Please vote (or not) for me under The Evox Advanced Nutrition Best Sports Blog and The Ogilvy Twitter Microblogger of the Year.

Amber on day 5 of Trans Rockies Run. Broken(?) hand, cut knee and “crazy socks.” (and Avia AVI Stoltz trail racing shoes ) Too bad the event was “too short - really got going after 3 days…”

GORE -TEX Trans Rockies run. 6 Days, 120 miles, 25 000ft of climbing, 200 2 person teams. Amber and XTERRA dude Will Kelsay teamed up under the Timex Multisport Team banner and competed in the Open mixed team category.(Visit Will’s excellent blog)

They were going great, sitting in around 5th position up to day 4, when Will got sick. He decided to keep going, (naughty naughty) but a dozen of miles into stage 5, he had to quit when his body shut down. Not after being towed by Amber- creating Facebook fodder for life…

Will and XTERRA age goup World Champ Matt Boobar did the 7 day Trans Rockies Mountain bike race the week before, where they placed 5th overall. No one has succeeded in finishing both events back to back. Next year Will!

Amber carried on and finished solo. Here is an article they wrote on Amber called “The Toughest Racer” where the author calls her  “Tough Chick.”

Will and Amber getting the tow bungee ready.

Oops. Sport is the big equalizer and one has to be able to leave your ego at the start line… (Will had been towing Amber all week)

“Tough Chick” just got tougher.  She fell on stage 2, injuring her hand and “destroying an $80 pair of compression tights”.  Spent a few hours in ER and still dont know if the hand is cracked…

Amber icing her legs. The cold water helps recovery and killing of brain cells…

Cozy accommodations, Cape Epic style

Rabbit food

Out in the sticks, charging your device is a big deal.

This morning I accidentally spotted a @Stuffitts Tweet. Mike has been a busy man, he edited and managed to create a coherent video clip from the couple of hours we chatted at the Oak Mountain State Park.

Considering I literally ran away from my 1st TV interview when I was 17, I think I’ve come a long way in terms of my relationship with the cold lens. Of course, after years of practice, I now speak English much more deliciously…

Here I briefly show the Avia AVI Stoltz trail racing shoe and of course, a Stuffitts demonstration.

(There is more, but I couldnt screen shoot the whole thing- was born in the 70s)

These Specialized Captain 2.00 tires  clogged with mud at XTERRA Vermont in 2009 (Read more about the race, rotten foot and tire story here)  Not knowing Vermont, I didnt bring real mud tires, so I had to make do, so I used a sharp wire cutter and clipped every 2nd knob out of the center line of knobs. Which would help the mud shed (fling off) the tire easier when speed increase.

Real mud tires are narrow (sinks to the bottom of the mud where the real traction is) with few, but tall knobs. Tall knobs provide more grip (like paddles or spikes) and few because, too many knobs will let the mud pack onto the tire  and make a thick sausage like the pic above.

Downhill racers are famous for cutting tires to suit certain courses.

Off course, a rainy pre race taper allows for plenty of cutting time, so here is my product. Cant see on the pic, I clipped every 2nd knob out of the center row  of this Specialized Captain for better mud clearing.

Of course, its a tedious job, it takes seemingly hours and 1 slight mishap and you can throw the tire in the garbage.

Before the new fast rolling  Specialized Renegade  tire the Specialized Factory Team (especially Susi and Burry) used to cut the Fast Trak knobs shorter for less rolling. (and less stopping/cornering ) But now they’d cut Fast Trak tires for more grip on somewhat muddy courses. If it gets real muddy, they’ll go with a full on mud tire. Except Burry. He just sticks to low knobs and goes with the sliding- I saw it 1st hand at Sani2C…

Conrad Stoltz XTERRA World Champs

BTW, if your Portuguese is a bit rusty, copy and paste the text into GoogleTranslate.

A partir de hoje o Espírito Outdoor fará uma série de artigos dedicados ao Xterra. Serão entrevistas, dicas e curiosidades. E para abrir a série nada melhor do que Conrad Stoltz.

Se o Xterra tivesse um embaixador, provavelmente ele seria o sul-africano Conrad Stoltz, 3 vezes campeão mundial de Xterra. O atleta também conhecido como Caveman (homem das cavernas em inglês) falou em sua entrevista, exclusiva para o Espírito Outdoor, do seu início no esporte, seu treinamento, a construção da sua piscina na África do Sul (uma história engraçadíssima que será pauta de um artigo semana que vem) e seu papel no desenvolvimento de novos produtos esportivos junto a Specialized e AVIA seus patrocinadores.

Espírito Outdoor: Quanto tempo faz que você corre XTERRAs?

Conrad Stoltz: Eu comecei a participar de XTERRAs em 2001. Mas fiz meu primeiro triathlon quando eu tinha apenas 14 anos.

Click here for the rest of the interview with Esprito Outdoor

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 just put in a tube. Of course it flatted. I changed the tube. It deflated faster than I could pump. Before putting our last tube in I carefully inspected for sharp objects.

It also deflated faster than what I could pump.

We still had a lot of riding to do and I wasnt going to call it quits.

I was going to make that tire tubeless again- no matter what!

