1) Inline levers would be a good thing for drops. I almost went over once, instead having the saddle jam up into my "boys" pretty hard and scarring the crap out of myself. I just couldn't get back far enough to do that sort of thing safely. I mean I did--unsafely--but I wouldn't recommend it without some inline levers.
2) I installed an XT Shadow rear derailleur instead of the XTR rapid rise one that I have had on that bike since the beginning. I was sick of the rapidrise deal. This XT shifts better than that older XTR one. 20 grams heavier than the XTR one, but whatever. So now the Curtlo has a mix of XT, Dura Ace, and Campy Record. Seems like a reasonable set up to me.
3) I really had fun trying to do things on a cross bike that I found occassionally challenging on an mtb. Browns Camp was almost new again. It was amazing how fast I could ride certain sections.
4) Skinny tires, even if they are tubular, are still bone jarring at times. The Curtlo did beat me up a bit, especially while descending. If I road on the edge of reason I could keep up or almost keep pace with DTP going downhill. But after awhile, it wasn't worth it. I started riding at a more reasonable pace, which wasn't much slower, but since I would catch up quickly when the trail turned up again it wasnt any big deal. With clinchers the trail would have been more uncomfortable. I was able to run my tire pressure in the upper 30's without any problems. On clinchers I would have hed to be running pressure up around 60psi to avoid pinch flats.
5) Skinny Tires don't like rooty sections. Talk about tricky--there are a couple of spots where roots criss-cross the trail at weird angles. It can be a little tricky to get past these spots without dabbing on fat tires. On skinny tires, it was even more so. Still it was a fun challenge.
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