Category: Balega
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.
We started in groups of 4. I’m on the red and black Honda. (Yes, the guy in the back!) The guy next to me on the far right, Willie “die Lem” (The Blade) won, and I finished 2nd. The guy on his back wheel crashed about half way through while in 2nd. He had a 2 inch thorn in the back of his hand- not sure if that’s CAUSED the crash or if it was BECAUSE of the crash.
I did my 1st Enduro dirt bike race today. Wow, what an experience! I grew op riding dirt bikes on our farm, but when I turned 16, and became really serious about triathlon, I sold the bike. (Also needed the money to buy a “faster” bicycle.) So the last 18 years I told myself “the day I retire from triathlon racing, I’ll buy a dirt bike again. But last year, after winning Xterra World champs, I thought: “Screw it, I cant wait anymore! You only live once.” I bought the perfect bike: a 2005 Honda CRF 450 X. The previous owner rode it a few times, crashed really hard, got scared and became a motivated seller….
The Running Event 2008. The Balega story
The Balega booth was located front row center. Pretty much the same place they have in the specialty running industry. The poster was shot on top of Paarl Rock near Stellenbosch.