BMX Worlds & Whistler Fun

Okay so this is the first time in like 5 days that I’ve had to sit down and turn on my computer. I’ll start off by being anti-climactic and just tell you that I didn’t make the main event at the BMX Worlds last weekend. I had a super lame slideout in the second straightaway and already had 7 points. I needed to win the next couple heats to make it to the semi’s, but that didn’t happen. I really expected to do better and was definitely disappointed. It was going to look at the moto board to see who else was in your heat and only knowing one other girls name. It was going in kind of blind because you have no idea how fast any of the other girls were. So not one Elite US Woman made the main event if that gives you any indication of how fast the Euros are. Kim Hayashi might have made it if she hadn’t crashed in her third moto and hurt her hand. Shanaeze Reade from the U.K won by about a straightaway. She was insanely fast. In every moto she was in she was like eight bike lengths in front of second. I filmed the main event and I couldn’t even get 2nd place in the same frame of the camera!! I think Anne-Caro would’ve given her a run for her money, but she got balled up in the first turn and was in third. She went to make a pass on the inside of the second turn, but locked bars with another French chick and they went down. Right when they went down the third frenchy in the Elite women’s final ran into them. So there you have it…the French will take out anybody even their teammates! To be honest I don’t even know who got second and I haven’t been online to check.
In the men’s race Kyle Bennett (by the way I’m sure this is old news by now, but I still feel inclined to write about what I saw) won and was riding like an absolute champ the entire day. I don’t think he lost his motos, quarter, or semi on the way to the main event. He always took lane one and would holeshot. He was soo smooth through the rhythm section that nobody could pass him. Khalen Young the Aussie kid definitely gave him a run for his money in the third straight and second pro section, but Kyle had the inside and just pulled away in the last straight. I was stoked for him. The US had 4 men in the Elite men’s finals. We probably would’ve had 6 if Mikey Day and Bubba Harris hadn’t gone down. My boy Jarrett “The Jet” Kolich made the main and rode super good all day.
So there’s the news from the BMX weekend. The race was this past Saturday and I thought my TM Travis was going to pick me up and we would drive up to Whistler on Sunday morning. Nope! Straight after the race he crammed Kenan Harkin (NBC guy, former teammate and all around funny guy) and I into the Navigator and was took off. I seriously thought Travis’s head was going to explode if we didn’t get to Whistler that night. So after racing all day I didn’t get to shower and just threw all my crap in his car and we took off trying to make the 7pm ferry. Well, after rushing to make it we didn’t’ make it anyway and then when we got there at like 7:15pm they said there was a bomb threat and no more ferries were going out of Swartz Bay that night and that we’d have to drive to Nanaimo, which was 2 hours away. So Trav turns around and pins it all the way there. We end up getting on the 9:25pm ferry and finally up to Whistler at 1:30am. I walk into the condo and Jeff Lenosky said to take the first room on the left. So I open the room and clearly someone was in that room and there was a dog in there. I proceed to open two more doors to find that there is someone in every room. Let me tell you. At 1:30am after being up all day racing, not getting a shower, and then getting there and not having a room I was NOT stoked. I ended up snagging a twin bed in someone’s room and crashed hard.
The next morning I saw Travis and I swear it looked like he just drank a six-pack of Red Bull. The guy was zipping around and all over the place. He was so amped up he was starting to make me freak out and get all amped. We had some breakfast and then I had to go find my bike that I shipped up there. I went to the Whistler Bike Co. and there it was. I just want to say thanks to all of those guys for being super cool and helping me out with that stuff. And to Randy, Chris, and Paul for taking care of all of us. You guys are awesome. Oh and one more thank you to Elladee Brown of Shimano Canada. When I opened my bike box and went to put it together my rear disc brake was absolutely ruined. It was so tweaked and I couldn’t fix it. I ran over to the Shimano tent set up in the center of the village and Elladee hooked me up with their only disc brake rotor on display! So thanks a ton cuz’ I wouldn’t have been riding that day without you!!
