Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Chris Mayfield’s Custom Colorado Trail Race Rig + Post-Ride Thoughts
In our latest rig breakdown, we look at Chris Mayfield’s Delicate Arch, a custom hardtail by Goodday Curiosity. Chris recently completed the Colorado Trail Race aboard this beauty in just over nine days. In this piece, he shares the inspiring story behind the bike’s name, paint job, components, and custom bags. We also caught up with Chris after the race to discuss how everything performed. Find all that plus Chris’s packing list here…
PUBLISHED Sep 6, 2024
As you may have seen in our collection of 2024 Colorado Trail Race rigs, 31-year-old Chris Mayfield from Gunnison, Colorado, was riding a rather flashy custom Goodday Curiosity hardtail. The story behind this bike is special, and the bike is undoubtedly a showpiece. Find the video bike check below and read on for details, photos, and his pack list.
“Just tell yourself that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be and everything’s happening exactly as it should.”
The Delicate Arch frame was built by Chris Besnia of Goodday Cycles, and the frame bag, top tube bag, saddle bag, and compression bag were all handmade by Curiosity, the sister company run by Arly Landry under the same roof. Chris’s bike is a tribute to his dad, Jim Mayfield, who started making boomerangs back in the 1980s under his own brand, Colorado Boomerangs. One of his furthest-flying boomerangs was called the Delicate Arch, named after the famous formation in Moab, Utah. Everything about this bike pays homage to his dad that that boomerang, from its name and brazed headbadge to the fade/splatter paint job, a graphic style often used to decorate Jim’s boomerangs.
Words by Chris Mayfield
I was sitting on the wooden stool in the Goodday + Curiosity shop during a snowy December afternoon last year, and Chris Besnia was across from me wrapping up their latest creation, talking about all the rides we wanted to do this season.
“I think I’m gonna try the CTR this year,” I said.
“Daaang,” said Besnia through a smile, “Are you ready for that?”
“I don’t know, man. But I want to do it on a hardtail,” I told him.
Having done a handful of overnighters on my Santa Cruz Tall Boy, a small frame bag worked great for short excursions, but the realities of a multi-day adventure like the Colorado Trail made the extra space and the mechanical simplicity of a hardtail desirable. I showed Besnia some of the bikes I was considering: Surly Karate Monkey, Marin San Quentin. He rubbed his chin, un-impressed. “You don’t want some generic thing, man. You want something that gets you stoked. If you want, I will build you a bike.”
I wasn’t a hard sell. Since moving back to Gunnison in 2020 after some bumming around in a van on the West Coast for a few years, I watched Chris and Arly (Goodday + Curiosity) create all of these beautiful custom bikepacking rigs. I knew someday I wanted one. And so, over the spring and summer, I watched my bike slowly form together piece by piece. I brought a few of my Dads boomerangs over to the shop, where they hung on the wall during the building process. I wanted the bike to be painted like the “Delicate Arch,” one of my dad’s boomerangs from the ’80s.
My dad was an avid cyclist. He was in the mix of the early days of mountain biking in Crested Butte and Gunnison in the late 1970s and ’80s. He passed away in 1999 when I was six, so for me, riding my bike and throwing his boomerangs was my way of connecting with him. The bike became an embodiment of our relationship.
Three weeks before the grand depart of the CTR, the bike was complete. Arly put together the frame bags and pulled a few of the petroglyph characters from the boomerangs. The one-armed snake charmer, and the squashed belly lizard, their origins and meaning unknown, so I just made up my own.
The week before the ride, while doing some final adjustments to the bike at the shop, Chris Haus, old time friend of my dad and owner of the Tune Up back in the ’80s, came to check out the shop, the bike, and to meet Chris Besnia. The older generation sent off the next for a big ride with good vibes and a couple beers. Everything felt right. Haus reminisced over the pioneering klunker days and navigating all of the changes mountain bikes were going through at that time. With a furrowed brow, Haus inspected the Berd polylight spokes on my bike.
“These are your spokes?!?” He exclaimed, mind totally blown.
Experiencing the CTR for the first time on this bike was awesome. Completing the race felt great. I’m so grateful for Chris and Arly and everyone who helped me make it happen. The ride was self-supported, but I felt like there was a whole community with me while I was out there. Looking forward to seeing what else we’ll do together. I’ll definitely give the Loopy Loop a go, and I’m starting to get an itch for a Tour Divide experience. Maybe here in a year or two, who knows.
Build Kit
Here’s the full build kit. I had zero mechanical issues out there, so huge thanks to Chris for putting the bike together and building it. Everything ran as smoothly as I could have hoped for. As for things I’d change, I think it would have been smart to invest in or try out a more ergonomic saddle. By the second day, I was already developing saddle sores, so I likely would have been better off with something more comfortable.
- Fork: MRP Ribbon
- Rims: F+B 30 AM | CARBON ALL-MOUNTAIN RIM
- Spokes: Berd Polylight
- Hubs: Berd Talon
- Tires: Schwalbe Wicked WIll
- Handlebars: Salsa Rustler with Custom Bar ends
- Headset: Wolftooth Headset
- Crankset: Race Face Turbine
- Pedals: Shimano XT Trail
- Cassette: Shimano Deore
- Derailleur(s): Shimano Deore
- Brakes: Magura
- Shifter(s): Shimano XT
- Saddle: Origin 8
- Seatpost: OneUp V3 Dropper Post 180mm
- Stem: Custom Goodday
- Front Bag(s): Goodday Space Cradle with Curiosity dry bag
- Frame Bag(s): Curiosity Frame Bag
- Rear Bag(s): Curiosity Seat Pack
- Accessory Bag(s): Tek Ni Kul Bike Gear pouch, and AGU Stem Bags
- Navigation: Garmin Etrex 22x
- Lights: Blackburn Dayblazer
- Other Accessories: Wide foot cargo cage on down tube
I’ve also gone back and forth on whether I should have used flats or clipless pedals. I opted for clipless since that’s what I usually ride with and generally prefer, but given how often I was getting on and off the bike—especially during hike-a-bike sections—I think flats might have been the better choice. A good trail shoe or hiking boot would have made it much easier, especially considering how much hiking is involved out there.
Packing List
And here’s my pack list. One thing that could be improved is navigation. I went off route at least once or twice a day, sometimes by just a few feet, but other times by as much as a mile or more. Having a GPS with a warning or alarm to alert me when I was off course would have been incredibly helpful and saved me a lot of time.
Main Triangle Bag
- Apidura 1.5 L bladder
- 2L hydra pak
- Be free water filter x 2
- Food
- Long thermal underwear
- First Aid Kit
- ONE bike pump
- Mud wand w/duct tape
- Zip ties
Compression Bag
- Enlightened Equipment Enigma Bag (zero degree)
- NEMO Tensor sleeping pad
- Big Agnes Fly Creek Bikepacking Tent
- REI puffy vest
Saddle Bag
- Rain Tarp for for tent
- Patagonia Rain Jacket
- Nike Rain pants
- Tyvek
Camel Pak Runners Vest
- food
- Sunscreen
- Knife
- Colgate Travel size tooth paste
- Tooth brush
- Floss
- Bear Spray
Further Reading
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