win at the Val di Fassa Bike marathon, another UCI XCM Series round, Blair had confirmed what Australia knew – she is one of the best marathon racers in the world.

Her season in 2013 was aboard a Specialized Fate, and Blair also had a Specialized Epic S-Works at her disposal. New for 2015 is the S-Works Era, a dual suspension frame that first appeared under women’s XCM World Champion Annika Langvad as she won the 2014 World Championships in South Africa, where Blair finished 12th.

In 2014 Blair won the Real Insurance XCM Series, and currently leads the 2015 XCM Series with two wins and a second.

I caught up with Blair at the Lasseter’s Easter in the Alice stage race, where she used the women’s specific Era to win the stage race, and improve her lead in the National XCM Series.

Frame

The S-Works Era is based on the Epic, but has been designed specifically for women – it’s not a case of shorter stems and inline seatposts. The Medium and Large frames have 100mm of travel, but the Small has 90mm. The geometry is what Specialized call “Women’s Performance XC Geometry.” What’s that mean? Well the bottom bracket drop and height change between each size to keep the bike lower for smaller sizes, but still stable in larger sizes. The head tube is quite short to aid in a low position for a competitive rider, and the reach is a little shorter. The frame has less material than the regular S-Works Epic, and the Brain tuned Fox shock is Era specific – it’s developed for lighter weight riders. Blair runs 140psi in the shock, and a pretty light rebound.

The RockShox RS-1 fork has stunning fore and aft rigidity for precision steering, and with the Brain tuned cartridge, Blair runs her fork at 55psi.

Drivetrain

The Era is graced by SRAM’s flagship XX1 group set. The 1×11 system has a huge range thanks to the 10-42 cassette. Of note, Blair runs 170mm cranks, and a 34t chainring.

Wheels

Custom touches on the Specialized Roval Control SL wheels have come courtesy of a wedding present from friends Kimberly Well & husband Doug. The Roval wheels have 24 DT Revolution spokes in the front, and 28 in the back. The rear hub uses the 142+ standard, which allows a stiffer build while working within the regular 142×12 width.

Due to the rough terrain in Alice Springs, the tyres are Specialized Fast Trak Controls, 2 Bliss Ready. They are 2.0″ wide, but the Roval rims have a 22mm innder width, so they look closer to a 2.1″. Blair tends to run them at 23-25psi.

Contact Points

The most important part of the bike to get right is how you stay in contact with it. Blair runs the reliable Shimano XT Race clipless pedals, with the spring tension light. The Era is a competitive bike, but Blair runs an aggressive position, with a very low stem (-35degrees) and handlebars custom cut to 660mm wide. Her custom fit on all her Specialized bikes is via the Specialized Body Geometry fit system.

Specialized have one of the largest ranges of seats on the market, and countless riders find their saddles to be the best for them, regardless of what bike they are on. Blair runs the S-Works Phenom in 143mm width with the carbon fibre rails. There’s a seat bag attached, as spares on the bike and not in your pockets keeps the weight off your legs, as Blair’s team mate Shaun Lewis would no doubt quote.

Grips are light weight foam from Ozriders.