We all meaning me, Travis, and Kenan Harkin headed up to get our first DH fun run of the day and it was about 2pm. We did one run and had a blast. My next run up I saw Needles, Anka, Hans Rey, and Sven and I went up with them to the very top to ride the Garbanzo DH. I was soooo stoked. I had never been to the top so I was amped to check it out. It was still muddy in the tree section at the top and super rooty. I now understood what everybody meant by gnarly. There were plenty of rock drops and jumps as well. Sven was taking pics so we would find a sweet spot and he would get his camera out and set up all of the flashes. I think it ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get down because we’d do a section and then climb back up and do it another few times. I got some crazy skeeter bites from standing around up there, but I still had a blast. I’ll be honest I was having so much fun that I think I was riding my DH bike faster than I have in a long time. I had never ridden this trail, but followed Needles down and just stayed off the brakes. I rode down some drops that I didn’t even think twice about. I dunno…. there’s just something about Whistler that just makes me want to charge it. We rode A-line a few times and I actually did some runs with my friend Jo and Tara Dakides. She a sick pro snowboarder and I had met her a couple times in the past and she was on a borrowed bike. It was cool to be able to ride with her. I know if we were on snowboards she would’ve made me look like a child! The next day was going to be another long one so I called it a day after a couple runs with her.
So Tuesday morning we all met for breakfast and Troy (Lee) was in town so he came and sat with us. He’s always fun to have around. We all cruised over to the lift around 10:30 a.m and it was game on. There was a huge crew that went up. Me, Lenosky, Travis, Kenan, Kurt Sorge, Richey Schley, Lopes, one of his buddies, Hans, Heath Pinter, Andrew and Kevin from Giant, “Fuzzy” Hall, Troy, Yurek, and a couple moto guys, David Pingree, and Billy Laninovich. I’m sure I’m missing a few other guys as well. I think we did A-line first just to give the moto guys a chance to get a feel for the bikes and then we all went up to the top. It took us awhile to get down since we had so many people, but it was soo much fun. It’s crazy t what professional rider in another sport out of their element a bit and they are trying to figure it out. They all did and I think they were super stoked. I think I ended up doing 9 or 10 runs that day and I ended it by doing a few runs with Lenosky and Kurt, two of Giant teammates. Those two are amazing rider and to be able to go down A-line and hit everything was a blast.
So Wednesday morning was another early one. I loved having fun and just being able to ride Whistler, but the real reason I was there was to do an NBC Jeep Adventure show. Kenan is the host and myself, Lenosky, Kurt, and Andrew from Giant all did interviews for the show and rode did some filming coming down A-line with Kenan. So Wednesday was more stop and start, stop and start because we had to make our way down the trail and then walk up and do a take after take. It seemed to take forever, but it was great to be part of it. Thanks Trav for setting everything up. We started at 9:30 am and didn’t finish until about 7:00 pm. Once we were done I still had to find a bike box and pack both my Giant Reign and my BMX bike. It’s crazy in Whistler because the days seriously fly by. I mean one minute it’s 10:00 am and the next it’s 7:30 pm and you’re trying to get one more run in! We didn’t eat dinner till about 9:30 pm every night and before you know it you’re going to bed at midnight or 1:00 a.m every night. I am SOOOO tired right now. I took the 6:00 am shuttle this morning to Vancouver airport and I slept the whole time. I was soo out of it I’m sure my mouth was hanging open. I pretty sure I’ll be sleeping the entire 2 ½ hr. flight home. Do some laundry once I make it home, pack my Giant Trance and get ready for my flight tomorrow to Utah for the first Jeep KOM Series race. Home will just be a teaser unfortunately. However I do get to see my buddy Katrina Miller who is flying into Utah tomorrow. WooHoo!!
Okay well gotta go so I don’t miss my flight.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers!