Wayward ways
August 22nd, 2008 by Conrad Stoltz
As can be seen on Ambers recent posts, our trip to XTERRA Ogden, Utah got slightly extended when Amber found this “fun 4 day mountain bike race” online. Most stages are 55 miles (88km) at 9000-11000ft above altitude. (2800-3300m) Check out American Mountain Classic in Brian Head, Utah
Here is Rebecca’s account of the weekend: Mountain Bike website
We did some great camping and bush training on the way here and now we are in Brian Head ski station. (population 135, altitude 10338ft) Where the air is rare…
They did the 6mi prologue today. Amber did great and was less than 3 min behind the fastest women. (The 1st stage doesnt count towards the rest of the race?!?) We are camping in the back-yard of the Trek Team with great XTERRA friends Brian and Jenny Smith . Squatting on the floor is another good friend and Specialized rider (also reigning 24 hr World Champ) Rebecca Rusch.
I did some riding with Specialized folk from Salt Lake City supporting the race. Richard, Josh and Chris are avid riders and I rode some of the best single track I have ever ridden. We also climbed to 3200m, and I’ll tell you chatting about wheel building and climbing a 13% grade at 3200m is NOT easy. Sunday the race will go straight up this long climb before hitting a 21mi single track down hill…
Fun times. We dont have cell phone reception here, but the Pizzeria where we had great gnocci bums Wifi from the store next door… so please be patient if you are trying to get hold of us.
Jan Frodeno in Beijing 2008
Lastly, congratulations to Jan Frodeno for winning the Gold in the Olympic Triathlon. What an amazing race. His played a perfect poker game and surely was unbeatable in the sprint. I saw Jan grow up in South Africa. (his folks live in Llundudno outside of Cape Town) He used to be more interested in surfing than triathlon, but the last few years he really improved as he is obviously very very talented. Last November I bumped into Jan in Stellenbosch- he was on his way to swim practice (I was in the middle of my 3 month holiday) and I asked him what he was training for in November. Jan said in a fake German accent: “For zie Oelympics” Well there you have it. Tons of talent, huge work ethic and fierce self belief. Good stuff bru.
I’m also very happy for long time friends (and previous medalists) Simon Whitfield and Bevan Docherty for their medals. Old men Rock! Simon was perfect tactically (for the amount of tiger he had in the tank) and Bevan is a beast all around. He raced XTERRA Worlds last year. Great people. I’m happy with the mens podium and wished i was there. Its not my game or passion anymore- I had my innings.
Missing my coach Libby, my mom and the SA team out there
One Response to “Wayward ways”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
February 19th, 2010 at 8:15 am
[...] Here is an older post on Jan [...]