Posts Tagged ‘oakley radar’
Caveman wins in mountain region of Scanno at XTERRA Italy
XTERRA Italy has the most amazing course! Parts through the old mountain town of Scanno.
To the tune of "eye of the tiger" (thanks DJ Jack!) Caveman wins XTERRA Italy by 4 minutes.
XTERRA Italy made is debut in the idyllic mountain town of Scanno, in the province of Abruzzo. In terms of the culture and Italian country side experiance, it was a real treat for Liezel and I. In terms of racing, it was a truely wonderful experience. A well rounded, tough course and exceptionally well presented by Wolf Hardt and his crew.
Love it when a plan comes together… My 3rd win in a row in my new Hoka One One Stinson shoes.
The top 6 trying to wash off the mud. (and climbing tears) L-R Jim Thijs (BEL), Francois Carloni (FRA), Nico Pfitzenmaier(GER- actually ZAR!), Caveman (ZAR), Nico Lebrun (FRA), Oliver Shaw (NZ)
This Nico Lebrun designed course is filled with nightmarish altitude gain and peril…
TriLanai- Liezel’s first triathlon! Also island paradise & holiday destination race.
Conrad & Liezel at Tri Lanai
After a lot of focus and hard work for XTERRA Worlds on Maui, Liezel and I were ready to take it SLO for a few weeks
At the very last minute we decided to do Tri Lanai and took the 40minute ferry ride from Lahaina (Maui) to the small Hawiian island of Lanai. (population 2800)
TEAM X-T.R.E.M.E – “Train, Rehabilitate, Empower, Motivate and Endure.” Jeremy Soles, a former Sgt. in the United States Marine Corps founded the Wounded Warriors team. They participate in extreme events wearing gas masks, cutting their oxygen intake to as low as 20 percent. But to some, the gas mask is the smallest of hurdle to overcome…
Cpl. Todd Love lost both legs and an arm in an explosion. The doctor wouldnt let him parachute into the XTERRA Richmond start this year, so he “just” did the swim. And then his comrades carried him for the entire bike and run legs in a specially made backpack…
Sgt. Johnathan Mozingo, also a Marine, has served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mozingo who did the bike and run legs, was wounded during his last tour in Afghanistan and lost part of his left leg below the knee.
In a gas mask at 94deg F and high humidity…
Sgt. Johnathan Mozingo
Enter the Caveman. Avia Mantis racing shoes, Oakley Radar, 8x Clif Shots, Suunto Ambit GPS, Specialized Fast Trak 2.2 Control tire, Stuffitts shoe savers, Squirt chain lube, Cool Points on ice and Luck Stone race number belt with GPS tracker for live feed. Seems quite pathetic in comparison…
Seems like there’s another knuckle dragging Cavemanoid in the James river… Turned out to be my swimming buddy Branden Rakita. (R) We trailed froth footed Craig Evans by about 45″.
Photos by Jesse Peters.
Amazing series of XTERRA fotos by Jesse Peters http://backlight.zenfolio.com
jesse@backlightdigital.com
Craig Evans carried great form (despite all the salads!) and was eager to back up his 2nd place at ITU Cross Tri Worlds 2 weeks before. However, he stuffed up a low, wood bridge crossing and ended up in the trees. Laughing, I yelled at him to “get a guide dog.” My turn at getting abuse is lurking around every corner, so you have to get it in when you can!
In the top left corner you can see some of the many Luck Stone volunteers on the course, streaming live video through the iPad and doing twitter feed. There were 4 big screens at T1 for spectators to see video footage, follow twitter and live GPS tracking of each pro athlete. Of course the feeds also went out on the interwebs so folks in South Africa could follow more “closely”.
This Richmond course is so much fun- it has become rougher than it was 2 years ago, providing a good balance of speed and skill. I think this is the epitome of XTERRA racing (now that the swim is almost 1500m) and I think everyone who loves racing XTERRA should give this one a whirl…
I used the Specialized Sworks 29er Epic with Command Post – to drop the saddle in the drop offs and hairier corners.
Tip of the month: Biting your tongue improves mental focus. Kids, dont try this at home!
There is not a lot of place for pedaling on this course, so when you can, have have to push the big thing!
Sgt Mozingo and TEAM XTREME
Yup, it takes all sorts…
Just a glimpse of the madness on that narrow rock ledge. Imagine loud bull horns, bells, cheering, beer spraying even more crazies lurking in the woods. I think the local cycling posse calls themselves the “Leghorns”.
Scenic city racing in Richmond.
One moment in the city, the next in thick jungle and maybe “swimming” in 4 inch deep river water…
If you dont do your home work to scout the course, you could find yourself between a rock and a wet place… (Who has the pic of this Mister Anonymous (also the coach of a famous pro athlete’s we wont mention) on his side, swimming in this calf deep water?)
Cool Points in hand to keep the 94deg F under control.
Trying not to ruin my legs on the Mayan Ruins.
