From the Field: Overland Team Launch 2020
From the Field: Overland Team Launch 2020
2020. Hover boards. Robot caregivers. Advanced carbon neutral societies. Lycra as a primary clothing type. Road bikes off-road.
OK, so maybe we got a few things right.
Easton Overland is back. 2020 is going to be an incredible year. Our riding roster is expanding with new friends joining familiar faces, as well as more support for the grassroots racing you love.
The Athletes
A unique facet for Overland’s sponsorship format for 2020 includes new and returning athletes riding a number of incredible off-road bikes from some of our favorite brands:
Amity Rockwell – Queen of Kanza 2019, 1st Old Growth Classic 2019
Coming back to her second year with Easton Overland, Amity Rockwell is an endurance athlete at heart. After discovering that gravel adventure riding has allowed her to both foster her love for the outdoors and fuel her drive to push her personal limits, she's been chasing podiums around the US. Most notably, her first place in this past year’s Dirty Kanza 200. She’ll be racing Canyon’s Endurace CF SLX for events like BWR and SBTGRVL, while the GRAIL will be a sure thing for bigger tire needs and more gravity-oriented gravel riding.
Caitlin Bernstein – 3rd Grinduro 2019, 10th US CX Nationals 2018
Caitlin Bernstein, in her words, has always ridden bikes. That is, when she’s not ski racing. Between her huge national presence in US Cyclocross, XC and gravel, Caitlin has as passion for how cycling can help us connect with young riders. “Working with young athletes- being a part of their love for sport and seeing where it takes them is pretty special to me, so I hope to stay connected in those areas." Her rigs for the year will be the Devinci Hatchet in two build specs – one 2x setup for endurance racing, while her 1x GRX will be dropper equipped for more aggressive Lost and Found and Grinduro events.
Caroline Dezendorf - West Coast CX Points Prestige Champion 2019, 8th US CX Nationals 2019
After her second full UCI season in 2019, Caro found herself ranked 8th in the US, and racing against (and with) her mentors in the sport. We’re excited to see her bring her enthusiasm and attitude to the gravel startline. In her words: “The kindness of friends, competitors, and strangers will be the same. The only difference is the location.” Caroline will be racing the highly adaptable Cervelo Aspero, with her 2x GRX Di2 setup taking on the primary role of endurance gravel for events like Mid South Gravel.
Michael van den Ham - Canadian National CX Champion 2018, 2019
Michael van den Ham is more than Canada’s nicest National CX Champion. His unique Easton Overland 2019 gravel calendar proved to be a unique opportunity to train through adventure, something that is near and dear to his heart. We’re excited to have Michael back, and to see the podiums he’s going to steal with a smile on his face. Like his CX bikes, Michael will be riding Giant for the year, with the Giant Revolt Advance trading time with the TCX for a mix of single track ripping at events like Ride For Water and Grinduro Canada.
Matt Lieto - 6th LandRun 100 2019, 10th SBT GRVL 2019
Matt Lieto returns to Easton Overland in 2020 as one of our gravel veterans. On top of having experience at the highest level of professional triathlon, Matt prides himself on continually stretching his comfort zone and having success in road and gravel racing, trail running, mountain biking, and other forms of adventure. By developing a more satisfying balance to his training and he inspires us all to try new and (occasionally) scary things to improve themselves overall athletically and personally. We’re excited to have him back in 2020. Matt will be our second Cervelo athlete, with his Aspero rigs equipped to take on stage races like Oregon Trail and Rebecca’s Private Idaho.
Craig Richey - Cycling Swiss Army Knife, Dirty Kanza 7th 2018
A cyclist of all trades, Craig Richey has never been defined by a single format. Through his work in cyclocross with The Ethical Racing Project, he’s donned more than his fair share of provincial championship jerseys. An early adopter of “long-format cyclocross”, Craig is a wealth of advice for those pursuing gravel events while balancing the full-time-grind. His Devinci Hatchet builds will focus on the aggressive side of gravel, taking on 50c tires and our more aggressive AX build kits to keep pace with his favorite single-track in the North Shore mountains. We’ll see these put through the paces at Lost and Found and Ride For Water.
Guest rider:
Sascha Weber – UCI World Series MTB Hegau Bike-Marathon 2019 1st, 2019 German XCM Sascha is another of our multi faceted riders, racing XCM, cyclocross and road, he is a true challenge to the norm of specialization. Ranked 14th in the world for XCM in 2019, Sascha is ready for the grueling endurance events that are so very popular in gravel. Sascha will be riding his OPEN UP, and we’ll see him on the dirt here in North America at Dirty Kanza.
