Wade Bootes: Official Web Site

WADE'S JOURNAL

May 31st

Race day and with thousands of spectators lined up all down the course, this is going to make a great race. The course started to get faster as it was drying up and the workers on the course groomed it to perfection, just like a BMX track. I was still a little worried racing against 3 other guys with my injury but I managed to go further than I expected. I never won a race all night but was in the transfer spot to move on to the next round. I had to work my way through some riders as I was not getting down the first straight like I usually do, as I was not able to pull on my bars to 100%. So I had some great races, making sweet moves and just having fun. I made it all the way to the semi's, but was on the outside of Carter high in the first corner which let the other riders go underneath. This meant I was in the loser final for 5th - 8th. Again I was out ok but did not get to the corner first and was squeezed on the inside and I was not prepared to go in there and battle as it was on my injured side, so I backed off and let the rider go through. This made me not able to jump one of the double's so the other 2 guys flew by me in the air. I was able to come back and make a move on one guy which gave me 7th overall. I was really happy that I made it that far and grabbed some points for the World Cup overall.
Mio ended up getting 2nd, she is riding really good. Lopes crashed in the first run and fractured his ankle, Cedric and King were knocked out early. There was a crash in the men's final, Greg Minnar 1st, Carter 2nd, Steve Peat 3rd, Prokolp 4th. Miller won the girls and looks like she is back in the winners circle.
Tomorrow I will be back at the gym rehabbing my shoulder and trying to get back to 100% as soon as possible. We head out to France Monday to prepare for the next world cup.

Where is my mechanic????

1st corner in the semi, I was in 4th coming out.

Not yet ready for battle.. hit the brakes!! (Loser final)

Photos by Kashi.

May 30th

BIRTHDAY BOY!!

Yeah..., I turned 29 today, another year to my name. Today was also practice and qualifying for 4 cross. I decided to have a go and do practice and see how I felt. I was doing fine but could not get the nerve up to jump one of the bigger and tricky jumps out there, so I did it the safe way but did not loose to much time doing so. I ended up qualifying 8th out of 85 riders, with a 23.17. Lopes qualified 1st with 22.5. I was pretty amazed how well I could ride as this was the first day I really rode hard since the surgery. Racing will be a little different and hopefully and can get out well and hold them all off.
The weather has been better here this year than last, so I was able to go out during the week and ride into town and hang out with out getting wet.
The course is very similar than last year and should be a good racing course with lots of room to move in corners, but the course is fast and short so I will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it will all works out.

May 26th

Well, I finally made it to Scotland. I didn't have the best trip to LA as I was feeling sick after I had dinner on the plane. After I landed in LA at 10:30am, I rented a car and drove out to Redlands to pick up my bikes and clothes as that was were the team truck and my car was parked. I was feeling so tired on the way back to the airport as I had a flight at 7pm. I sleep most of the way to London were I met up with Mio. We then flew to Glasgow to meet up with the rest of the team. We all piled into the cars and drove about 2 1/2 hours to Ft William were the race was held. We arrived pretty late about 10:30pm and it was still light outside. So that was a total of 47 hours of travel for me from when I left my place in Australia.

5 riders, 5 staff, 3 rental vans and all these bags.

May 23rd

My recover of the broken collarbone is coming alone, I went to get another X ray today to see if everything is going all right. The doctor said everything looks good and that I have a solid piece of metal for my collar bone and that I should be able to start doing everything soon. I have been using it a lot in everyday use but also been paddling my ski in the water for rehab, a little swimming and also just riding my bike. Today I went to the BMX track and tried to ride around and found that it was doing ok, so I jumped a few kiddy double's and it felt fine. It is so weird knowing I have just had surgery 17 days ago and I am already jumping small double's, amazing what the surgeon's can do these days to make you recover quicker.
I am heading back to the States on Sunday and then picking up my bikes and gear and then heading straight to Scotland later that night to meet up with the rest of the team. As of right now I am still not sure if I am going to race in Scotland, I will make that call when I get there and see the course, but I feel that my body will be ready to ride by then.
My Dad has taken the WadeBootes.com motor home to the Motor Home Rally in Casino, Australia where there are around 2500 other motor homes. It is like a weeks rally for everyone to get together and share their story and show off their toys. Tomorrow is open to the Public so they can have a look around and maybe eventually join the motor home club.

May 19th

I am back home at my place in Queensland for a few days before I head back to the States to pick up my gear and head off to Scotland for the first World Cup in MTB. Cyclingnews.com did a cool feature on the Motor home, check it out. I was at the World Cup Track race all week in Sydney, Australia had a great week, real exciting racing and won the overall battle between all the countries.

May 10th.

