TORTURE! That's what the race at Ironman China was!



I had a really good start to the day leading the swim by a minute or so on the next group. The swim was pure chaos with the four lap design. From the time I jumped in for the second loop I was swimming through and over the top of poor age group athletes (sorry!)







The first 10km of the bike were into a vicious headwind followed by a 30km stretch of tough crosswind. I rode well over the first 90km and established a 5 minute lead on Chris McCormack and Markus Fachbach (Commerzbank) going into lap two. The second 90km seemed a lot tougher than the first as I think the wind picked up even more? I was definitely happy to get off the bike!







I knew we were in for a tough one when I started the run into the blast furnace headwind for the first 5km. I had a 12 minute lead starting the marathon on Jozsef Major of Hungary. Jozsef is known for his fast run splits and I knew no lead was safe as long as he was behind me.







I was ticking over really well and then all of a sudden I was on the verge of bonking. With a bit over 8km to go I got a slight cramp in my hammy and I had to walk for about 50m. Walking was going to kill my lead and I had to try and get to the next aid station and down some fluid, salt and coke. I had lead from the gun, I wasn't going to lose this in the last few kilometers again, like I did in Louisville. Luckily I got back into a shuffle, and once the kilometers started ticking by and I was finally within reach of the line, I felt I had it. I finished in 8:41:15. A new Ironman China course record.







Thank you for all the messages of support. Now I am off for a beer in the bar with some mates.

Cheers

Luke

www.lukemckenzie.com



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....with a little help from my friends!



It all started with a question that had settled itself in the back of my head. What would it take for me to get serious about triathlon for – if nothing else – just one season?



The answer was simple: responsibility and peer pressure. If I wanted to get the best out of myself the stakes had to go up. Rather than being content with a 10:15 after 5-week training period, I needed to commit. Start training in November and stày dedicated until October the next year. To be able to do that I needed two things: a goal and people that would motivate me push me and challenge me all through the year. The Challenge was quickly found: “As a middle-aged age grouper, get as close to the pros as you can by the end of the season”. And leave at least some of the pros behind me in some of the races. The people wanting to motivate, challenged and encourage me surfaced almost immediately: former elite cyclist Dave Bruylants and just about everyone at Scott Sports in Fribourg. Amazingly they all thought my challenge was a great idea. The thought of combining the heart and soul that defines most age groupers with the ambition and sheer commitment of a pro-athlete really appealed to them. Or as Florian Brugger of Scott-Sports said it: “If you really think of it, an age grouper pushing himself and doing punishing work-outs in spite of a 45 hour/week job is closer to our core audience than those few, almost unique athletes who are the pros of our brand. The elite athletes are our Formula-1 drivers. But the age-groupers are the people we produce bikes for”.





Photo by Tony Mussche



 And so Scott offered me a contract as a ‘goodwill ambassador’ and an ‘opinion leader’. And they gave me their amazing Scott Plasma 10. The Plasma that I ride is not the most expensive triathlon bike in the market. It’s not even the most expensive triathlon bike from Scott. But it is a very, very fast yet affordable bike accessible to most age groupers. And that goes for all my gear and equipment. I will be going head-on with some very serious athletes, with nothing but gear that you can buy off the shelf.



In the 10 months to come, I’m hoping to prove that with the right spirit and commitment and quite a bit of encouragement from the right people anything is possible for any age grouper. And all of the wisdom and the knowledge, all of the tips and tricks that I gather throughout this year, I’ll be only too glad to share with all of you guys. Here at www.scott-sports.com as well as on www.projectsuperman.be.



Various websites and magazines are on board to bring regular updates about this unique project:

-triathlete-europe: http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2010/03/11/blog-project-superman-average-age-grouper-elite-athlete-1103/

- 247 Triathlon: http://www.tri247.com/

- Transition Times: http://www.youtube.com/Triathlon

- Humo (Belgium Lifestyle Magazine): http://www.humo.be/ will bring a story at the end of this year

- etc. brought and will bring interesting aspects about a not too easy undertaking.



Wish me luck …



Peter Lissens


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Mike Hopkins packs up the bike and heads to the Sunshine Coast in BC to do some mid-winter riding with the Coastal Crew. Go El Nino.




