I just did my Tuesday morning loop on my SSCX bike, and less than 5% slower than a comparable effort on my carbon road bike. So that's the same course: 18lbs, 22 gears, 700x23s vs. 25lbs, 1 gear, 700x34s. Effort... similar (at least a similar stress score.)
Ended up 4 minutes difference over 50k, 1h41m for the road bike, 1h45m for the SSCX. I'm sure a lot of it comes down to tire-- there are some really slow tires out there. But geometry? Doesn't mean all that much to use mere mortals.
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