XTERRA World Champs 2010- Race report

I have never felt so emotional at a finish line before.

To understand the significance of this win, you have to walk the last 10 XTERRA Worlds years in my shoes:

My 1st win in 2001 was really a life changing experience– Not only did I discover and win this amazing XTERRA thing on a beautiful Hawaiian island, but I became a real, professional triathlete. Ned Overend liked what he saw during the season and gave me a brand new Specialized dual suspension bike the week before Worlds- FOR FREE ek se^! No more borrowing bikes! Overnight, I actually made money from the sport. Good money. (in my eyes anyway) It was my 10th season as a pro, but I still lived pretty much hand to mouth up until then. (Lived with my parents while in South Africa, drove my dads old Cressida etc) But the day after the race I signed with an agent (Scott Fairchild) and within weeks the space on my kit was sold out. (In fact, they asked me to wear jammers instead of speedos, “because we’ll have more space to sell.” I think they were just relieved to get me out of Speedos…

The 2nd win (2002) was were a mixture of relief (made a lot of mistakes on the bike leg and had a 2 year winning streak going) and an attitude of: “Hey, me winning every year, that’s how its going to be. I’ll win 5 in a row.” Fate and Madame Pele (Hawaiian Island Lava Queen) does not tolerate arrogance and punished me mercilessly.

In 2003 I had 5 flats. I had a good lead till the 2nd flat hit. Steve Larsen flew by first, Peter Reid threw me his pump and I had to tube it. Once you’re rolling on tubes in Maui, its game over…

2004 was the Olympic year, and that season I threw away myself. I was dead set on (all in one year) race XTERRA, Non drafting races in the USA and ITU. (Which culminated in the Olympics, but had crazy points chasing and world traveling that lead up to that) I started racing for Olympic qualification in January, and raced 10 months non stop. Of course, I wasnt good at anything that year. At XTERRA Worlds I was struggling in 3rd on the bike leg when I clipped a rock and smashed the pedal, but honestly, winning form was not there.

In 2005 I had “a bad girlfriend” like Kahuna Dave would joke. But actually that one I lost all by myself too. (Got 8th on my birthday) The periodization of my training was off, and by the time Worlds rolled around, I was completely over triathlon and was very enthusiastic about renovating my condo.

2006, the day before USA Champs, I crashed at high speed (while marveling at the deep blue expanse of Lake Tahoe) and broke my back and my wrist in 7 places. No Worlds that year. Only expensive surgery, plates, 12 screws and a back brace for 3 months. I lost a lot of sponsorship and considered getting a real job, which actually remunerates hard work as opposed to this glorified gambling game called “professional racing”. But the loss of sponsorships turned into a gain of new friendships- Balega (Falke in SA) showed the spirit of Ubuntu they are known for and offered to support me fully if I was willing and able to come back in 2007…

In 2007 I was willing and able and made an almost fairy tale come-back and won every XTERRA I did. Including Worlds. It was quite an experience and quite a story. I’ll never forget those guys. They saved my career and spared me the 9-5 rat race.

2008 was a bad year for tyres. I flatted more times than I’d like to admit – almost exclusively during races. It was really frustrating. XTERRA Worlds in Maui is infamous for its sharp lava rock and merciless Kiawe thorns, which would feel perfectly at home in the African bushveld. Before Worlds I tested tyres like a madman- I pounded screws into them and hit every rock on “the mainland” in the name of testing. Race day I was ready  and went with land mine proof tyres, almost completely filled with a goopy mix of Slime and Stans, but managed to tear them up while sitting on a nice 2 minute lead with only a few kms to go. And a 4th World title…

In 2009 I had custom made “Caveman Proof” tyres but sadly, the form was lacking.(I finished 5th) But then I consider myself lucky just have 2 feet to have lacking form on… I just about lost my foot to infection after I sliced it open in the river swim at XTERRA Richmond. (Still won the race- bleeding everywhere- Caveman style)  So at the end of June (middle of the US season) I had 2 surgeries, serious deep cleaning and 14 stitches.