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March 12, 2010

Tignes, France





Tom Wallisch Right 9 above Tignes



Today was a huge day for SCOTT Athletes just over the pond at the European Winter X Games. Tom Wallisch skied his SCOTT Punisher Jib skis right to the top step of the podium in Ski Slopestyle. Tom's rail game was on point mixed with spinning both ways and two doubles in his run as well. Tom was joined on the podium by fellow SCOTT pole athletes Bobby Brown and Jossi Wells as well.





Bobby Brown 2nd, Tom Wallisch 1st, Jossi Wells 3rd Ski Slopestyle



On the women's side of things it was Keri Herman continuing on her Silver Medal streak at X Games with pocketing another Silver in Tignes. Keri was the only girl to hit the flat-down rail up top and then spun both ways all the way down the course with clean grabs. Right behind Keri was fellow SCOTT Teammate Ashley Battersby who found herself in bronze after spinning on and off of rails and a mix of switch and forward spins all the way down.





Keri high above Tignes



It was a huge day with 5 podiums for SCOTT Athletes, Congrats to all who competed on a job well done!





Ashley Battersby 3rd, Kaya Turski 1st, Keri Herman 2nd


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March 10th, 2010



After winning the qualifying round for Winter X Games Europe, Justin Dorey skied strong all night to take home third place in Men's Ski Superpipe! Justin’s back to back doubles, alley oop flatspin 360, switch 900, switch right 720 to alley oop flatpsin 540 was good enough to put him on the box behind the 2 Flying Frenchmen Kevin Rolland and Xavier Bertoni. Stay tuned for more news from Winter X Games Europe tomorrow including Ski Slopstyle prelims!



Justin Doubling up above Tignes



Congrats JBONE!


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Mark your calendars, The MONSTER/SCOTT Weekend is coming to Sun Valley, ID.

Friday, March 19th

SCOTT/MONSTER Athlete Autograph Signing 6-8pm

Come meet X Games Athletes Tom Wallisch, Justin Dorey and Ian Cosco and preview the 2010/2011 SCOTT Wintersport Line at the SCOTT Headquarters.

Saturday, March 20th

Dollar Mtn Terrain Park

Session the Sun Valley/SPT Terrain Park with X games athletes.

MONSTER Photo Shoot at Dollar Mtn 7-9pm

Tom Wallisch, Justin Dorey and Ian Cosco session the MONSTER Feature under the lights.

WHISKEY JACQUES 10pm

Come party with SCOTT and FREESKIER as they host a SUN VALLEY blowout!

March 4th, 2010



The Powd’air is an extremely light ski that is as suitable for going uphill as it is for the ski down. It has a really touchy feel on the snow and it’s light, nimble, and quick in tight spots like trees and bumps. It mixes up the pace with ease, blasting out quick turns and holds its own on long high-speed turns. I expected to be able to fold this ski in half because it felt so light. That didn’t happen. At a paltry 7.5 pounds per pair, touring on these is a breeze. It comes in 163, 173, and 183 lengths. The 183’s dimensions are 134/100/123 and it has 19.5-meter turn radius. Scott uses what they call Sandwich Sidewall Construction Laminate Carbon—a braided carbon laminate top and bottom sheet, classic sandwich sidewall, and hardwood poplar-ash core to give this ski its lightweight and snappy feel. It has traditional camber and sidecut. If you are primarily a backcountry skier but also ski the resort and will only buy one ski, this will do the trick. Click Here to see the story on www.skiingmag.com.






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Today Marino Vanhoenacker started into the new season with a bang: He dominated Ironman Malaysia and passed the finish line almost half an hour ahead of the second placed Hiroyuki Nishiuchi from Japan and Romain Guillaume from France.









In spite of tropical conditions the Belgian athlete showed a phenomenal race in 8:22:31 hours and qualified for the World Championship on Hawaii in October. Furthermore the Commerzbank athlete set a new bike record in 4:21:01 hours.







“This was a perfect start into the season”, overwhelmed Vanhoenacker said after the race. “Facing really brutal conditions with extremely high humidity, it is just fantastic to perform like that.” Titleholder Luke McKenzie from Australia had to give up on the bike course due to stomach problems.



