Category: Equipment
Specialized takes tire testing seriously…
Here is some video of our tire testing in Stellenbosch South Africa earlier this year:
Visit Specialized Factory Racing website for more
Disaster at XTERRA Richmond 08
photo by Nils Nilsen, see Xterra gallery for more
With 2 XTERRA USA Series victories so far, I was eager to beat the rush and wrap up the USA points series early. (best 3 out of 4 Series race to count towards Series. Plus compulsory Tahoe Nationals)
The new (and only) Specialized Stumpjumper 29er built for racing.
My 29er race bike…
This puppy has been specially built for me by the engineers at Specialized. (thanks Jason!) To save weight, the BB has been replaced with a large diameter shell to fit the Specialized Carbon road cranks. (Which I’m running 2×9) And most of the paint has been left off. In my opinion, the silver looks a lot faster than the green and brown on the standard bike. (the stock bike weighs in at 28lbs) specialized.com.
This one weighs in just below 25lbs (11.3kg) (give or take- will update) vs my 26 inch Carbon Epic 23.7lb. (10.7kg) Nice.
Mount Rose highway: One of my favourite long rides…
This 4hr ride starts in Reno at 1300m altitude, climbs straight up to 2700m (takes me about 1h40 at 130 heart rate) and descends straight down to Incline Village, on the shores of Lake Tahoe. (1800m)
Fill up the bottles, (penalty points awarded for time spent off the bike) and start climbing back over. About 50minutes at 130HR. Then scream down the fun side and try to keep up with cars through the many curves on the way down.
I do this ride on my own. I get a lot of thinking and soul searching done. I think about racing, training and life. But mostly about racing. Then at times I’ll switch off and numb my brain with Battery 9’s “Oom Kosie” and others…
I’m very excited to post my 2008 race kit. As you can see, the design is the bright coloured South African flag. Which ties in nicely with the rainbow stripes of the current World Champion. A very unique look…
