This is where it all happens:

Specialized head office in Morgan Hill, California

When it snows outside, you have to stay sane somehow!

For the past 11 years, Friday is my day off. Usually I’m quite broken by then and I’ll be dragging most of Friday- till energy slowly returns in the late afternoon. I try to use the rest day to catch up on admin, get a massage, run errands, work on my bike, dress normally (ie not lycra) and importantly- do something really fun. Like taking the new puppy (KTM 450 exc) for a spin in the snow!

Of course I justify it as “skills training…”  I found the dirt bike makes you concentrate 110% all the time. If you dont- you’ll get really hurt, really quickly. I treat this thing with more respect than a loaded gun. With XTERRA racing, you only have to concentrate (even with lactate coming out of your ears) during parts of the race. Single track, technical run sections, turn buoys in the swim… The rest of the time you just take the hurt while your brain freewheels. Mine anyway.

Apart from the mental training it really makes me feel alive. My cousin Johan has a KTM 360 – a gnarly 2 stroke beast- and Johan is only 130lbs and cant reach the ground! He did his PhD on blood parasites on reptiles- (ie catching snakes all day) a hard job. When he gets frustrated, he takes his KTM out and thrashes it- even if its just up and down the track – and comes back with a big smile and pressing with his forefinger on his chest, say: “it feels like my “refresh button” has been pressed!”

Ice Head pressing his “refresh button…”

Flowery run by Gary Perkin- Official UCI and Specialized shooter . www. flipper.co.za These pics are most definitely copyrighted.

Them dere are the AVIA Avi STOLTZ trail shoes. Super excited! They hit the shelves this past week. Also, Balega, the #1 sport sock out there.

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.

Bobby Behan, car fanatic and Specialized Factory Racing team manager with Mike Sinyards’ Mini Cooper Works.

Todd Wells won today’s Sea Otter Short Track on his new Specialized 29er hard tail (20lbs)- Burry Stander got 2nd, Lene Byberg got 2nd in the ladies and Sam Hill won the Down Hill.

In the short trak the guys dominated, turned the screws and about halfway into the race, Susi, Burry and Todd had broken away, but Susi burped a tire and the other two painted the podium red. Quite a day for Specialized and I was really proud to be part of the team.

I really enjoyed my 2nd short track (the other was 5 years ago and had about 25 riders!) and was in about 13th place out of 130 starters when our little group got pulled off the course with 1 lap to go. Once I caught my breath though, it felt like someone poured gasoline into my lungs! With a bit more sprint and AT training I’ll be able to hang in and hopefully get to do a few more of these races.

Burry (in the green Oakleys) & Todd pre-riding the XC course. The leg and arm warmers are not so much for the bite in the air as the bite in the Poison Oak!