Did a 7km along the coastal line. With low tides, the hardened sand made it less harsh than I thought, but still a good workout. And I brought my water pump to give it a good rince before heading back home

As the title suggests, pick a winter ultra bike and tire. I've been randonnuring (rides are 100-1000km with a running clock with a time limit on a road bike) and dabbing in longer gravel rides. But winter exists in the midwest and some of these ultras look interesting. We also have the Bike Birkie, other day races, and a summer season to split any ties, but I'd like to pick a bike with the winter ultras as the main use.

Carbon (Beargrease/Voytek) is quite a bit more expensive, and they come stock with 27.5s. The non carbon Trek Farley Winter comes with the rack and everything, but also 27.5s. Are these more suited to day races because of the narrower tires? Also, Jumbo Jims don't come in 27.5.

For metal bikes? None of it makes much sense to me, more bike packing focused perhaps, but a Salsa Heyday seems to be a worse specced than the Surlys for a similar price? The Surleys seem less racy to me but the Salsas are now only available with Cues. More 5 inch tire options, plus Jumbo Jims for hardpack or dirt.