I finally got out of hospital after having a high fever and some fluid on my lungs after the surgery. Dad flew in to pick up the motor home and I am staying down in Sydney for a few more days as I have to see the doctor next week. The way I feel right now, coming back for the World Cups does not feel likely. I have a few weeks and I will just have to wait and see what is going to happen.

Sliding on wood for 30 meters will give you this result.

May 6th.

After a long time waiting I finally made it back to my room in the hospital at 9:30pm. Everything went well, so I am up for a lot of rest and recovery.

Just like new!

May 5th.

I had an appointment to see the Institute of Sports doctor to get the official results and decisions. Got in there and he did not even look at me and sent me straight to the surgeon as he knew that's what I needed right away after looking at the X- rays. Finally made it to the surgeon and he scheduled me in for tomorrow for surgery. He Said if we did not do surgery it would be 2-3 months before it healed and with surgery I should be racing in 4 weeks.

May 4th.

Today was kerrin racing and I was not really planning on riding it but ended up racing, for one I wanted the experience and I was finally feeling good. I had five riders in my heat and 2 would transfer to the next bracket. I basically had Ryan Bayley, the 2001 World Champion in my heat and I was planning on following his wheel as he was the best bet for the win. Gavin White ended up fighting me for Ryan's wheel in the pre laps before the race really got going. I was fighting Gavin so much I ended up running into Ryan early in the race and lost a spoke. The wheel was still fine as I could see it rolling around and I continue to race hard. After the lap bell went I was sitting on Ryan in 3rd, and was waiting for him to make a move down the back straight to take the lead and I was hoping to get a toe to the finish. Going into the third corner Ryan was on the high side of the leader and seemed to be stuck on his hip and not going to get by him until the finish. So I somewhat panicked and started to accelerate around the outside to hopefully be in second by the line. It was about the same time Ryan moved up the track a little and I ended up clipping his back wheel. It all ended up happening so quick, just bad luck and timing I guess. So the next second I was on the ground on my shoulder and sliding on my belly for at least 30 meters. After I bounced the first time, Sean Dwight landed on top of me and had an easy ride on my back most of the way. During the slide I could tell there was something wrong with my shoulder. When I stopped I felt it and noticed that I had broken my collarbone. So not a great ending to my day or weekend after winning a National title the day before. Before I left for the Hospital cyclingnews.com had a full story and photo's live on the web. It was a long afternoon waiting at the hospital just to confirm I had a broken collarbone, but I needed the prints so I could see a specialist in the morning.

Looks like a good break to me!

May 3rd.

Today was 2 races for me, the standing lap and also the team sprint. Standing lap I did pretty good but messed up as I lunged for the line and popped my front wheel over the sensor to were my rear wheel stopped the time. I ended up doing a 18.8 and were 5 timers had me at high 18.5's or low 18.6's. Frenchy had the fastest at a 18.494. So with the time I posted I finished 5th but this included two Greece riders in front of me which gave me the 3rd fastest in Australia. Greece is allowed to race timed events here as they are here early for the world cup in 2 weeks, but are not allowed to take position from a National title.

Later that night was the team sprints, you first do a qualifying run and then the final four go to the finals. We, Queensland ended up qualifying 2nd to Greece and I had a first lap of 18.67, which earlier in the day would have easily giving me 2nd overall in the standing lap. So then we had a race off with Greece for 1st and 2nd. I ended up starting off a little faster than the race before which hurt us overall as the other 2 riders never got on the wheels. My starting lap was 18.52, and Wade Cosgrove started off second and only caught back up when I pulled off from my lap, poor guy in third had to race the 3 laps on his own basically and never got a rest which would have hurt our time overall. But we still did good as Greece just beat us out for first but this still gave us the National title and jerseys as a team.

May 1st.

Today was the first day to race on the track for the Nationals for me starting with the qualifying flying 200. I did not have the best run as I have been sick but was good enough to qualify 8th. My first heat was up against team mate Wade Cosgrove from Queensland. It was going to be a close race and I ended up jumping just a little early to were Wade caught me and just lunged his bike across the line before me. It was so close they went back to the photo finish. This then put me in the 2nd heat of the repeatcharge of 3 riders with the winner only advancing. I ended up having a good race and waited to the end to make my move with crossing the line first. This would be my first sprint win at a major competition and it felt like my first win ever on a bike. I was a little excited as I finally put things together to win a race, even though it was just one of the heats to make it to the quarters. This then put me against the fastest qualifier Mark French. This was going to be a hard race just to even keep up with him around the track. I tried to do my best to hold him off and then come back at him at the line but I was just not strong enough. I was then put in the loser final (5th -8th) were I rode a horrible race and finished 3rd which gave me 7th in the nationals overall as a sprinter.