At the Dalby World Cup last year, I chatted to Geoff Kabush. His massive sideburns and approach to cross country racing has earned him a reputation for being seriously quick but with a laidback air.

He’s also pretty straight to the point, as we found out. Along with talking about his trip over to the UK, his plan to head down to Essex to ride the London 2012 Olympic course, and how he trains and prepares for world cup races, we talked wheel sizes.

This was May 2011, and Jaroslav Kulhavy was yet to wrap up the world cup and world championships aboard a 29er, and the wheel size debate was hotter than ever. Pushed on the subject – Geoff was riding then sponsor Rocky Mountain’s 26er full suspension bike – he retorted and said that he would never ride a 29er.

Now we like Geoff, but we can’t help but laugh a little at the recent news that he’s now made the switch and seems happy as ever aboard 29in wheels. Now riding for Scott, Geoff raced a Scale 29er at the Mellow Johnny’s Classic last weekend, the first race of the 2012 USA Cycling Pro XCT series.

“I am definitely going to race the Scale 29er; I like the feeling it gives me when I push the pace on the course,” said Geoff in a press statement issued last week and preceding the race.

So there you go. Seems even something with a personality and opinions as large as Geoff’s can still be pushed to change their mind, but will he ride a 29er at all the events he races this year? We’ll be keeping an eye on this bike choice.

And how did Geoff get on in the race? Pretty well as it turns out, finishing a mighty fine second place. Kabush reportedly felt good and decided to test both himself and the competition from the gun, noting after the race, “I had strong sensations from the start and wanted to make sure that the pace was high.”

It seems he has strong sensations about the bigger wheels too.

See for yourself at @geoffkabush

Shimano Di2 battery??

Also spotted on Geoff’s Scott Scale in a photo he handily published on Twitter last week is a shot of what appears to be a Di2 battery mounted to the downtube. We’ll hold our hands up and say we’ve no idea what it could be, as looking at the rest of the bike it doesn’t look like he’s running any sort of electronic groupset, prototype or production. Any clues?