7 Wins in my last 8 starts in Richmond. My 10th Richmond XTERRA.
Loving support from my wife. Spectating is an endurance sport in itself…
Josiah Middaugh had some bike troubles but came back with a strong run and caught Craig Evans in the last mile.
Craig gave it all…
Thanks to the organizers, volunteers, sponsors, home stays and my lovely wife…
Will Kelsay backed up his breakthrough performance -6th at Cross Tri Worlds with a 4th in Richmond. Welcome to the podium Will! When I get back to Boulder we do some GoPro pool time?
A special thanks to Specialized Racing mechanics Dylan van der Merwe and Joe Devera for pimping my ride every day of the week.
We had a fair bit of press- here an interview with CBS.
On Thursday before the race I had 4 press commitments:
– 5 minutes live on CBS 6 Morning Show at 9am. (which took 2hrs),
– XTERRA Press day at 12.
– ESPN Live Radio at 4
– Shop appearance and poster signing at 3Sports (Richmond Specialized dealer) from 6-7.
Between all the driving and getting lost, fitting training and recovery in, gets tough.
A special thanks to Charlie Luck from Luck Stone quarries for their continued support. Lets keep “Crushing it!”
L-R: Will Kelsay (4th) Middaugh (2nd) Caveman (after I broke the 1st (of 2) glass and stone trophies) Evans (3rd) Rakita (5th)
Liezel and I were especially touched by TEAM XTREME and what they are trying to ccomplish. Todd has 1 arm and no legs but he rose to the challenge and is now swimming and further competes in the back of his buddy’s backpack. (hopefully he’ll tandem parachute to the swim start next year)
You have 2 arms and 2 legs and you’re looking for a reason to get off the couch and someday see your feet again?
I will think twice about feeling sorry for myself next time I have to go train in rain or snow, or PUSH when the going gets tough…
For more race details I quote from XTERRAs ace report by Trey Garman:
[In a city with such a rich and colorful history it’s only appropriate that the sports most experienced stars stole the headlines. For Stoltz, who “lost his heart to XTERRA in Richmond” back in 2001 it’s his seventh win in eight years.
“I just love Richmond, the course is amazing and really suits me,” said Stoltz, who had the fastest bike split by far in 1:21:00 despite doing an extra little out-and-back section that no one else did.
“On the first lap I caught Craig (Evans) and then five minutes later I caught him again. I wore out 3 sets of legs and 1 set of tires pre riding the course- turns out a section had changed since when I went pre-riding, and on race day I dont look for arrows,” Stoltz explained.
“He did the old course out-and-back,” said Evans, who followed the correct route. “It was funny because a few minutes later I hear this loud chain slap behind me and thought, oh man Josiah or somebody is riding great and then Conrad comes by and says “where’d you go” and I said “I went straight, where’d you go?”
Evans tried to stay with him the second time around but conceded “he’s in a whole different league right now.”
On the second of the two 10-mile twisty, turny, tree and fanatic-fan filled roller coaster ride of a mountain bike course Stoltz followed the right arrow and got into his groove.
“First lap my head wasn’t in it, I wasn’t focused because I was trying to figure out where I went wrong. So, on the second lap when I saw the arrow, it all made sense, I could focus was just flying, pouring the power on in the pedaling sections and railing the technical sections. It was so smooth and so much fun. There was a lot of spectators on the cliff- all in costume, yelling, spraying beer and dancing around. It was like riding through a circus. It’s such a fun race, really the epitome of XTERRA.”]
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Love the pic of Boise pro Adam Wirth and his son Mac riding to race start. Mac has his feet on top of Daddy’s, so he is helping put down the watts! It seemed like an amazing father & son get-away week. They “pre ran” parts of the run course together, Mac did the kids race, watched the pros (knows us all by name) and didnt miss an expo or a beat all week. What a cool sport to get your kid involved in. As opposed to baseball where all they do is chew, spit, scratch and wait. And the “role model” is Barry Bonds…
We miss you, get well soon Dan!
Won XTERRA Las Vegas
Its always good to start the season with a win. Even though Josiah Middaugh made my job a lot easier by flatting when he poached my line…
More complete post later. Click here for XTERRA report and complete results.
I got the job done on the bike- this moon landscape course is very particular- there were lots of crashes and flat tires. I had my Specialized Epic Sworks’ Brain suspension set up super plush and could safely (well, kind of) power through the rough stuff – Caveman style.
I know its last years’ World Champs race kit ,(2010 kit is in the mail) but check out my new flash Green and Gold (Springbok) Oakley Radars!
Congrats to fellow Avia racer Shonny Vanlandingham for kicking off the XTERRA season with a bang, Raynard Tissink (we raced each other as juniors) won Ironman South Africa, And Burry Stander got 3rd at the 1st UCI World Cup
Oakley Radar ad
My longest standing sponsor. 14 Years. Wow, I read this article and am really proud!
Click on the link- it’s a good one:
oakley.com/visionaries/conrad_stoltz
