yea...  was the last hold out with my posse of moto-heads...    that changed as we were at PACE and was to be the only one without an e-bike.     To my surprise...   there with a big red bow...  a new Levo with a card on it. A gift from my kid sister and nephew...   they had secretly worked with my bud and TJ's. have to admit...  it is a hoot...    not the same,  but fast and fun.   now if I ride alone..   I'll take the Hightower ...   but with a group of e-dudes it is a conga line through the trees.  

Next weekend, there is an event for running (AM)/ biking (PM) in Georgetown. I ran a 5K with the same organization late last year and it was really well organized. Looking forward to trying one of their bike events.  https://www.tejastrails.com/edge

Hit me up if you get to Salida this summer - I'm up there much of the year these days. I've ridden the Crest 30+ times - to be fair, it doesn't get any easier as you get older. I've got the whole thing divided into 45 min segments -- makes it mentally easier. Always a fun day out!

Good strategy. Out here it is now almost 50/50 on bike vs. e-bike and it feels like the shops are primarily selling e-bikes, so the regular bike base is stagnant to shrinking. But with 2-3000 feet of climbing, it's reasonable to consider a motor. I swapped from 32x50 to 30x50 and it was a nice little upgrade. My hardtail is 32x42 is a bit of a push on most trails. I think you'll find the lighter bike with the more aggressive gearing will be a significant upgrade for you. I think you'll do fine on Monarch Crest with your new bike, a lightweight XC bike should do fine.

At 67 years old and with much younger friends getting into eBikes, it would have been logical for what should be my last bike purchase to be an eBike. Instead, I decided on a lightweight, performance-oriented race bike. Monarch Crest is a true test, and the one time I rode it (27 mi with more climbing than I ever expected given the elevation we started at), I was on an 11-spd with 30X42 being my lowest gearing. I was in pretty good shape, but it was sheer punishment on the climbs. This bike will definitely help, and I may even try to get back to Salida in Aug or Sep this year to test it out. I'll definitely swap out the 34t chainring for a 30t though to give me the full advantage that I need, i.e. 30X52 = 19% efficiency gain over the 30X42 that I've been riding for the last 9 years. So I guess that I'm viewing this as my form of an eBike, and at 24lb, it will be SUPER fun to rocket around on.