Category: Equipment
Specialized Trivent TERRA shoe for quick XTERRA transitions
Quick transitions are crucial in triathlon. Flying through T1 takes practice and the right equipment: The
Specialized Trivent TERRA shoe is custom made for XTERRA. In fact, I like them so much, its my everyday training shoe- road or mountain.
A clever story about a flat tire, Caveman teeth and ingenuity.
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 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…
Sea Otter Cycling Classic. I finished 8th in the pro Cross Country.
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 29er. Lene finished 2nd in the XC and won the ladies’ Omnium. A great start for the season. Burry had a head cold from the previous day and saved it for this coming weeks World Cup in Germany.
I had a close sprint finish with Jeremiah Bishop for 7th. A lot of fun. Quite surprised at my results. (16th in short track and 8th in XC)
I was stoked to be “randomly selected” for UCI drug testing. (Photos below) The 180bs triathlete tearing it up at XC? Of course he needs testing!
More stories shortly.
Looking forward to a good XTERRA season.
Here are some slides: Go to flickr.com to see the pictures titles.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Specialized tire testing video on i-am-specialized
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 Rocket fizzled and died, now I have a 95 Toyota Previa- I like last centuries’ cars)
Of course there is training too.
And the 112 unread emails! As I plowed through most of them this morning I bumped into this great video for our Specialized Tire testing camp in Stellenbosch, South Africa earlier this ye
Specialized tire testing II
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 know we have great tread patterns in the Fast Trak LK and The Captain, its a matter of making a strong, light, flexible casing. With an emphisis on STRONG.
Yesterday we tested rolling resistance of the 5 prototypes and also a few competitors’ tires. First I rode the rollers with a Power Tap and took Wattage outputs at 25km/h and 35km/h. Some tires needed 560 Watts to go 35km/h, and with the cold legs, the unfamiliar rollers, and keeping the speed at exactly 35 at 1500m altitude took some huffing and puffing!
