Well things have been shaping up nicely since my last post. I survived the Holidays and New Year, relatively unscathed.

Team Sho-Air/Specialized rider Sid Taberlay captured a Short Track National title this weekend in his native Australia, backed up by a third place in the XC. While it may not sound that impressive, its remarkable really that he had anything left in the tank after his long year, which saw him race from March-January….that's 10 months of racing!

As the team manager, you couldn't really ask more from a rider than what Sid delivered last year with a Pro XCT win, 2nd Overall in the series, a California State CX Title, A National STXC title, and a host of podium appearances and local wins. Great job my friend!

On the US Cup end of things, the Triple Crown All Mountain Pro Series just secured a title and presenting sponsor last week. Now officially dubbed "The H2O Overdrive Triple Crown presented by Specialized", the series format seems to be gaining momentum in the public and with the riders. Let's hope to get a good first year under our belt and build on it into the future.

Also, the US Cup Invitational Finals to be held on Sept. 11-12th, just secured a new naming sponsor, which I will shamelessly plug right here. Now titled" The Specialized Invitational Finals", the good folks at Specialized stepped in to ensure the US Cup and its calendar of events will be supported and top notch for the 2010 season…..special shout out to Ian Dewar for working so diligently to get this secured!

That said, I'm going to crawl back into my "Hole" and get back to work. There's plenty of items to attend to prior to the US Cup's first event, which kicks off in San Diego, CA on 2/28/10.

Until next time,

The Red Cowboy.