World Championship Seeding. Peaty's foot stays attached!

It's World Championship time where things get exciting and colorful. Upon arriving to Ft. William, Scotland, Santa Cruz Syndicate’s Nathan Rennie and Steve Peat were both treated to custom world championship paint jobs from the Santa Cruz factory, with the project directed by Syndicate mechanic, Doug Hatfield. Getting into the spirit of world’s, Rennie’s bike highlights the Aussie green and gold, has a boxing kangaroo on it and a cityscape silhouette on the top tube. Peaty’s bike is sporting Great Britain’s red and blue with a city of London silhouette. Rennie is coming into this event primed and focused. He took right to the track and was up to speed with commanding form straightaway. But the major goal all week has been to get Steve’s foot to stay on. He was given the green light to ride last Friday, after dislocating his foot and being non-weight bearing for seven weeks. Peaty said, “My foot is wank. I’m pretty disappointed at the progress of where my healing is at this point. I thought I would have been able to start intensive rehab before I arrived here, but I’ve only started it since I got here.” British Cycling has a brilliant staff and osteopath/physical therapist Jim Webb has been doing therapy on Steve’s ankle and foot and trying different taping configurations to dial it in. The first test was Tuesday and after Steve’s first run, which included crashing not being able to clip out, Steve’s optimism seemed to waiver. For his second run Jim tested a new tape job and Steve went for a run on flat pedals. Coming back into the pits Steve had a smile back on his face and said he had a great run. Not the flat pedals, his feet were off and flying off all over the place, but with the new tape job he felt like he could drive through a few corners. Next run he put clip pedals back on and joined a 4-man train down the course with Fairclough, Minnaar and Lehikoinen. Thursday’s seeding run was a test for Steve’s foot, and with riders all in the final, everyone could take it easy or play games, with no pressure of not making the show. Sam Hill launched the biggest whip over the jump at the top of the finish section, and others showed quite a bit of style. Minnaar won the seeding run with a time of 4:53.32, and Gee Atherton was on the same second, just .06 behind Greg. Julien Camellini had an impressive 3rd place run at 4:57.20 followed by Mick Hannah at 4:58.18. Florent Payet rounded out the top five with a 5:00.00 flat, and Nathan Rennie coasted in for sixth at 5:00.82. Peaty’s time of 5:05.03 was good enough for a 13th place in the seeding run. Peaty said, “My foot was too sore to attack all the way down. I just coasted in sections and carried speed. I’m pleased with my time.” Rennie said, “I had a good day, just took it nice and easy. I still have a lot more in the tank.” The Syndicate boys are looking forward to resting up for the big race on Sunday. Peaty is hopeful that a few more days of therapy and rest will get his foot closer to the championship that has eluded him for so long. Rennie is ready to turn it up. Thanks to the Syndicate sponsors: Santa Cruz Bicycles SRAM Rock Shox Truvativ Avid Kenda DT Swiss WTB Crankbrothers Lizard Skins Clif Bar Troy Lee Designs Chris King Five Ten www.santacruzbicycles.com