In July 2010 the long awaited (for me anyway) Specialized 29er Epic arrived. I have been so passionate about racing on 29inch wheels for a number of years now, it was great to finally have the Sworks (top of the line) dual suspension bike. Frankly, the 29er Epic blew all my expectations of a race bike out of the water- the engineers at Specialized really are genius.

Honestly, I was lucky to have been able to win all my US XTERRAs this year. Because if the infection and surgery to my foot last year, I ended up with some bad injuries (Achilles being the worst) due to compensation. After hobbling through 2009 Worlds, I didnt run all of Nov, Dec, January and most of February. My 1st run was 8 min, 2 days later it was 10min, 2 days later was 12min, I was about to go mad with frustration. So by the time I did my 1st 40min run pain free, I was so stoked, I took my kit off and ran dressed only in shoes, streaking through the sprayers every now and then. (Was under a full moon (excuse the pun) on the Stellenbosch sports fields)

At XTERRA Alabama I stepped in a hole and pulled the ligaments down the front of my foot. I had to keep racing on it the next week in Richmond and tried to do some training and of course, shortly thereafter I had a bad calf injury- and didnt run from July to late August. Like I said, I was lucky with the timing, as July and August I didnt have any races, and fortunately, my run form came around just in time for USA Champs, early Oct.

Ian Rodger, my coach from Cape Town was instrumental in my success. We’ve been working for a year now and to make up for the lack of run training we did some serious biking. Its the 1st time I train on power, and I have to say in hind sight, Ian is a genius. His ability to look at the Watts I did on one ride and fine tune the next ride, and work it all into the big picture was quite uncanny. The big picture, was not only training around the injuries, but also a 6 month long racing season with some MTB races (Sea Otter and Argus MTB) and a lot of travel thrown in. Our goal was to do 450 or 460W for 50min at Maui Worlds. When I hit those numbers in the last few training sessions before Worlds I knew the game was on. (Havent downloaded the last 2 files yet, would be cool se see them, as I think I blew the doors off the last one.)

Finally doing my Avia AVI STOLTZ shoes justice!

Race day itself was just perfect. I wasn’t late for the start, (my usual stunt) my 7km a week swim programme by Captonian Mikael Mendonca worked great- I was out 4th and once I got on the bike I was already in the lead and just let the big wheels roll. I looked around after a few minutes and the guys were on the ropes already- when I hit the lava rocks the gap grew quickly. When I heard a 4min split at the 1st aid station I knew I had a special kind of tiger in the tank, which is a nice thought to have in your head when grinding up over 1200m of climbing in that heat and humidity. Once I hit The Plunge high speed down hill, the TV chopper hovered low overhead, I let it all hang out, but enough to keep the sky in the bands (Souf Effrican for “air in the tyres”) and not overshoot the last corner on TV like 09.

Dear sponsors: I’m sorry about the open jersey. With this kind of heat and humidity, ventilation and winning comes 1st. The pix with the jersey zipped up, was when I knew I had it in the bag.

Yup, its a lot of climbing and once at the top you have to hocus pocus, keep the focus- no looking at the views.

Benno Willeit, our Specialized Factory Team mechanic and On Road Manager attended his 1st XTERRA, (and IM Kona) and I have to say Benno’s help was key to me being calm and collected on race morning. No more Caveman moves like the time I straightened a cassette cog with a bottle opener and a piece of lava rock the night before Worlds. My bike was brand new every time I threw a leg over. Benno even polished the tires every day with a product called “Son of a Gun…”

(Here Benno has a face full of Stans sealant and was deaf for a while after one of my 1st 29er tires blew off the rim in his face back in 2006/7)

Makena Beach never felt so good. Actually, I got there exactly at low tide, and for once, the sand was hard. The age groupers had it soft again…

