JAIME LAFITA AND DALECANDELA WILL CROSS THE DEATH VALLEY IN A CAMPMAJÓ TANDEM BIKE
31/03/2024
From April 7th to 17th, volunteers from the DalecandELA association and Jaime Lafita, an ALS patient, will cross the 650km of the Death Valley to claim the extreme situation of people affected with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
In scientific jargon, Death Valley is the place where scientific ideas seem to run out of resources. The entire community of ALS patients is anchored in this valley, since currently there is no cure or treatment. With this demand DalecandELA wants to turn the Valley of Death into the Valley of Hope.
To cross the 650km of the Valley, Jaime will be the co-pilot in a Campmajó tandem fully adapted for the occasion.
The Death Valley is the hottest and driest desert in the United States, with rocky and sandy terrain. To this end, the DalecandELA, Muntané Full Balance and Campmajó Bikes teams have come together to create the perfect tandem for the occasion. A hybrid electric tandem between gravel and mountain.
The tandem has a GRX drivetrain, FSA Adventure AGX gravel front handlebars and Racing Parts M26_A wheels with Vittoria Terreno tires, perfect components for gravel surfaces. At the same time, it is equipped with a Rockshox SID fork with the widest possible tires to ensure greater absorption of terrain irregularities and vibrations.
With the aim of making the bike as comfortable as possible for this great challenge, in addition to making the frame with our new design with a low step over, we have added some essential components for us: for the rider, the ERGON Gravel bar tape, our favorite anti-vibration. And ERGON saddles, designed to relax your back and avoid pain after many hours on the bike.
To choose Jaime’s components, the collaboration with Lluís Muntané, biomechanic from Muntané Full Balance, has been key. Lluís has reviewed Jaime’s position on other bikes and has guided us when choosing the best components to improve his position and comfort on the tandem.
For the handlebars we used an FSA MTB Comet 15mm “rise” with EGON GPS grips and CLOSETHEGAP inner grips. This combination of handlebars will allow Jaime to maintain a much more relaxed hand position and have several possible positions of his arms, wrists and hands easily exchengable during the long rides. For the saddle we have opted for a Cane Creek eeSilk 20 seatpost with elastomer suspension and an ERGON SMC CORE saddle specific for mountain bikes. The best configuration for maximum comfort and reduced impact on the pelvic area.
The most important part of the bike adaptation for Jaime has been developing a multi-adjustable stem. This stem is a Campmajó prototype developed for the occasion, which allows adjustment in both the vertical and horizontal directions. These two degrees of freedom allow us to find Jaime’s ideal position, ensuring a correct back inclination and arm position when pedaling. In addition to this, we have developed a clamp with anti-vibration elastomer. To do this, we have used the elastomer system developed by FSA in its NS VAS gravel power model. The brand offers elastomers of 3 different hardnesses to choose from, in Jaime’s case we have assembled the medium hardness one.
“It’s a modern-day Rolls Royce, that is, it rides comfortably and works perfectly, it’s robust, it works like a clock and, on top of that, it’s beautiful. We couldn’t be happier, and most of all, myself.” Jaime Lafita
Remember that the initiative will be broadcast daily on DalecandELA’s social profiles. And the project will culminate with a documentary of the expedition by the Ikaika Media team, which will be presented on June 21, World ALS Day.
As always, we leave you the technical sheet below.
