Mike Hall is currently embarking on one of the hardest, toughest and most gruelling mountain bike races in the world, the Tour Divide. At a staggering 2745 miles, the challenge is no walk in the park and the right bike and kit choice is crucial. Here Mike talks us through the selections he has made and why.

The bike: On-One Carbon Race 29er.

This is exactly the kind of bike I wanted to be on for racing this year: fast and light but still comfortable for a lot of miles. I was looking forward to getting this bike all spring and when I finally got my hands on it I was hoping it would live up to by ever escalating expectations.

Luckily I’m more than happy with the On-One Carbon 29er though – it carves through singletrack like a trail bike and demolishes climbs like an XC race bike. The same goes for the carbon wheelset too which feels as stiff and light as a good 26in pair.

The swoopy carbon frame isn’t quite suited to frame bags and the like though, which is one reason I haven’t bothered but with the carbon rigid fork up front it looks like the right tool for the job.

Picking the right components

As for components, while I’ve retained the lighter parts of the XX set up, I’ve swapped out my usual SRAM XX chainset and cassette for Shimano XT. This is based on the availability and expense of spares as I know I am going to put a lot of wear on the transmission in this trip and have had trouble enough sourcing SRAM spares at home.

Kenda’s small block 8s are my absolute favourite tyre and ordinarily I’ll use them even in the mud if there’s a good chance of staying upright but having slightly torn a sidewall on one of mine after 300 miles of riding and racing (albeit on rougher trails than most of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route is likely throw at me) I’ve opted for Continental’s Race Kings which are just as fast rolling with tougher side walls.

They don’t offer the same kind of grip the Kenda’s seem to conjure from almost nowhere but I’ve been pushing my luck with under-treaded tyres in most conditions for long enough now that I’m happy to run them and deal with it.

Brakes: I’ve happily using these Avid Elixir CR Mag brakes for well over a year now and they’ve been flawless. The pads in these are the same baked and burnt-in sintered Clarks ones I stock-piled Strathpuffer.  Such is the longevity I still have this and a spare set left to take with me and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I can complete most of the 2740-odd mile route on them.

Cockpit: Everything at hand

In the ‘cock-pit’ I have a USE Atom Carbon Handlebar and Aluminium Stem plus some Vison clip-on TT bars. I’ve cut the TT bars down and removed the elbow rests to bring the weight down from 500g to more like 250g, the position will offer a pretty good position for the long smoother stretches but the top tube on the On-One is quite a bit longer than on my road bike and in any case I don’t want to put too much weight on my elbows off-road.

If I start to miss the elbow pads the plan is to wrap my spare tubes around the bars for some cushioning. Seating will be in the form of a WTB ti railed (rocket-V) saddle I’ve been using in 24hr races since 2009.

On the bars I will have the TT clip-on’s.  Between those I will have my Garmin, centrally mounted and close at hand whilst having the back accessible to plug in an Exposure piggyback battery which will sit underneath. On the stem I have a Cateye Strada computer which, with the detailed Adventure Cycling Association maps, will form my back-up navigation.  Just behind the stem I have yet to add a small pouch for food.

Tune in tomorrow for part two where we take a look at Mike’s camping equipments choices, including tents, powders and pills.