After racing professional road triathlons for 10 years, and really focusing on the Sydney Olympics in 2000, I decided to try XTERRA triathlons for fun, so in 2001 I came over to the US mainly to race road tris. I was completely unprepared for mountain biking. So for XTERRAs I traveled with my helmet, a 2nd hand pair of MTB shoes, old MTB pedals and a pair of yellow Michelin Python tires. The rest of the bike I would borrow at the race venue. Or sometimes a week before. Like this 35lbs Softride beauty with cutting edge suspension....

That year I won the USA Series and most of the XTERRAs I did. Also 6 of my 8 road triathlons. Including the legendary Mrs. Ts Chicago with its record setting 8000 participants.

Back to XTERRA:

Unfortunately (actually, fortunately) Ned Overend was my biggest competition that year. So great was my surprise (and pleasure) when just a weeks before XTERRA World Championships Ned gave me a brand new Specialized M5 dual suspension, a brand new Specialized helmet AND brand new Specialized shoes! It was like Christmas. (By then my old Sidis needed screws to keep the uppers and the lowers together) What he also gave me was a Specialized cycling jersey his wife cut the sleeves from. He shrugged and said I could wear it if I wanted. Of course I wanted! Ned is such a great person, the bike rode like an off road motor bike, I immediately fell in love with the product and the Specialized brand. I won the 2001 World Champs by 10 minutes.

I wore the Specialized jersey proudly.

Like every XTERRA World Championship, the 1hr TV show was aired on CBS on Super bowl Sunday. Right before the game.

Ned guided me through the pitfalls of negotiating a sponsorship contract for 2002. Up till that year, I have never made money from the sport- always living from hand to mouth, sometimes selling some of my cattle my dad keeps on his farm when I had to buy expensive air tickets. I had no idea how much to ask, Ned said "ask for X". That’s exactly what I got. The future was bright and rosy. I was over the moon to be part of the best bike company in the world.

I have been with Specialized since 2001. I have won 3 XTERRA World Championships, 6 XTERRA USA Series titles, and more than 30 individual XTERRAs on Specialized. I raced my Specialized road bike at the Athens Olympics, have won many big road triathlons (ITU and non drafting) from Japan to Chicago. Nicknames that stuck were "Caveman" and "King of XTERRA".

At every XTERRA there is an XTERRA University where I teach "The Art of XTERRA" to amateur athletes. I get dozens of emails on my website from fans asking about tire selections, equipment and bike choices. (I'm known as the dual suspension prophet that down hills like crazy)

Last year a fan admired my Carbon Epic at a race and commented about the unpainted raw carbon frame. I told him "It saves 180g". He said "Well, why didn’t they just leave the Specialized stickers off and save more weight?" I replied "Of course Specialized wants to have its name on my bike" And he said "But that’s unnecessary, EVERYONE knows Conrad Stoltz rides Specialized!"