Sweetest 29er of them all- Specialized Epic 29er– 10kg, 22lbs stock standard except for the tires. (more in a later post) None of the Euros had 29er wheels, I wonder what T1 will look like next year. Shonny won on a 29er too… Also Specialized custom Trivent shoes with MTB sole, (which I customized further with a big drill for air and water flow) frozen water behind seat, (alu foil Caveman cover to keep it frozen) bomb proof LOOK Quartz pedals, Titec carbon bar, stem & bar ends, 4 Clif shots taped to down tube. 2 Espresso, 2 Vanilla, Oakley Radar XL shades to keep the lava out

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I hit T2 with a 5min lead and started celebrating already. Not even Jan Frodeno can make that kind of time on this run. Trying to stay cool in the oppressive heat, I ran tempo. And just when I thought, surely, I must be losing time, I got a 6.15 split at about 6km. For once, Makena Beach was a treat. Getting my shoes wet was fun. I didnt mind the thick sand on Black Sand Beach.  Flying the South African flag, and being the only person to have 4 XTERRA World titles (3 others have 3) is truly amazing.  Having such a comfortable win is a real treat and I made sure to live the experience as much as I could.  I saved it to the memory bank. I thought of my dad whom I did my 2nd triathlon with back in ’88, now sick with cancer, my mom who has been super supportive thought my career (let me skip Sunday School for age 8 and under BMX racing at Back Of the Moon), I thought of my poor genius coach Ian, (“poor” because he likes stressing and is a hypochondriac on my behalf, and “genius” speaks for itself) those special friends, (you know who you are) XTERRA family, sponsors  and a surprising number of people who truly share a piece of my winning experience. This win is for them/us. Call it “the Ubuntu* Win” if you want.  *Ubuntu  A Zulu saying– “I am what I am because of who we all are.”

37 and faster than ever. It feels amazing. I’ll be back for #5

Shonny Vanlandingham, an amazing ambassador for humankind, (never mind XTERRA/sport) won her 1st XTERRA World title after some hard luck of her own the last 2 years, this victory  must be especially sweet. No wonder I’m grinning so hard, I can’t see out my eyes…

Mens’ podium from XterraPlanet.com:

   1  Stoltz, Conrad                 5     Pro Stellenbosch, South Africa       :19:48    7   :00:55  1:23:48    1   :00:56  0:45:40   10  02:31:07    1
   2  Batelier, Franky               6     Pro Rouen, France                    :20:01   13   :00:52  1:30:09    3   :00:45  0:44:27    4  02:36:14    2
   3  Weiss, Michael                 3     Pro Gumpoldskichen, Austria          :20:46   29   :01:07  1:29:08    2   :00:57  0:44:47    6  02:36:45    3
   4  Marceau, Olivier               4     Pro Vallavris, Switzerland           :19:43    5   :01:05  1:31:30    6   :00:55  0:44:34    5  02:37:47    4
   5  Lebrun, Nicholas               2     Pro Estoublon, France                :21:33   46   :01:03  1:31:19    5   :00:54  0:44:01    1  02:38:50    5
   6  Llanos, Eneko                  1     Pro Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain           :19:51    8   :00:59  1:33:15    9   :00:52  0:45:47   11  02:40:44    6
   7  Ussher, Richard               10     Pro Nelson, New Zealand              :21:40   50   :01:30  1:32:48    7   :00:52  0:44:13    3  02:41:03    7
   8  Schumann, Felix                7     Pro Tuebingen, Germany               :20:07   17   :01:04  1:34:07   11   :01:09  0:45:04    7  02:41:31    8
   9  Vine, Mike                    11     Pro Edmonton, Canada                 :20:58   33   :01:06  1:33:12    8   :01:07  0:45:30    8  02:41:53    9
  10  Thijs, Jim                    43     Pro Huldenberg, VL.B                 :20:30   23   :00:48  1:35:09   15   :00:48  0:46:11   15  02:43:26    10

The overladen TV motorcycle’s mix of dust and 2 stroke fumes following me kept reminding me of the upcoming bike trips with my dad at home…

My dad at home. We just washed our bikes today…