First I used a bottle cap to scoop the sealant from the healthy front tire and put it in the rear. With the 2 huge holes.

Hoping the front tire seals up, (since I took out almost all the sealant) I poured energy drink in the tire…

Dan had one tire plug. (used to plug small holes in tubeless tires) We cut the plug in half and hoped the 2 small plugs would seal 2 big holes. Of course they didnt. So I took left over electrical tape, wound it into rope and plugged the hole. Like so:

You may also wonder what I did to get a tubeless valve. Thats easy, I used my Caveman teeth and chewed the valve stem out of a ruined tube…

Electrical tape instead of shop bought tire plug and the wounded tube with the valve was chewed out…

Sidewall punctures are notoriously hard to seal and despite the 1/2 tire plug, rolled up electrical tape and energy drink mixed with Slime and Stans it still kept leaking.

That is where the Boer* came out of the Caveman. In South Africa we say:  “a Boer makes a plan” so I wound a tube tightly around the tire, covering the 2 holes.

* “Boer” is an Afrikaaner or farmer from South Africa- famous (0r infamous?) for being able to make something out of nothing- using only baling wire and a pair of pliers. Or Duck Tape and an iPhone cord these days…

Winding tube around leaky tire…

To anchor the loose end, I tied it around the hub and got immense pleasure from cutting the left over tube off with the razor sharp brake rotor. (Usually reserved for cutting your fingers with) Instead of using my teeth again… (the rubber leaves a funny taste in your mouth)

With this clever trick, the more air pressure you put in, the better the system works.

In fact it worked so well, we finished our 5hr ride, which included a coffee and cake stop at The Crossroads cafe, right on the course.

Rear wheel good was new. No, BETTER than new!

The soft tube rubber offers such great traction on these wet, rooty surfaces that at the next Specialized tire testing I’ll suggest we cover the tire with a layer of tube for extra traction.

In fact, I think I should apply for a position at Specialized engineering…

The next day the tire was still 100%!

4 Responses to “A clever story about a flat, Caveman teeth and ingenuity”

1. patrickdegoede Says:
   June 13th, 2009 at 9:45 am e:mrgreen:Reading the stuff you pull off never ceases to amaze our entire shop staff, especially the mechanics!! Greetings from a cold Namibia..
2. gmandy Says:
   June 13th, 2009 at 5:38 pm eUnreal!
3. ZimRor Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 9:24 pm eYou can take the dutchman out of South Africa but you can never take the “make a plan” out of him…….
4. mforty Says:
   June 16th, 2009 at 6:31 pm eYou are THE man… Caveman MacGyver..

   Great job in Richmond!

Coach Ian Rodger cooked up this session:

Workout: 8×5min hills at 440-450 W.

Actually it was 10 reps, but it was 93Deg F (34C) and 1500m altitude (5000ft) - instead of the 1100m (3500ft) where I was supposed to do this session- always leave a rep or 2 in the tank- didnt want to blow a gasket.

Seriously Bobby, you need 8 tooth cleaning tools? (ok 4, if you dont count the ones in the mirror)

On a recent trip to Keystone Colorado for the Specialized 2011 product launch, I shared a room Specialized Team Manager, Bobby Behan, who is a very very organized guy. (“like, you know”- Irish accent) When on the road, he always completely unpacks his whole bag right away- even if its just a 1 night stay. He neatly lines all his shoes in a row, all his watches in a row and his training clothing goes neatly in Specialized bags- lined up according the temperature rating.

Sharing the “road” with other athletes is always a trip. Jamie Whitmore had a pre-race ritual which led her to travel the globe with a her waffle iron and special waffle mix…

Breakfasting with the Specialized Factory Team is quite an experience in itself.

Being the Caveman/African/Triathlete, I eat whatever the establishment offers: Farmhouse breakfast (eggs AND Boerewors (serious SA sausage) AND grilled onions & tomatoes AND toast- and that’s the starter) in Stellenbosch, or Tater tots and eggs from a cardboard box in Monterrey, California. Whatever they offer, I eat. Except bad coffee…

Christoph Sauser and Lene Byberg (the two most notable bag bringers) brings brown shopping bags to breakfast- containing their own goodies. Sometimes all Christoph will use from the establishment is the cutlery and hot water. That magical bag contains special hot chocolate, special cereal, tea, coffee and brewer- the works. Its always interesting watching what comes out of the bag. Maybe this quirk also explains the fact that these 2 riders are also the best on the team…

Raynard Tissink- whom I’ve raced since 1989 or ‘90- brings his whole family to races.Wonder if he still brings his roller blades?

You’ll never get tired of athletes’ quirks- I’ll keep my eyes open and expand on this topic when I have more material…

In the meantime, here is the Caveman’s Beauty kit.

Amber’s comment: “Just think, you could be as beautiful as Bobby with a Beauty Kit like his.”

Now, I think the winning beauty kit out there has got to be Dan Hugo’s. I caught a glimpse of it once, and it was impressive. There was a cream for each body part, and I’m quite sure, unlike the Caveman, he doesnt consider “greasy fingers from BBQ”, to be a skin moisturizer…

Thanks for the good times and good memories!