Mark Scott's Santa Cruz Hightower LT: EWS Bike Check - Crankworx Whistler 2017

Mark Scott hails from the Edinburgh region in his namesake country. The Santa Cruz ripper transitoned from downhill racing to the Enduro World Series and never looked back. He likes tough courses and mach speeds, so the Whistler Crankworx EWS should be as perfect a race as the Scottish lad could wish for. PB photographer caught up with mark in the pits for a pre-practice bike check of his Santa Cruz Hightower LT and a conversation about how he plans to keep it in one piece come race day.

For the record: Mark is five-foot, nine inches tall (174 cm), weighs near 150 pounds (68kg) and rides a large-size frame.

So, you’re going to be on a Hightower LT. You’ve been on a 29er all season, right?

Scott: Almost two years now, actually.

Any special tires for Whistler?

Scott: Downhill Minion DHFs 2.5, front and rear. I use 22psi in the front and 24 for the rear tire.

So, you are sponsored by RockShox, right? Any custom tuning?

Scott: Yeah, I have the new Charger damper in the Lyrik fork and there's a Monarch Plus in the rear—I just ramp it up with a load of tokens for these faster tracks. There's maybe five or six in there.

That's a monster chainring for Whistler, Any other components we should know about?

Scott: It's a 36. Yeah—the biggest one I can find. Brakes are the new SRAM Code RSCs with 200-mm rotors. My bars are Descendants, cut to 760 millimeters.

How are those new wheels working out?

Scott: Yeah, the new Santa Cruz wheels. They’re sweet. We have the 30s on now. We had the 27-millimeter ones, then we got a hold of these. They’re 30-millimeters wide and they work really well with the bigger tires.

Anything special that you will change on the bike for Whistler?

Scott: No, other than it’s set up for going like f**k.