I’m very happy to announce a brand, spankin’ new title sponsor. Balega makes 1st class sports socks. Balega is a South African/American initiative- like me. Balega is a Zulu word, which means “to move with speed”. Sound familiar?

Balega socks www.balegasports.com

“Caveman” and “Specialized” has become synonymous with winning races, hanging it all out on the downhills and crushing everyone on the bike. This year I strive to build forth on the tradition…

Specialized bicycles www.specialized.com

Say Clif Bar and I think: “Healthy, Organic, Tasty, a wiiiide range of products, a company that gives back to community and the environment, Gary Ericsons amazing story (read Raising the Bar) and damn! those minty Builder Bars! ”

Clif Bar www.clifbar.com

Oakley, my oldest and most faithful sponsor. 12 years. Through World Titles and bone crushing injuries, they have never waivered in their belief in me. Dankie manne.

Oakley sunglasses www.oakley.com

An old friend, but new sponsor: XTERRA Gear- sport the trendy logo proudly. Quality casual and technical wear from top to toe. Even sunscreen. Order online, but even better- come get yours at your local XTERRA race village. You may even bump into a caveman…

XTERRA Gear www.xterragear.com

Spur, real food made real good. Spur Adventure Series multisport races across South Africa promotes sport and healthy eating amoungst young people and raises money for charity. (School Feeding Programme) It’s great to be part of this worthy cause. I will be teamed with a young development athlete at the Durban and Cape Town races.

Spur Steak Ranches www.spur.co.za

I’m sitting here in a coffee shop in Stellenbosch and may be the only person in Africa wearing the crazy Brooks Cascadia 2 trail running shoe. http://brooksrunning.com/prod.php?k=23660&p=BSI41196 I still have to put them through their paces, as I have only received the box this week, but will keep you posted on its performance. Getting me funny looks here anyway…

Brooks www.brooksrunning.com

When it comes to bike parts, I dont skimp on quality. My riding style (I take the fast lines, not the pretty ones) requires the best suspension. I’m astride the right stuff. Trust me, its proven. Even in Darkest Africa.

Rockshox, SRAM, Avid, Truvative www.sram.com/en/rockshox/

Aerobars galore. Carbon bling bling: Profile-Design www.profile-design.com

Titec. Top Top Top mountain bike bars, stems and posts. www.titec.com
These puppies put new definition to pedaling a bike. Better kept quiet.

PowerCranks www.powercranks.com

Zipp wheels www.zipp.com Gotta love those 808s!

Squirt lube, a South African product, is a special compound of wax and water, (imagine!) and keeps your chain cleaner and better lubricated than any other product I have tried. www.squirtlube.com

Zoot wetsuits www.zootsports.com is new. Looking forward to trying that Zenith.

The best way to get 2 bikes and 100lbs of equipment safely from USA to Africa: TriAll3 bike box www.triall3sports.com

Let the games begin!

The Caveman

I retreated to my parents farm on the Mpumalanga escarpment. That’s in South Africa.

After a hectic season, where I spent more time in ER than on the podium, I’m happy to say my wrist and back is all healed up. I spent 10 weeks in the bush, and the magic of living a basic lifestyle in unspoilt nature, hard manual labor, and seeing the satisfying results thereof has been life changing. (Seeing benefits from work doesn’t always happen in the sports arena)

Been doodling with training a little bit and am feeling strong for an unfit guy.

What I did in my off season:
– I climbed the highest mountain on my farm in Africa. Ok, bundu bashed by 4×4 part of the way.

-I built a house: (Ok helped build a house- but have hand and tractor seat calluses to prove) I was CEO of Project Management, Head Tractor Driver. Assistant Manual Laborer , and Chief In Charge of Odd Jobs.

Wrist rehab, specially formulated, involved lots of tractor driving, shoveling building sand, crushed stone and loading and unloading 12 000 bricks.

“Painting the fence” Special training technique borrowed from The Karate Kid

Meet Jabulani. Our “little” orphan Bonsmara bull calf. My dad raised him by hand on powdered milk. With him is Bakkies, our Boerboel/Staffie puppy. The dog and the bull is the same age, and they are big mates. Jabu thinks he is a dog, he comes when you call him, and he occasionally sneaks into the sitting room. Where he has been known to leave a “gift” on occasion. Bakkies likes playing with Jabu’s ears or tail.(Read: Jumping up and biting his ears or tail and then hanging on till a kick in the ribs encourages him to let go) Typical orphan calf, he misses his mom, and fuelled by instinct, he sucks on your fingers

-I built a swimming pool. 25m long, one lane wide. Since we don’t have electricity on the farm, the irrigation furrow will run through the pool, keeping the water clean. The bottom will be black to absorb heat, with a white line on the bottom. However, I ran into some technical difficulties somewhere between pouring the foundation and pouring the walls with shuttering. Our road is too small and rough for a Ready Mix truck to just come in and pour concrete. So the pool is a work in progress. If anyone out there has any bright ideas (other than making it a cattle dip, or a long trampoline) Lets have it. Also, monetary contributions welcome. Never thought it would take over 180 bags of cement to build a narrow, shallow , “short course” pool! Hopefully, in the not so distant future, I’d be able to step off my stoep, into the office.

Notice the thunderstorm brewing in the distance. We had 25mm (1inch) of rain in 15 minutes, (and then some more) Almost called The Guinness Record Book for the shortest time a pool has ever been built.

-I built a road. The road is access to my farm, and wrought with difficulties. (like most things in Africa) It crosses a large irrigation furrow twice and a small raging river 3 times. There were no bridges. It is completely overgrown with thick bush- mostly of the thorny variety. I also got stuck the first time I tried to drive it!

After a long days building:

After a long days’ getting stuck!

Right now I’m on the plane to Stellenbosch, (civilization) where real training starts tomorrow. (January 11) I’m very motivated for this season and only have one goal: To win Worlds and USA Champs. Everything else is just a means of getting there.

Conrad

Sponsor: https://miestenapteekki.com/

Jingle bells
Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile lost a wheel
and the Joker got away, hey!

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