XTERRA East Champs apparently started off pretty normal- except for wetsuits and big water drops falling from the sky.

The thunderstorms overnight made these exquisite trails (thanks to BUMP) quite slick. Almost like this:

But not quite.                                                                                                                                     Pic by Michal Cerveny

Although the slippery roots, wooden bridges and rocks caused quite a lot of this:

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After racing the Short Track and XC at the Sea Otter Festival, we “lived” in Morgan Hill for nearly 2 weeks. I spent some valuable time at the Specialized HQ and the training was great.

The cut on my hand was healing well, Princess Hotstuff took out the stitches with nail clippers after 10 days, but 1) I didnt swim at all since my crash at XTERRA Vegas 2 weeks ago. (click if you are curious and have a strong constitution) and 2) the inside of the hand does NOT feel good at all. Testing mountain bikes was super painful and I could only do the rock section 2x per day.

Caveman Specialized SHIV on its home ground in Morgan Hill, CA.

As you can see from the pic above, the road riding in rural California is stunning, and my hand needed respite from the jarring, and I needed to get used to riding upside down on a flat bike again.

Motor pacing behind Princess Hotstuff on the Specialized Turbo. This electric bike is WILD! It goes 30mi/h pretty comfortably, and beats most cars of the line at robots. (South African for “traffic lights”) But if you want to go over 50km/h (about 33mi), you’re on your own…

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XTERRA Las Vegas started off pretty normal- Christine Jeffrey chicked us all, then the 3 usual supects beached – Craig Evans, Brandan Rakita and myself. Josiah fell asleep somewhere in the swim and lost 2.30- more than usual for him.

When I still thought riding no gloves is OK… I started racing (only racing) without gloves- to save time. The new Specialized lock on grips at so sticky- I figured I dont need gloves for grip. And even though I always encourage people to wear gloves all the time- in case of a crash- I thought it I crash, I’ll just take it like a man…

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I’ve been dreading to write this race report, but I feel I have to put the facts out there, so here goes:

The abbreviated version:

– The course was great.

– Richard Murray is the real deal. Helmets off to a gutsy, fearless win. Cant wait for a rematch!

– I slightly overcooked my Abu Dhabi Triathlon (report in next blog) prep and came into this race luke warm.

– I ran slightly off course and got disqualified.

It worked like so:

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