Our content team:
Nicholas Kupiak – Videographer, Photographer, Human Gimble
In-house videographer and photo guru for Easton Cycling, Nicholas is our secret weapon for the stories behind Overland. He has also been fully dedicated to the quiver-killer mentality, racing CX, Gravel and even (accidentally) a few road races on his handbuilt titanium Naked Factory frameset. As a grinder, he’s set up for 1x GRX and we’ll try to convince him to run a cassette bigger than 11-32 someday.
Matt Hornland - Team Manager, Mechanic, Event Outreach
Gravel might not have Director Sportifs as of yet, but that might be a term for Matt. Fixer, logistics guy, handler, rental car driver - long distance gravel events need someone to make sure the bikes work and the people are stoked. And sometimes he even rides! Matt’s newly refreshed ALLIED ALLROAD will take on endurance races like Mid South, while Lost and Found will be attacked on the ALLIED ABLE.
Componentry
Our Overland team is riding a mix of our EC90 and EC70 AX series components, as well as our Cinch equipped cranks and carbon finishing kit. You’ll likely see our riders with the following setups for more gravity oriented events:
EC90 AX Wheelset – 24mm interior optimized for 35-50mm gravel tires
EC90 SL Cranks – using Cinch compatibility for 2x Gravel and 1x setups
EC90 SLX and EC70 AX handlebars – From 4 to 16 degrees of flair for groad to gravity gravel setups.
EA90 SL Stems with ICM compatibility – titanium bolts and gramin compatible computer mounts for a streamlined cockpit.
EC90 SL Seatpost – With Independent Saddle Adjustment for quick setups
Schwalbe G series tires, from Speed to Ultrabite for our more techy gravel rides
Shimano GRX Di2 groups in both 1x and 2x configurations
Shimano XTR Pedals
Shimano GRX Shoes
More on our Castelli Cycling kits (including a very cool team edition) to come!
Events
Our athletes will be taking part in a plethora of gravel races and rides. Some are filling their calendars to the brim while others will be picking and choosing their favourite race formats.
Events that you’ll see our athletes at include:
Super Sweetwater Grasshopper – Overland Team Camp
Easton Overland is working with Mid South’s support team, the Red Dirt Jeep Club to not only support the sag wagons, but also get the neutral support stations out to the back roads. Easton and Mid South are also putting together Terra Pass carbon offsets for the 25 support vehicles, as well as the travel for the Easton Overland team for the event, and the impact of organizing the event itself – 16 mT of carbon offsets that support US based carbon reduction projects, which you can learn more about here: https://www.terrapass.com/
2020. Hover boards. Robot caregivers. Advanced carbon neutral societies. Lycra as a primary clothing type. Road bikes off-road.
OK, so maybe we got a few things right.
Easton Overland is back. 2020 is going to be an incredible year. Our riding roster is expanding with new friends joining familiar faces, as well as more support for the grassroots racing you love.
The Athletes
A unique facet for Overland’s sponsorship format for 2020 includes new and returning athletes riding a number of incredible off-road bikes from some of our favorite brands:
Amity Rockwell – Queen of Kanza 2019, 1st Old Growth Classic 2019
Coming back to her second year with Easton Overland, Amity Rockwell is an endurance athlete at heart. After discovering that gravel adventure riding has allowed her to both foster her love for the outdoors and fuel her drive to push her personal limits, she's been chasing podiums around the US. Most notably, her first place in this past year’s Dirty Kanza 200. She’ll be racing Canyon’s Endurace CF SLX for events like BWR and SBTGRVL, while the GRAIL will be a sure thing for bigger tire needs and more gravity-oriented gravel riding.
Caitlin Bernstein – 3rd Grinduro 2019, 10th US CX Nationals 2018
Caitlin Bernstein, in her words, has always ridden bikes. That is, when she’s not ski racing. Between her huge national presence in US Cyclocross, XC and gravel, Caitlin has as passion for how cycling can help us connect with young riders. “Working with young athletes- being a part of their love for sport and seeing where it takes them is pretty special to me, so I hope to stay connected in those areas." Her rigs for the year will be the Devinci Hatchet in two build specs – one 2x setup for endurance racing, while her 1x GRX will be dropper equipped for more aggressive Lost and Found and Grinduro events.
Caroline Dezendorf - West Coast CX Points Prestige Champion 2019, 8th US CX Nationals 2019
After her second full UCI season in 2019, Caro found herself ranked 8th in the US, and racing against (and with) her mentors in the sport. We’re excited to see her bring her enthusiasm and attitude to the gravel startline. In her words: “The kindness of friends, competitors, and strangers will be the same. The only difference is the location.” Caroline will be racing the highly adaptable Cervelo Aspero, with her 2x GRX Di2 setup taking on the primary role of endurance gravel for events like Mid South Gravel.
