Posts Tagged ‘Shonny Vanlandingham’
Won XTERRA Las Vegas
Its always good to start the season with a win. Even though Josiah Middaugh made my job a lot easier by flatting when he poached my line…
More complete post later. Click here for XTERRA report and complete results.
I got the job done on the bike- this moon landscape course is very particular- there were lots of crashes and flat tires. I had my Specialized Epic Sworks’ Brain suspension set up super plush and could safely (well, kind of) power through the rough stuff – Caveman style.
I know its last years’ World Champs race kit ,(2010 kit is in the mail) but check out my new flash Green and Gold (Springbok) Oakley Radars!
Congrats to fellow Avia racer Shonny Vanlandingham for kicking off the XTERRA season with a bang, Raynard Tissink (we raced each other as juniors) won Ironman South Africa, And Burry Stander got 3rd at the 1st UCI World Cup
XTERRA Richmond. PG 13- B&G- Blood and Gore
The black stuff in there is rotting steel girder and James River mud. They breed us tough in Africa…
3 minutes before the start I moved a stray swim buoy to where it should be and kicked an old, rusty steel girder lodged in the mud under water. The gash was huge and completely black with rusty steel slime. I hobbled to the waters edge and the athletes parted way in a “whooooa!”
The race was about to start any moment and I had no idea how bad the injury was. One of the age group athletes (Kristen I think) is a doctor and came over for help. She said “those are tendons”, but they dont seems damaged as I could move my toes.
I somehow thrive on hardship and said: “I’m racing” A 1st aid crew quickly put gauze over it (to keep the dirt in?) and wound Ceran wrap around it.
A fellow pro yelled at me- “Race starts in 1 minute”. Fortunately there wasnt any time to think- the gun went and within a few minutes minutes so did the ceran wrap. Thats when it started hurting. Skin flapping around and I could visualize the flithy funk of the James River in flood irrigating the rusty steel girder out of the wound. I didnt care about keeping up or reading the tricky currents- I just flailed arms and tried to keep my left foot still.
XTERRA Halloween party 2008
Kurt the Incredible Hulk Hogan and the Firefighter in clown shoes
XTERRA Snow Valley
Just a quick post. Its 1am and time for bed.
I raced the Avia XTERRA Snow Valley today. On top of a 30 hr training week it was not a cake walk, but the race went well. Felt strong all around. Also, I got to spend the weekend with the folks from my shoe sponsor Avia: Ed, Ike, Kenny Souza and fellow pro Shonny Vanlandingham. Shonny continues to improve at XTERRA and won the womens race and got 3rd overall. She almost “chicked” James Walsh from Mud, Sweat and Beers fame. But then he spent all day moving yesterday, and all I can say is “dude, I know your pain.” (See next blog.)
I am absolutely honored to be helping in the design of an Avia trail racing shoe. Today I tested a new sole pattern and the loose, sandy conditions here was a perfect test. We are hell bent on building a race winning shoe, so expect something light, fast and flashy. The shoe may even bear my name. W O W.
Ed in the “Victory or death*” shirt. Me with the silly grin. Ed’s wheels- the green ones. My wheels- the silver 29er. Specialized Stumpjumper.
