This Sunday, Bolton will play host to the first Ironman event in the UK since the world imploded last year, and we can’t wait.
Our very own Elliot Smales will be vying for glory up in the North-West this weekend, but it’s not just the hefty prize purse up for grabs. He’ll have his eyes firmly affixed to a plane ticket headed for the Big Island in October.
Elliot raced his first full-distance event in Barcelona at the back end of the 2019 season as an add-on to his normal season and although post-race he swore he’d never do one again, here we are! Being the fastest British Ironman debutant ever and the fifth fastest British Ironman ever, may have given Elliot a glimpse into just how good we know he can be over the full-distance.
However, there are several other athletes on the start line prepared to do their best to get their hands on a ‘golden ticket’ for Kona in his place. Since there hasn’t been a Pro race at Bolton since 2018, Joe Skipper is still the reigning champion and will be a big name to watch come Sunday’s race. This said, Skipper has already booked his place on the Kona start line so irrespective of where he finishes there will still be two Kona slots up for grabs between the remaining male Pros. The likes of Tom Davis, Sam Laidlow, Adam Bowden, Leon Chevalier and Ironman world-record holder Tim Don will all be towing the line on the grippy Bolton course too.
Elliot has had an upgrade from his 2019 Ironman debut. This year he will be aboard a new REAP Vulcan painted in a minimal raw carbon, black and orange livery to eke out those marginal weight gains. On a flatter course this may not matter but on a course with nearly 7,750ft of climbing, we’ll take all the gains we can get! Elliot’s Vulcan will be rolling on his HED Jet 6/Disc wheelset come race day with his ROTOR INspider powermeter for company in what is set to be, dire weather.
Despite the Pros usually taking the spotlight come raceday, over the last few weeks the office has been abuzz with chatter about how our Managing Director will fair on the Bolton course. It’s a big day on Sunday for Martin, not least it being his wedding anniversary, but the ‘main event’ will be his second Ironman full-distance event with his eyes on the 55-59 age group Kona slot.
Despite this being only his second full-Ironman event, don’t take that for inexperience. Martin started triathlon back in the late-80s, ultimately attaining his elite license and racing at the 1995 Long Course World Championships in Nice, France. He is significantly older now (sorry boss!) than he was back then but with a new-found commitment to the ‘Kona Dream’ over the last couple of years and an Age-Group win at the Outlaw X half-distance event in September last year, could this be the year? With the swim and bike as his strengths, he’ll need to manage himself onto the marathon so he doesn’t park early. We’re confident he’s in the best position to get to Kona, with the best bike on the market, and a very very understanding wife.
Elliot will be starting at 6:00AM on Sunday along with the rest of the Male Pro field, and Martin will be starting just behind them at around 6:05AM. We’ll be covering the race on our Instagram page (@reapbikes) so make sure to tune in.
Engineered carbon:
materials & method
Because attacks and sprints place such great loads on road race bikes, we drew on the engineering of our Vulcan tri bike to make the Vekta massively stiffer than any rival. We used the technology that made a beam bike ride like a road bike to make a road bike ride better than any before. We achieved this in two ways: material selection and construction method.
Carbon fibre comes in many grades and, as with everything, the best fibres are more expensive. At REAP, all materials are selected by engineers, not accountants, and the Vekta is made with a blend that is over 80% ultra-high modulus Toray M40J unidirectional fibre. That’s a vastly higher percentage and grade than most manufacturers use in their top models.
Our raw material cost is around 50% higher yet the Vekta is very competitively priced; it’s a reinvestment that we can make because we sell direct to you and, unlike the vast majority, we don’t outsource production – we are our own factory. Expert deployment is crucial to get the best from these materials and that’s where our 25 years of composite engineering experience are invaluable. The carbon fibre lay-up is intuitive to us.
The performance of the carbon fibre lay-up is boosted significantly by our trade secret manufacturing method, a hugely effective innovation that’s unique to REAP. We can’t tell you what it is, but we promise you will feel the difference it makes.
As a true monocoque, the Vekta is made in a single piece, whereas mass-produced bikes are made in a number of pieces and then joined. Our way is more difficult, but the result is an optimised frame, free from parasitic weight – mass that is made necessary by compromised design and doesn’t add value.
Every element of the Vekta is designed for maximum performance. Sure, there are slightly lighter aero-road frames, but none that come close to the way the Vekta feels. We chose to invest a little frame weight to achieve a huge increase in stiffness which results in levels of steering precision and power transfer efficiency you’ve never even dreamed of. We know that you’ll feel it as soon as you stand on the pedals.