Michael van den Ham - Canadian National CX Champion 2018, 2019
Michael van den Ham is more than Canada’s nicest National CX Champion. His unique Easton Overland 2019 gravel calendar proved to be a unique opportunity to train through adventure, something that is near and dear to his heart. We’re excited to have Michael back, and to see the podiums he’s going to steal with a smile on his face. Like his CX bikes, Michael will be riding Giant for the year, with the Giant Revolt Advance trading time with the TCX for a mix of single track ripping at events like Ride For Water and Grinduro Canada.
Matt Lieto - 6th LandRun 100 2019, 10th SBT GRVL 2019
Matt Lieto returns to Easton Overland in 2020 as one of our gravel veterans. On top of having experience at the highest level of professional triathlon, Matt prides himself on continually stretching his comfort zone and having success in road and gravel racing, trail running, mountain biking, and other forms of adventure. By developing a more satisfying balance to his training and he inspires us all to try new and (occasionally) scary things to improve themselves overall athletically and personally. We’re excited to have him back in 2020. Matt will be our second Cervelo athlete, with his Aspero rigs equipped to take on stage races like Oregon Trail and Rebecca’s Private Idaho.
Craig Richey - Cycling Swiss Army Knife, Dirty Kanza 7th 2018
A cyclist of all trades, Craig Richey has never been defined by a single format. Through his work in cyclocross with The Ethical Racing Project, he’s donned more than his fair share of provincial championship jerseys. An early adopter of “long-format cyclocross”, Craig is a wealth of advice for those pursuing gravel events while balancing the full-time-grind. His Devinci Hatchet builds will focus on the aggressive side of gravel, taking on 50c tires and our more aggressive AX build kits to keep pace with his favorite single-track in the North Shore mountains. We’ll see these put through the paces at Lost and Found and Ride For Water.
Guest rider:
Sascha Weber – UCI World Series MTB Hegau Bike-Marathon 2019 1st, 2019 German XCM Sascha is another of our multi faceted riders, racing XCM, cyclocross and road, he is a true challenge to the norm of specialization. Ranked 14th in the world for XCM in 2019, Sascha is ready for the grueling endurance events that are so very popular in gravel. Sascha will be riding his OPEN UP, and we’ll see him on the dirt here in North America at Dirty Kanza.
Our content team:
Nicholas Kupiak – Videographer, Photographer, Human Gimble
In-house videographer and photo guru for Easton Cycling, Nicholas is our secret weapon for the stories behind Overland. He has also been fully dedicated to the quiver-killer mentality, racing CX, Gravel and even (accidentally) a few road races on his handbuilt titanium Naked Factory frameset. As a grinder, he’s set up for 1x GRX and we’ll try to convince him to run a cassette bigger than 11-32 someday.
Matt Hornland - Team Manager, Mechanic, Event Outreach
Gravel might not have Director Sportifs as of yet, but that might be a term for Matt. Fixer, logistics guy, handler, rental car driver - long distance gravel events need someone to make sure the bikes work and the people are stoked. And sometimes he even rides! Matt’s newly refreshed ALLIED ALLROAD will take on endurance races like Mid South, while Lost and Found will be attacked on the ALLIED ABLE.
Componentry
Our Overland team is riding a mix of our EC90 and EC70 AX series components, as well as our Cinch equipped cranks and carbon finishing kit. You’ll likely see our riders with the following setups for more gravity oriented events:
EC90 AX Wheelset – 24mm interior optimized for 35-50mm gravel tires
EC90 SL Cranks – using Cinch compatibility for 2x Gravel and 1x setups
EC90 SLX and EC70 AX handlebars – From 4 to 16 degrees of flair for groad to gravity gravel setups.
EA90 SL Stems with ICM compatibility – titanium bolts and gramin compatible computer mounts for a streamlined cockpit.
EC90 SL Seatpost – With Independent Saddle Adjustment for quick setups
Schwalbe G series tires, from Speed to Ultrabite for our more techy gravel rides
Shimano GRX Di2 groups in both 1x and 2x configurations
Shimano XTR Pedals
Shimano GRX Shoes
More on our Castelli Cycling kits (including a very cool team edition) to come!
Events
Our athletes will be taking part in a plethora of gravel races and rides. Some are filling their calendars to the brim while others will be picking and choosing their favourite race formats.
Events that you’ll see our athletes at include:
Super Sweetwater Grasshopper – Overland Team Camp
Easton Overland is working with Mid South’s support team, the Red Dirt Jeep Club to not only support the sag wagons, but also get the neutral support stations out to the back roads. Easton and Mid South are also putting together Terra Pass carbon offsets for the 25 support vehicles, as well as the travel for the Easton Overland team for the event, and the impact of organizing the event itself – 16 mT of carbon offsets that support US based carbon reduction projects, which you can learn more about here: https://www.terrapass.com/