Jenna, friend of Curve, all round LEGEND and newly found ultra distance fan, took her brand new Belgie Ultra to Europe to ride the Transcontinental No11. A cross continent adventure, in spirit to the design of such an endurance road bike. Ready for an incredible journey, one that would certainly be unforgettable, read on to hear about her thoughts on her new mile crushing machine and new love of long distance adventures. 

“The Belgie Ultra is simply a beautiful and trustworthy ultra road bike…

It is built for a clear purpose with latent off-label desire, or at least significant tolerance, for gravel. 

I purchased the Belgie Ultra in a fairly unexpected manner in April this year (2025). I came to learn about the Transcontinental Race in March 2025 and committed to that unknown in April - a week later. I owned a gravel bike, 2 x road racers & MTB. Fair to say my lower back, for whatever reason, always hurts, or at least, I am aware of it. 

I was not an ultra cyclist - the longest ride I had completed when commiting to the TCR was ~ 140km (Rapha Prestige 2022 on 25mm road slicks - not ideal for anyone who remembers). But I love adventure, I love trying hard things that I don’t know much about. I do it to feel alive and remind me that ‘I can’. 

Enter the spontaneous decision to buy the Belgie Ultra. It was either reverse engineer my gravel bike (at significant cost) or, for not too much more, invest in a fit for purpose bike to take me across Europe. It was an ergonomic and financial gamble as I would only have 2 months with the bike before flying to Spain to start the TCR in July. Lower back. Lower back. Lower back. 

…

I have safely returned from the TCR - with my race ending after 21 days or approx. 3,600km in Bari, Italy (due to time constraints - not making excuses- though I did fall short of my arbitrary planned 250km/day). I had no mechanical issues at all - whether this is good luck or good design and preparation we will never know - but I can say that I never doubted or second guessed the BU, whether that was climbing or descending or my own rancid gravel route choices or parcours 3 (Strada dell’Assietta) or 4a (Strada Bianche). That is not to say there weren’t times I wished I’d had an extra gear to tap into - but having said that, at some point you need to tuck in and do the hard work. The satisfaction doesn’t come for free. I had no lower back pain at all and I rode into my fitness. None at all. General pain and exhaustion - yes! I won’t lie about that. We used my road racer bike fit measurements to set up the bike and that worked a treat. A gamble, yes. But it worked. 

I don’t know much about the BU bike design or specifications. That’s not how my brain works. It tends to hope for the best or I just work with what I have, as I don’t know any different. But I can’t fault it. I felt connected to the road - not in a sluggish way - but in a safe and comfortable way. It was responsive and agile. I didn’t stack. I felt fast and got faster as my fitness revealed itself. Occupational hazard of endurance racing I guess!

A lot of this only came to light when I got back on my road racer (carbon | 25 mm tyres) after returning from Europe. I felt like I was going to be flung off. I felt twitchy. I felt nervous. I had never realised or noticed that there are differences in how bikes feel. 

Obviously my Belgie Ultra was loaded up - seat bag, top tub bag, sleep system under handlebars, water bottles, aero bars, a tool shed etc - which helped me feel grounded but I never felt like ‘my luggage’ and the bike weren’t one. At the risk of hyperbole, I never felt like me and the bike weren’t one. 

I looked after her. And she looked after me.”