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Lukas Flückiger, Julien Absalon, Burry Stander, Ralf Naf, Mathias Flückiger. Champery World Cup podium.

A week after winning the under 23 World Championships in Australia, 22 year old South African Burry beat two time Olympic champion and 4 time World Champion Julien Absalon to win his 1st UCI World Cup victory. (Burry is currently 2nd the [...]

Pictures by Rob Jones and CyclingNews.com
Burry just won his 1st rainbow jersey at UCI MTB Worlds in Australia.  This kid is amazingly talented, really nice, good with business and we will see him go a really long way. He is currently ranked 2nd in the UCI World Cup series.
Burry is a fellow Specialized team mate [...]

For starters, and the reader’s benefit, write a short paragraph about yourself:
I’m evading reality but painting a canvas with all the colour I can find. There’s a definite lack of technique, more just splashing lines and blobs of colour and allowing them to take on a story of their own. I was inspired, you see, [...]

This is by far the hairiest XTERRA course I have ever pre ridden. Sure, its almost all uphill, but it is super technical and slippery. It has been raining for the past 3 weeks and everything is slimy.
Speaking of slimy, my foot is fine. The cut is 90% healed up and I even ran on [...]

Cancellara’s yellow jersey bike in the Tour de France…

That’s the question!

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 tire was in the mail, so I rode the tire with the 2 nail holes, and [...]

Winning smile & story time. During a week like this, so many things happen, its impossible to keep track of it all. I’ll try to give some perspective here.
My new race kit is officially here.  It arrived from Hong Kong on Friday. My mate Gary Mandy hooked me up sweet with LUMA kit. I have [...]

This video was made for the “triathlon” part of the i-am-specialized website.
The a href=”http://www.i-am-specialized.com/triathlon” target=”_blank”>i-am-specialized website is aimed at being the public’s way of following Specialized riders’ racing and stories online. It is a new site and will mostly aim at internet video content. Internet video is the new TV.
I am honoured to be the [...]

Sea Otter Short Track. (20min lap race)
Photo by Jay Prashun
Did a ride with Jay Prashun on the new Specialized 29er and then a cool interview for triathlon.competitor.com.

This is where it all happens:

Specialized head office in Morgan Hill, California

 
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 [...]

Bobby Behan, car fanatic and Specialized Factory Racing team manager with Mike Sinyards’ Mini Cooper Works.
Todd Wells won today’s Sea Otter Short Track on his new Specialized 29er hard tail (20lbs)- Burry Stander got 2nd, Lene Byberg got 2nd in the ladies and Sam Hill won the Down Hill.
In the short trak the guys dominated, [...]

Northern California has a booming High School racing programme. It is run a by a non profit organization and Specialized enthusiastically pitched in with a huge truckload of demo bikes for the kids to try out, and 3 World Champions on loan. Hence “Riding with the Champions.” Ned Overend, Rebecca Rusch and myself.
The kids could [...]

Frank checking tire pressure, Chris and Mike coming back from checking out the rocks, and me snacking on a peanutbutterbanana
This was the 2nd and last day of tire testing. We also looked into trail side tire fixing:

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 [...]

XTERRA South Africa
If you dont know it yet, I LOVE 29ers!   (29er = Big wheels)
- Handles rocky, sandy, bumpy terrain better than 26inch.
-Larger contact patch= better traction.
- More comfortable.
- Better rolling.
- Keeps momentum.
Sure, the bike weighs a bit more, but we’re* working on it…
* Specialized.
My dad, (also 6ft3) has this saying- “A good [...]

For those who dont read Afrikaans so well- shame on you! Just kidding. It says here: Gert Stoltz won the Grand Masters (60+) agegroup at the recent 40km Sabie Classic mountain bike race. He beat the 2nd placed guy by 6 minutes!
Obviously he rides the fastest bike out there, (one of my old S works [...]

Spot the Caveman? (In Specialized’s all red.) Nervously peering around the pack on the far left.  Typical triathlete, I distrust all forms of pack riding. I like to blaze the open road/trail, pick my own lines, and set my own pace. Here, (on the 1st few kms of open roads) busy little 18 year olds [...]