The  world seemed to have one eye focused on Mandela and his celebrations in London last Friday, and the other back home, on Southern Africa and its present crisis.

(Nelson Mandela)

Xterra Czech 2008: Hluboka nad Vltavou.
DNF: Puncture (Another)

(Getting set for the start on a soccer field to a castle back drop)

Here with a copied version of the Xterra Newsletter sent out earlier today… Should a battle royal tomorrow!

Specialized played the marketing dream card last weekend in Italy at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, starting Christoph Sauser on the revamped Epic for the first time. I’ll accept Sauser rode like a beast and tore the race apart. But, the most visible difference from being outsprinted three weeks prior to winning a world [...]

We had ambition for Big Ben and all, but decided to put London’s tourist attractions on ice till next time round as fatigue, minimal time, and a fear of Oxford Street’s shopping called for better reason. Slept in, jogged round Wandsworth Common twice, sifted through packing, and got kindly taken by Kevin to the new [...]

A night with South African’s

(GBK Burger)

Belated but brilliant moments from Richmond last weekend by Nils Nilsen.

(Craig and I on Belle Isle after 2km of riding - Photo by Nils Nilsen/XTERRA)

Xterra Wales Race Report
After catching up with good friend Piet Wehmeyer and his British misses Charlie in a fine drizzle, who’d done the effort to travel in support of my event, I tip toed down to the water edge, went two feet in, and waited there…

Eish. Good fortunes must run fry at some stage with my planning not always to scratch. Had a great swim, lead on, leading  pack with many of the favourites though. Stotlz got away even before the 10km climb and was really biking well. I was soon joined by a few, eventually 7 of us climbed [...]

Race starts at a luxurious 12, and so breakfast has been relaxed and entertaining with all the various nationalities here at the lodge, each with their own ritual and preferences. Some full cooked English, some croissants and nutella, some Pepsi on the side…

Baggage arrived late on Wednesday night, just before being treated to Kevin’s favourite Indian down the road in Wandsworth. We set off at 5:40am, trying to avoid traffic to Waterloo Station, to catch a train on the First Great Western to Neath in Wales.

(The other side of life)

Crazy days. I’ll give it to you as it happened. Air travel in the 20th century…

Video footage from the banks of the James River in Richmond Virginia of the 2008 Xterra East Championships.

Xterra Richmond
2nd Place, 24 sec behind winner Josiah Middaugh
Time: 2:03:12
First into T1. First into T2. First to 9km… That’s all I had.

(Where it all started - James River in Richmond)

Just a quick note to get something up before lights gets switched off back home…
Men’s Results:
1. Josiah Middaugh
2. Dan Hugo
3. Tyler Johnson
4. Andy Noble
5. Craig Evans
Woman’s Results:
1. Melanie McQuaid
2. Jenni Smith
3. Shonny Vanlandingham
4. Candy Angel
5. Mmm, unsure. Cant remember for certain…
Side notes:  Stoltz was the best on the day, and was leading by 1:15 when [...]

I spoke to Chris yesterday, still in hospital, but found him confident in being discharged by the evening. He has had surgery, removing a disk between C3 and C4, and replacing it with some bone from elsewhere I think. It’s an injury thats common to American Football players he said, a neck whiplash type impact. [...]

After getting to Richmond on Tuesday, Craig and I stroked the tiger in the pool, and made our way round the run course in humid temperatures still hovering above 100 at 6pm. But as always, the demons of the unknown get laid to rest the more of the course is known, and seeing some of [...]

We had a great time on Sunday night, with some Pelham locals, attending church with them to give thanks for opportunity and talent, and there after joining some of the Xterra extensions at the Margarita Grill for some celebrations and war stories.

(Justin, Iris, Ruth and myself)

Four photo’s from the forests of Oak Mountain and the lens of Nils Nilsen.

(Bridge crossing in the Xterra Southeast Championships - Photo by Nils Nilsen/XTERRA)