A little jetlagged after my trip from Cape Town to Sydney, some light blogging should kick start my appetite to go through the emails; that these days consistently hit over 100 per day!

Reflection has definitely set-in, since 30 November was my last blog! WOW another South African Summer has passed! So much has happened including too many great times to list around the paradise that is Stellenbosch; The Total Sports Challenge an event where many of my good friends raced together on the winning team, we had a Specialized Team Camp in Stellenbosch, I had a work trip to head office in Morgan Hill, attended a very interesting Abu Dhabi International Triathlon and The Cape Epic has just finished and with that the serious MTB racing is about to begin.

The mountain bike program has always been a figurehead at Specialized and I’m super proud of the evolution within this team over the last few years. The season ahead is definitely one to be excited about. The downhill calendar looks good for Monster, The XC Team seem to have great form and a good appetitive for the racing on the horizon and I am working closely with the free-riders on some new plans. It’s also great to see the start of a free-ride world tour. They too deserve the opportunity to have a world ranking.

I’m also very proud of what has been achieved in such a very short space of time on the triathlon side. Specialized have had a strong presence in Long Distance and XTerra, but we’ve bolstered this up with some new athletes and added an ITU element, which is crucial. This bolstering up completes the package and lines things up positively over the months and years ahead. It’s early days yet and there’s a long way to go, but it’s a road that we are super motivated to develop.

So I have arrived in Sydney and at hotel check-in bumped into Lisa Norden, who seems happy that the season is about to kick off. It’s good to see Lisa again. Last September seems so long ago. Although, I’ve spoken to them at length, I’ve actually yet to meet Simon Whitfield and Javier Gomez. The two lads are most certainly iconic and I can’t wait to chat with both.

The long distance triathlon racing started in Abu Dhabi and China, the serious MTB Racing kicks off in two weeks time at World Cup # 1 in England and the pace ignites this weekend here in Sydney for the first of the 2010 ITU World Triathlon Championship Series Events. I’ll keep you posted on things as they develop.

Before signing off, I wanna let you in on something that’s brought a big smile to my face: my new 2010 Specialized S Works Stumpjumper! It’s insanely good and so capable. I’ll give you a quick idea. We have a single track in Stellenbosch, that’s rocky, loose to very loose in sections and so long that it’s hard to always find the right line. On my Epic, which is an amazing bike, pushing the limits of my abilities I’ve hit 18 minutes 50 seconds on this trail. Two weeks ago and my first outing on my S Works Stumpjumper, I hit 18 minutes flat without really taking chances! Bearing in mind that one section has been completely ridden out since the Epic’s time was set, I’m big time impressed, plus on the Stumpjumper it’s so much fun! The Epic is the best race bike for sure, but if you want a fun trail bike, then the Stumpjumper is the bike, no doubt!