CLOTHING:

Troy Lee, Race Face, Royal, Sombrio, Specialized, Sugio, Santini, Louis Garneau, Zoot and Sock guy.

HELMETS:

Troy lee, Pro Tec, Giro, Bell, Specialized, Catlike, Louis Garneau and Nutcase.

SHOES:

Vans, Fox, Shimano, Specialized, Mavic, Louis Garneau, and Sidi.

EYE WEAR:

Gatorz, Ryder and Louis Garneau.

ACCESSORIES:

Evoc is here and Dakine is on the way.

SUPPLEMENTS:

Power bar, Clif, Bloks, Zym, Nuun and 1st Endurance.

Whose that spandex stud? It’s Patrick Dempseyz!

The Grey’s Anatomy star and cycling enthusiast wasn’t afraid to show off his colorful biking gear as he rode through Malibu with his wife on Thursday.

He’s no newb to the sport either. In fact, Patrick recently raised $1 million for charity by holding a 2-day cycling challenge in Maine, in which participants biked up to 100 miles!

We’re glad to see he not only uses his passion to enrich his own life, but other’s lives as well!

SPECIALIZED RACING: XTERRA | October 25, 2011

Just a few weeks after Craig “Crowie” Alexander’s Ironman win, Specialized teammateDAN HUGO wrapped up his strong off-road triathlon season in style with a second place at the Xterra World Championships.

Austrian Michael Weiss won the race 33 seconds ahead of Hugo, who took a hard spill near the end of the bike leg.

“I crashed hard,” Hugo said. “I broke my saddle rail, hit the helmet pretty hard, dropped the chain, and handlebars were twisted up. For a moment I thought I might have broken my wrist. I couldn’t ride standing up. But that didn’t hold me up in the run, only the last 3K on the bike.”

The new course in Maui featured a 1.5km open-water swim, a 29.5km mountain bike leg, and a 9.8km run.

After multiple Xterra podiums already this season, Hugo came into the race as a favorite, with his Specialized teammate and former World Champion CONRAD STOLTZ also a top name. Lance Armstrong took the start, drawing much attention.

Between the men’s and women’s events, 650 racers took the start into the water in front of the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua.

Out of the water, Hugo was soon within the hunt of elite front riders. By mile 6, Armstrong had taken the lead, followed by Olivier Marceau, Ivan Rana, JAN FRODENO and Hugo.

Weiss overtook the lead at mile 15, and never looked back. Behind, by mile 17, Armstrong was being chased by Hugo and Stoltz.

Towards the end of the bike, both Hugo and Armstrong crashed in separate incidents. Stoltz later dropped out, suffering from asthma issues.

Weiss began the run with Hugo about two minutes back.

Having saved energy on the bike leg, Hugo steadily closed on Weiss during the run. “With the humidity, if you overdid it on the bike it would catch up with you,” Hugo said, who closed to within 33 seconds of Weiss at the finish.

Hugo raced the S-Works Epic Carbon 29er, with Fast Trak 2.0 tires set to 25psi in the front and 29psi in the back.

Hugo’s crash — caused by a momentary lapse of judgment — and its aftereffects could arguably have cost him more than 33 seconds, but the South African is only looking forward.

“There are a lot of ‘what ifs,’ but that’s sport. That’s racing,” Hugo said. “I do know I can be better. That’s the silver lining for me.”

Xterra World Championships

South Surrey track cyclist Jamie Shankland headed to Victoria on the Labour Day long weekend, it was far from a leisurely trip to the provincial capital. In fact, with four races in three days, Shankland’s weekend was one of the most grueling of his summer. Shankland was in Victoria for track cycling provincials, and though he came home with a handful of medals, it was far from easy. On the first day of the competition, he and two teammates, brothers Eric and Scott Mulder, won gold in the team sprint competition, winning the one-km race – in which each rider races one third of the distance – by 7.5 seconds.“We absolutely smashed it,” Shankland said.The following day, Shankland picked up a silver medal in the spring tournament – a grueling series of two-lap (each lap is 333 m) races. He insists he could have taken first place, if it wasn’t for a mental mistake on his part. “I made a bit of a judgement error – I was in the wrong gear, and it slowed me down,” he said. After so many races in just two days, Shankland said he was running out of energy by the third and final day of the competition – “I was definitely feeling the fatigue,” he said – but he still had enough power left in his legs to end up on the podium twice more. In the two-km long keirin, a six- to eight-man race in which cyclists are led for the first 1,400-m by a pace motorcycle, Shankland avoid a near-catastrophe to finish second. “After you get pulled around by the (motorcycle), you’re rolling at 50 kilometres an hour, and eventually everyone goes out and it turns into a six-man mess,” he said. “It can be a bit of an anxiety attack.” Partway through the race, Shankland went to pass one cyclist, who didn’t see him and instead plowed right into Shankland’s bike, sending him right off the course. Shankland was able to recover, however, and battled back to finish with silver – just one centimetre behind the rider that knocked him. “Bit of a close call – I’m lucky I didn’t end up with my ass on the concrete, but it still sucks crossing the line that close to someone,” he said. Shankland won his final provincial race, taking gold in the 1,000 m kilo – his signature event. “I  was tired, so I used it more to experiment with different gears, and to test my conditioning, he said. “But it was still nice that I was able to win. Shankland, who works at Velocity Cycles in Langley, is currently taking a bit of a competitive break while he ponders his next move. A rider with Team BC, he’s sorting out some sponsorships and, once settled, will likely spend the fall and winter months training in either Los Angeles or Australia.

Specialized Trail Crew

We’re looking for a few good riders in Canada. More specifically, we’re looking for two avid mountain bikers (one from the East and one from the West). People who ride a lot, can tell a good story, and lead group rides. Riders who give respect, and are respected by their riding buddies.

These riders are going to be part of something amazingly fun. They will become members of the Specialized Trail Crew, and each will get to ride an all-new 2012 Specialized bike.

The Specialized Trail Crew will go something like this: We will select two Canadian riders who are great advocates for trail riding and comfortable with social media (websites like Facebook, Twitter and blogs). They may race, but they probably don’t call themselves “racers.” Maybe they build trails. Maybe they don’t ride every day. But they definitely ride every chance they get, and they love to share their enthusiasm for mountain biking.

Each of these riders will get a 2012 Specialized bike to ride for a year or so (until October 1st, 2012), plus some cool swag to go with it: helmet, shoes, gloves, etc. Specialized will provide a place online for the riders to share their awesome tales of sweet singletrack, post photos and videos, and brag about what a great time they’re having.

Sounds pretty sweet, huh? So here’s the deal: We’ll set a sweet deal for the bike, and these riders won’t have to pay for it until almost a year later. Throughout the year, each of these riders will have the opportunity to share stories both on and off the bike. The more they share, the cheaper their bike will become. Share a lot and get the whole thing for free, or you can simply give the bike back at the end of the year (not likely). It’s one of those “everybody wins” situations.

So get on it before September 13, 2011. Show us you’re the right guy or gal to be on the Crew. The directions: Submit by sending us a link to a blog post you’ve written or a video you’ve recorded: something that tells us why you’re the right rider for the job. You can reach us on Facebook, Twitter, or email us atmebertrand@specialized.ca. We’ll look through them in the next few weeks, and start making selections. We’re stoked!