For more information on the team please visit triathlon.commerzbank.com


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AMA Supercross Round 7 Indianapolis IN.-



Lites-



Indy is the first round of the East Coast Lites championship series and what a way to start it out! Scott is super pumped to go one and two to kick things off for the east coast!! With a stacked gate, including returning 2010 series champion Christophe Pourcel and two very promising rookies Justin Barcia and Dean Wilson making their Supercross debuts, this makes for a great East coast opener.

After the gate drops its Pourcel out front with the holeshot followed by Justin Barcia and Austin Stroupe close behind. A few laps in Barcia goes down leaving the two heat race winners Christophe Pourcel and Austin Stroupe out front, with Ryan Sipes third. Barcia remounts in fourth. Pourcel looks very cool, calm and collected out front, with Stroupe charging hard right behind. Both Pourcel and Stroupe are going fast as both held the two fastest lap times in practice just under 52 seconds! The top running order stayed the same for most of the race with Pourcel and Stroupe out front making the statement that they will be tough ones to beat in 2011.

Pourcel leads every lap effortlessly and takes it all the way to the finish! Austin Stroupe looked great in second. Stroupe said after the race…“he was pleased with his performance to run a solid race making minimal mistakes”. Congratulations to both of you!!



Results-



1.Christophe Pourcel   KAW- Scott goggle rider



2.Austin Stroupe   SUZ - Scott gear and goggle rider



3.Justin Barcia HON



4.Ryan Sipes YAM



5.Brett Metcalfe HON



6.Dean Wilson   KAW- Scott goggle rider



7.Kyle Regal YAM



8.Nico Izzi YAM



9.Martin Davalos YAM



10.Troy Adams SUZ































Supercross –



As the 450 main gets underway its Davi Millsaps busting out of the gate nailing the holeshot. Millsaps and Kevin Windham are already doing battle with Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey running right behind them. A few laps in Windham gets around Milsaps and is out front with the lead. Villopoto has his head down in second with Millsaps in third and Dungey fourth. All top four riders are charging hard and pulling away from the pack. On lap seven Dungey gets around Millsaps. A couple laps later Villopoto pressures Windham by running up right beside him. Windham holds the lead.

On lap 12 Villopoto makes the pass on Windham and quickly widens the gap him. A few laps later Dungey gets around Windham and sets his sights on Villopoto. Five laps to go in the race and Villopoto is still out front with Dungey a couple seconds back, Windham is third and Millsaps is in fourth.

Villopoto takes it all the way to the checkered with Dungey finishing second a couple seconds back. Windham takes third and Justin Brayton finishes fourth.

With this win going to Villopoto, he and Dungey are tied at the top of the points lead.



Results-



1.Ryan Villopoto KAW



2.Ryan Dungey SUZ



3.Kevin Windham HON



4.Justin Brayton YAM



5.Davi Millsaps   HON-Scott gear and goggle rider



6.Chris Blose HON



7.Grant Langston YAM



8.Nick Wey KAW



9.Josh Hill YAM



10. Jason Lawrence YAM





*All photos via Transworld Motocross





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Best New Freeride Bike

Bike Magazine January 2010







The Voltage FR is a new bike designed to occupy the space between the company’s Voltage hardtail and its Gambler DH bike. It can be set up to deliver between 160 and 180 millimeters of rear-wheel travel, depending on shock-stroke length. Three chainstay-length options allow riders to further dial in fit and feel. The Voltage FR 10 shown here comes with a Fox 36 Vanilla R and a Fox DHX RC4 rear shock—combining for one buttery-smooth ride.







The Voltage FR features an ultra-low 118-mllimeter headtube with semi-integrated headset, 29.5-inch-wide bars, a low 30-inch standover height and short 16.7-inch chainstays. In this setup, it feels like a big BMX bike. It is fun and flickable over all sorts of jumps and obstacles—perfect for Whistler’s bike park.







The Voltage had no problem devouring technical terrain either. It was smooth over slow-speed drops and confident on steeper terrain, thanks to the short chainstays. The long cockpit added stability on wide-open, high-speed sections of trail. Change to the longer wheelbase setting and throw on a longer fork and the bike would be well-suited for old-shool steep-and-deep Freeride terrain.



Scott also makes two less-expensive models based on the same frame—a solid investment considering how adaptable and easy-to-upgrade the platform is. The Voltage FR series makes a great choice as a do-it-all freeride bike for anyone who wants to ride everything, but prefers to be airborne.


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