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I never tire of this episode from XTERRA Richmond Virginia 2009. “Tire” pun intended…
Dan Hugo and I  pre rode the XTERRA Richmond course shortly after our arrival from XTERRA Northwest Cup in Coeur D’Alene, where I had a 4 inch nail puncture my tubeless tire in 2 places. See previous blog.
My replacement [...]

 
Loved the Specialized 29er Epic. Andy pimped my ride between thrashings. Note my new race kit for 2009. Made by Luma.- more later.
Christoph won comfortably. Todd had a flat, I gave him my CO2 and he finished 6th- which allowed him to win the Omnium-(Short Track and XC combined) Great for Todd, Specialized and the [...]

Specialized tire specialist Frank Stacey and I talking tires at the Stellenbosch testing in January 09.
Photo by Gary Perkin.
I have been incredibly busy since my arrival in the US 2 weeks ago. Moved to Reno NV from Bend OR, did 3 days’ tire testing with Specialized and I bought a car. (yes, the legendary Red [...]

In search  of the holy rubber…
Following up on earlier tire testing in Stellenbosch*, Specialized’s tire whiz guys came up with 5 new prototypes to test. The goal is to make a tire that is very puncture resistant, but still rolls well and doesnt weigh as much as a tractor tire.
*Read earlier blog Tire testing Stellenbosch.
We [...]

Burry Stander doing rolling resistance testing on the rollers. He rode at 25km/h and at 35km/h with about 20 different tires and measured the wattage needed to hold those speeds for each tire. On the right (reading the power  tap numbers) is Benno Willeit, our Specialized mechanic, and on the left is Tire Specialist Frank [...]

We started in groups of 4. I’m on the red and black Honda. (Yes, the guy in the back!) The guy next to me on the far right, Willie “die Lem” (The Blade) won, and I finished 2nd. The guy on his back wheel crashed about half way through while in 2nd. He had a [...]

The Avia bike drew a lot of attention and explained bike show goers why there’s running shoes at their “bike show”. Triathletes!

The 2009 Specialized Epic S-works.
The press has hyped the bike up and Susi won the XC World Champs on it, but DANG, I was especially surprised by: a) the suspension and b) the weight. And, yes, it is a really pretty bike.
As you can see in the background, I tested the bike on a not-so-old [...]

How to lube a rusted bike chain when you have no (Squirt) chain lube.
Disaster strikes. The airline took your luggage hostage. You have to pre ride the course, so you borrowed a bike, helmet, shoes 2 sizes too big and clothes. (Yay for someone else’s used chamois!) Read more about why and how this was [...]

Here is some video of our tire testing in Stellenbosch South Africa earlier this year:

Visit Specialized Factory Racing website for more

photo by Nils Nilsen, see Xterra gallery for more
With 2 XTERRA USA Series victories so far, I was eager to beat the rush and wrap up the USA points series early. (best 3 out of 4 Series race to count towards Series. Plus compulsory Tahoe Nationals)

My 29er race bike…
This puppy has been specially built for me by the engineers at Specialized. (thanks Jason!) To save weight, the BB has been replaced with a large diameter shell to fit the Specialized Carbon road cranks. (Which I’m running 2×9) And most of the paint has been left off. In my opinion, the [...]

This 4hr ride starts in Reno at 1300m altitude, climbs straight up to 2700m (takes me about 1h40 at 130 heart rate) and descends straight down to Incline Village, on the shores of Lake Tahoe. (1800m)
Fill up the bottles, (penalty points awarded for time spent off the bike) and start climbing back over. About 50minutes [...]

I’m very excited to post my 2008 race kit. As you can see, the design is the bright coloured South African flag. Which ties in nicely with the rainbow stripes of the current World Champion. A very unique look…

Conrad’s hot tip for wet weather racing: How to keep sand & mud out of your eyes by making a low tech, high performance mud guard from a used soft drink bottle:

My 2008 racing machine:
Specialized Stumpjumper 29er. Yes, it is BIG. Ryan Palmer built it at Specialized Team Camp last week, and when he finished building it, he said, “wow, its a monster”. The name might stick. The Monster.
I love the way this bike rolls over anything thats ugly, flat or downhill. Especially ugly. Uphill is [...]