The Bonneville Shoreline Slayer: Santa Cruz Highball

This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to race some bikes in the Leadville 100 MTB, one of North America’s highest, toughest, and most famous races on dirt. This amazing event starts at 10,000 feet, reaches up to 12,500 feet, and climbs a total of 11,000 vertical feet over 100 miles, featuring four distinct climbs in an out-and-back format. While this race favors the climbs, the event has many flat sections between climbs. The descents are mostly straight, allowing for a little more room for error, and the flats are mostly double track. Many of the fastest times on course are set on hardtails.

While I think my bike setup was perfect for my needs at the time, I raced on a full suspension—the same Cervélo I’ve been riding for over a year, with some adjustments to the tires, stem, and a rigid post. After racing once, I’m eager to go back and try again, with the goal of being competitive in my age group and significantly improving my time if I can get in again. 

With this in mind, the thought of building a Leadville-specific bike has entered my mind, and I began looking at hardtails, exploring my different options. Fate seemed to have a hand to play when I returned to the shop for the first time after the race; we’d received a Santa Cruz Highball frame in my size, in the exact color of the bike that won the race just days before. This seemed too good to be true, so I decided to go for it and build an XC race hardtail that fits my needs.

If you are a local rider and frequent the shop, you’ve likely spent some time on Bonneville Shoreline. While it certainly makes for some fun, it can get tiring lugging a trail bike around all the time, with rolling hills, plenty of climbing, and minimal technical sections. Some of you have probably even taken a liking to riding it on your gravel bikes! While this is fun for a short time, it is not ideal. The Highball offers a great alternative, with excellent climbing capability and the speed to cover ground quickly. While it can't handle hits the same way my Cervélo can, it's a blast to ride, making me rethink line choices and improving my technical skills.

With a gorgeous matte teal and pink frame, I thought that lots of color was the way to go on this bike. I paired the frame with a Blue Crush Rockshox SID SL fork; yellow Pirelli XC RC logo tires, and the red decals of the Reserve wheels pull it together.

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Want to build one for yourself? Shoot us a message on our chat, or email us! We will get you going on the XC dream build for your next adventure.