After 10 months of focused training where every session and equipment choice was geared towards winning XTERRAs, it is fun to to try some of the other bikes in the garage.

I’ve had this S-works Enduro for 2 years now, but until a few weeks ago, it had less than 5 hrs on it. Most of them my friend Mark DeJohn put on it.

Finally it was my turn to ride for no other reason than having fun. And trying fun bikes and toys!

I pimped my 27 lbs, 6′ travel carbon Specialized Enduro with one of my favourite Specialized products- the Command Post telescopic seat post with bar mounted lock out. A must for any trail bike. In fact, I use it on my XC bikes too- With the push of a lever I can lower my centre of gravity by 2 or 4 inches and rail corners, hit water bars at high speed or do steep drop offs which would usually send me cart wheeling over the bars. At 6ft3 with long legs and a short body, the steep down stuff used to be my Achilles’ heel.

Another product I have been trying are these Specialized Body Geometry grips. Usually these flared grips come on touring bikes, and I was a little apprehensive about putting them on a trail bike. My dad taught me never to judge a sausage by its skin, and was I wrong about these Winged Wonders as I call them now.

Before I go into why I like them, some background: A few days ago I did my first Hare Scramble dirt bike race. (I was 128th in the Sportsman Class C race. My lap times were  almost 10 mins slower than the fast Class B riders! I rode 24min laps and they 16 mins a lap.  At last, a sport I really suck at!) My KTM 450 and I were covered in mud and my hands were covered in blisters.  The next 2 days I had to cut a tree and move a vast amount of dirt from our new homes’ back yard. Swinging the pick axe and wielding the shovel and chain saw put more blisters in the few places I didnt have blisters already. So when I went on this ride my hands were raw like 2 fillet steaks.

I rode Reno’s new Halo Trail. Its 2 hrs of low speed rocks and chop. This was my first ride with these grips and immediately I noticed:

– Comfort. The “wings” fit nicely in the palms of your hands, distributing the weight over a larger surface. I can see this being a great benefit during long rides and stage races. Or when your hands are covered in blisters…

–Control. This one I didnt expect at all. And is the main reason I’ll probably race these grips in 2010. Once I started rocking and rolling over rock jumps and through loose corners I was amazed at the increased amount  of control I had on the bike. Not only does your palms have much more contact with the grip, but your fingers has amazing leverage underneath the bar. Very handy for lifting the back end of the bike like bunny hopping, jumping and cornering.

Word is the Specialized engineers are working on a light XC race version….