We asked ultra-endurance legend and longtime Shimano Road Ambassador Mark Beaumont to tell us why he prefers DURA-ACE. “DURA-ACE is synonymous with road racing, so perhaps I have taken it where most wouldn’t, on ultra-endurance record-breaking rides and on events where the only person you are racing is yourself.
“I’ve been riding DURA-ACE for over 15 years, and it has evolved a lot in that time, especially around the dawn of Di2. DURA-ACE was launched 10 years before I was born, so I can’t claim to know the whole story, but it has been cool to write part of the latest chapter.
“What sets DURA-ACE apart? For me it is the refinement and precision of DURA-ACE that wins. You can argue over more subjective matters, like aesthetics, but for me it’s how that design relates to ergometry and the rider experience that matters.”
Mark shared a little of his personal experience with DURA-ACE. “The last record I broke was the North Coast 500. 28 hours and 34 minutes, racing over 800km, with a normalized power of 270W. I was off the bike for 16 minutes in that time and took half an hour of the previous best. That bike was a fighter jet and I was completely at one with it. Pure commitment for a race to fail. It was everything I had learned as a bike rider in one non-stop effort.”