I’ve been working with Kabush for 2 years now the Race Clean Own Your Victory clean sport campaign (we’re still working on Race Clean) and he is one of the most passionate people about the sport of Mountain Biking that I know.  He loves riding his bike just as much as you and I: he’s just been talented enough, dedicated enough, and FAST enough to make MTB racing his living!  I’m really happy to see that he will have the support he needs to reach the highest level of the sport.

Congrats to Geoff, Kyle, & the whole 3Rox Racing crew for truly turning it up a couple of notches for 2012.

The press release is posted [here]

Check out the sweet launch video that the Scott – 3Rox Racing people put together for this great announcement:

There is still some dry pavement to be had.

Happy to be out in the fresh air and Edmonton winter blue sky.

SRI IMPORTING VINER promo video from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

Here is my Mustache 100:

Liesje and I sold our condo and we are in the process of building a house. Pretty exciting stuff. We had a pretty fast sale and moved out this past weekend with the help of the Sherman Brothers.

It’s important to keep your cheap labor well fed.

This was the well packed Uhaul

And an even better packed storage bin.  Evan used his mad Tetris skills to pack up all our stuff.

Even with Saturday’s move, I could pass up racing the Granny Gear XC hosted by Hardcore & Red Bike.  Since the forecast was for rain in the afternoon I figured it was a good idea to ride the Wagon Wheel SS.

Turns out it was a pretty good idea in the peanut butter Terwillegar mud.  No gears meant no worries.

A little kinesotape sure leaves an interesting moasic.

This took me forever to clean up.

I just plugged away at my own pace in my own gear and ended up in 3rd place.  My best finish yet in the Elite Category!  It sure is nice to have a good ride, and a good result.  Now I’m motivated to keep it up and build to good form for XC Nationals in Canmore.  Next weekend is an XC at Canada Olympic Park and the forecast is down right ugly, just how I like it!

Do I have dirt in my teeth?

Mike

So Mike & I are officially covering the TR by racing and writing as Team Pedal.  The official Pedal coverage website is [here]. We will be reporting on each day’s stage and you need to follow along for all of our in depth, behind the scenes, investigative reporting.

For the unofficial report, well to read more about how Mike & I are doing specifically, well, you can check it out here on BikeAlberta.

Here’s our bios:

The atmosphere was buzzin’ for the 2nd annual Dark Knight. I was impressed at the 65 Novice racers pinning on a number and taking a go at ‘cross in the dark. It was crazy to see so many racers on this very off camber, swtichbacky course. It was awesome to see.

Elivs made a special appearance in the “A” race, however a broken chain ruined his evening early after being well positioned in the first lap. This disappoint send poor ol’ Elivs into a shame spiral. Overeating a an effect of such a shame spiral so Elivs instantly packed on the pounds and morphed into Fat Elvis. Well at least he won a prize for best ‘glow’ costume. I think it was the sparkly eagle on his chest.

So after a few beers and a late bedtime, Sunday morning brought snow, cold, a little mud, and a lot of slick. Finally, a non fast, dry, & hard race…we raced in the mud! This was awesome for me as I pride myself as a bit of a technical rider. We’re not talking Dr. Smooth levels mind you, but I can definitely hold my own. Well my mad skillz seemed to be doing the trick as I worked my way up into the talented pool know as Alberta’s Top Ten. Mid race, I started see sawing with Paul Tickler, The Fitness. I’d use my technique, The Skillz, on the tricky slick sections, and he’d use that olympic fitness to pull me back / get away. Unfortunately, as the race went on and conditions dried up, my skillz became less and less of an advantage and slowly The Fitness pulled away.

I use these terms The Skills & The Fitness ’cause that’s what I heard while battling it out with Paul from the sidelines. I’m glad our battle was entertaining to the spectators. Sorry guys, I couldn’t quite pull one out for the Skillz team.

At the end, I held on for 7th on the day – a big difference from my Hop & Hurl result of 2nd last! So obviously I’m pretty stoked. I had a fun day of bicycle competition and I’m super happy with my result. And glad to that my top secret trick wheel / tire set up made such a big difference.

Thanks to Liesje for the cheers and to everyone else who were able to express their suprise to me that I was up so far, and then go on to encourage me to keep it on. It made me give a suffer smile!

Is Elvis really dead?

I guess starting in the back doesn’t help that much either.  But I was riding with guys for the 1st lap and slowly started to fade out…like my engine wasn’t quite getting the fuel throttle I thought I was layin’ down.  I suppose that’s what happens when you spend 5 days in Vegas walking around looking at bike goodies.  That and drinking beer in the street.

But I will not give up just quite yet, giver another week of training and hit up some sweet races near the Oval down in Cowtown.  Should be a pretty good time.  Eddie G is spending a bunch of $$ to put on a great show/sporting event, so I’m going to be sure to not miss a minute of it.  I’m shooting for Costume Podium – top step.  I’ve got some sweet threads to sport during the Dark Knight and I’m pretty pumped about that.

At least I was able to rail the sandpit while Bradley was there to take my photog…

Does this skinsuit make me look fat?…(kinda a little)

Sarns