BMX Worlds - Day 1
Wednesday, July 25th - LA to Victoria
So I’m sitting on the BC Ferry right now from Tsawwasen to Swartz Bay in Victoria, BC and it is absolutely beautiful out. Sunny and warm and I’m finally sitting down and enjoying the ride. I was up pretty early this morning to catch my 7:45am flight from LA to Vancouver. You see I should have flown directly onto Victoria Island, but I didn’t know any better since I’ve never been and didn’t realize that if you didn’t fly straight into Victoria you’d have to take the ferry. So since I was landing in Vancouver I was going to have to clear customs, take a taxi to the ferry (approx. 20 min.), take the ferry to Swartz Bay ( approx. 1hr. 40min.), and then take another taxi on the other end from the ferry landing to the hotel (approx. 30-40min.). So it was a little adventure, but I was up for it.
However there was a little unexpected glitch in my plans once I got to Vancouver. Once I got there I turned on my phone and had a message from a lady at Fed/Ex saying that they had my bike and couldn’t clear it unless I came and paid for it. I don’t know if I mentioned that I had shipped my DH bike up to Whistler since I was heading up there right after the BMX race and I didn’t want to lug it around on my taxi, ferry, taxi expedition. So I shipped it to make my life easier. Or so I thought. I call the lady back and she says I need to come pay for the bike or something and show some form of ID. She said it would just be best if I come in. So I caught a taxi to an off-site Fed/Ex office near the airport wait in a long line to get the form. I then take the taxi to the Canada Customs office and wait in another line, but for whatever reason the lady stamped the form, but didn’t charge me. SWEET!! Then take the taxi back to the Fed/Ex office and hand off the form. Wheeeww!! Done and finally I was able to get in the taxi and head to the ferry.
I had actually slept the entire flight from LA to Vancouver so that definitely helped. Oh and you’ll never guess who was on my flight, Leigh Donovan, Stikman, their little one Grace, and Leigh’s parents. Leigh said they were heading up to Whistler to do some riding so they should have a good time. Leigh has been busy running her boutique clothing store called Tangerine and she said it’s going really well so that’s good to hear.
So like I was saying I’m on the ferry now and this thing is pretty sweet. I mean sort of a pain in the ass to get to this race, but I’m on a chill schedule today with no practice tomorrow so I’m not stressed. At least my bike is in my golf case with wheels! Anyway, I’m gonna check out the sites and turn the computer off.
Okay…I’m back and it’s 10pm. I just got back from a little spin and I’m pretty tired. Not from riding, but more from today’s travel. The island is beautiful and weather is awesome. Hopefully it holds up. I haven’t seen the track yet, but have heard about a pretty good size set of doubles in the first straight. Other than that I’ve heard most of the jumps are fairly easy, but get kind of tight and deep in some parts. Dunno..we’ll see I guess. Tomorrow we don’t have practice, but Tyler, Jarrett and I will go check it out. I’ll try to post some pic’s.
C-ya!
So I’m sitting on the BC Ferry right now from Tsawwasen to Swartz Bay in Victoria, BC and it is absolutely beautiful out. Sunny and warm and I’m finally sitting down and enjoying the ride. I was up pretty early this morning to catch my 7:45am flight from LA to Vancouver. You see I should have flown directly onto Victoria Island, but I didn’t know any better since I’ve never been and didn’t realize that if you didn’t fly straight into Victoria you’d have to take the ferry. So since I was landing in Vancouver I was going to have to clear customs, take a taxi to the ferry (approx. 20 min.), take the ferry to Swartz Bay ( approx. 1hr. 40min.), and then take another taxi on the other end from the ferry landing to the hotel (approx. 30-40min.). So it was a little adventure, but I was up for it.
However there was a little unexpected glitch in my plans once I got to Vancouver. Once I got there I turned on my phone and had a message from a lady at Fed/Ex saying that they had my bike and couldn’t clear it unless I came and paid for it. I don’t know if I mentioned that I had shipped my DH bike up to Whistler since I was heading up there right after the BMX race and I didn’t want to lug it around on my taxi, ferry, taxi expedition. So I shipped it to make my life easier. Or so I thought. I call the lady back and she says I need to come pay for the bike or something and show some form of ID. She said it would just be best if I come in. So I caught a taxi to an off-site Fed/Ex office near the airport wait in a long line to get the form. I then take the taxi to the Canada Customs office and wait in another line, but for whatever reason the lady stamped the form, but didn’t charge me. SWEET!! Then take the taxi back to the Fed/Ex office and hand off the form. Wheeeww!! Done and finally I was able to get in the taxi and head to the ferry.
I had actually slept the entire flight from LA to Vancouver so that definitely helped. Oh and you’ll never guess who was on my flight, Leigh Donovan, Stikman, their little one Grace, and Leigh’s parents. Leigh said they were heading up to Whistler to do some riding so they should have a good time. Leigh has been busy running her boutique clothing store called Tangerine and she said it’s going really well so that’s good to hear.
So like I was saying I’m on the ferry now and this thing is pretty sweet. I mean sort of a pain in the ass to get to this race, but I’m on a chill schedule today with no practice tomorrow so I’m not stressed. At least my bike is in my golf case with wheels! Anyway, I’m gonna check out the sites and turn the computer off.
Okay…I’m back and it’s 10pm. I just got back from a little spin and I’m pretty tired. Not from riding, but more from today’s travel. The island is beautiful and weather is awesome. Hopefully it holds up. I haven’t seen the track yet, but have heard about a pretty good size set of doubles in the first straight. Other than that I’ve heard most of the jumps are fairly easy, but get kind of tight and deep in some parts. Dunno..we’ll see I guess. Tomorrow we don’t have practice, but Tyler, Jarrett and I will go check it out. I’ll try to post some pic’s.
C-ya!
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