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WADE'S JOURNAL
June 30th I watched the start of the Women's Cross country race and then was dropped off at the airport to fly back to LAX. Now that the following weekend in Grouse Canceled the Down hill and 4 cross I get to have a weekend off. The Tour De France Starts in a few days so keep an eye out for Lance and my Australian Road mates to tear it up. June 29th Race
day and party night... We always have a great time in Mt Sainte Anne.
I ended up Qualifying 10th, but for the last 5 or so guys the timing
system messed up and put a few guys in front of me who would never
be there in normal circumstances. I was riding good and met up with
Lopes early in the day. I won that race and then Lopes and I met up
with Cedric. Lopes and I moved onto the the main event to meet Prokolp
and Carter. I had last lane choice and had out side. I got out fine
and was in 2nd in the first corner, I had to back off as I had to
end up rolling a double as I nearly missed a gate. I was in last and
was trying to get by Brain, we had a little race to the line but I
was cut off into the last flag as the last straight had a horrible
dog leg to the finish line. So I ended up 4th. I moved up to 2nd overall
in the World cup standings. It is a close race and I need to get my
act together for the last 2 world cups.
June 28th The last few days have been great, been riding all over the mountain with Allen, doing some training and going down town to Quebec city. Today was practice and they are still working on the course, it rained hard last night but it was all good to go for us at 7pm at night as that is when our practice was. The course was really tricky, it had fast and slow sections and really made you think about your speed when you entered corners. After practice they were thinking of doing some more changes as a lot guys did not like one of the sections. June 24th Another early morning and a long travel day. We drove to Pittsburgh and flew to Montreal, Canada and then Drove to Mt Sainte Anne... On the way Erin ended up getting a ticket from one of the meanest Cops I have ever seen.
June 23rd I had to go get Miller out of bed as she missed the start time for our road ride.... we only got to ride down the hill as I got a flat, we made it to the chair lift of the down hill and went back to the top where the pits were. I then went for a down hill run on the beginner course as the Pro's were racing on the Pro course. I had to go pack up most of my stuff as the truck was not going to Mt Sainte Anne as they needed to be in Grouse Mountain the following week, all the way across the other side of Canada. June 22nd Race
day... It was another hot day and there was some tough racing. I won
all my races going into the semi with Cedric and meeting up with Lopes
and Carter. You could say this could be a tough main event but it
was only the semi... I ended up 4th as I went into hot into the first
corner and allowed Cedric to hi low both Carter and myself, I then
missed the next flag, as I was battling with Cedric. So my day was
over and I placed 5th, which now ties Cedric and I for 2nd overall.
June 21st Practice and qualifying day. The course was very dry and dusty and there was only one corner that was a little tricky, an off camber, flat, uphill corner. The rest was just go as fast as you can. Times were really close with Lopes 1st Rennie 2nd, King 3rd and Me 4th. By the way we all qualified it looks like there is going to be a really hard bracket and an easier one for tomorrow race. It is all about getting out of the random falling start fast and holding the lead. Roland won Cross country again and Travis finished 8th. Some of the team went out for Pizza, it took so long they ended up giving us some of the Pizza's for free. We were in no hurry so it was fine with us....Free Pizza!!!!!!!!!! June 20th I had an easy day today as I went for a little ride and went over my bikes with my mechanic for tomorrow's practice. The course here is really short and all the corners are less than 90 degrees. So it will be really fast and hard to pass in racing. We had our team dinner tonight as Pavel our Team manager cooked. June 19th Travel days are sometimes the toughest things about being a Pro. We drove from Lake Geneva to Chicago, flew to Pittsburgh and then drove to Snow Shoe West Virginia. With a lunch stop on the way it ended up being a 12 hour travel day. Up at 5am arrived at 5pm. We all went for a ride and checked out our race courses.
June 18th Today we all got to do some training, cross country guys went out for a 5 hour ride and I just cruised around the lake and hit the gym. We all went to dinner and seen a movie later that night and then we had to start packing up as we had an early morning as we are off to West Virginia tomorrow. June 17th Media day with 2003 Trek bikes and product. We road with the editors and photographers around the courses at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. I rode home with Orlando and Travis on the road for a recovery ride. We then went to the lake again to rent a jet boat. We had so much fun jumping the boat all over the place. The truck headed off to West Virginia to arrive on time to set up for the next race this weekend. June 16th Down hill day.... the course was short but fun. I qualified 14th, 0.05 sec in front of Lopes. In the final Lopes and I both went faster and this time Brian finished 0.08 of a sec in front of me. I finished 12th overall. Chris Kovarick won his 4th straight downhill race in a row. This guy is on fire. It was a great day and we decided to go to the lake and rent a boat. Later that night we had a team dinner. June 15th Race day for the new format of 4 cross for Norba. The weather was looking to be a great day for racing. My brother Jeff flew in for the race early as he was working in the area the following week. It was great to catch up with my brother again. I was feeling much better on the course as it was dry. A few crashes happened in practice and some changes where made to the course due to a bad crash by Nigel Page. With qualifying so bad yesterday made me meet Lopes Early. We both cruised to the main event where we meet up with Tomas Allier and Nathan Rennie. I had trouble getting out of the gate with my shoulder so I was hoping I would just fall in behind Brian in the main, just as I was in the heats. Tomas got out well but could not fit on the inside line in the first corner, and ended up going off course. Brian led from there and I was close behind. I ended up second for the day with Rennie in 3rd. Later that night Trek had a party at the venue with live bands as the head quarter is just over an hour from the race site. The night was really cool but the music was shut down early due to a bar room brawl. Most of us stayed around and chatted till early morning. We all had a good time as it was good to catch up with a lot of friends.
June 14th I did some runs on the down hill and also had practice and qualifying for 4 cross. Both courses where a lot of fun with the 4 cross having a lot of jumps. Right before qualifying the weather changed and it started to storm. Qualifying was delayed an hour and now we had to qualify on a wet course, not so great for me. I took it easy as I did not want to hurt my shoulder any more. I qualified 16th. We had dinner later that night with one of our sponsors, Power Bar. We all had a great night. June 13th Today was an easy day as I went to the course and went over my bike to get them ready for the race this weekend. June 12th I arrived into Chicago and was picked up by the team and we drove to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin where we were staying for the next 7 days. Our hotel was right on the lake and only 15 minutes from the race venue. June 10th Travel day. Finally landed back in Orange County at 11pm, nearly a 24 hour travel day. I will be back to the Airport Wednesday and will be gone for 3 weeks again. Grouse Mountain has canceled the Down hill and 4 cross due to snow, so this means a week off for me to prepare for the UCI BMX World Championships in Brazil. June 9th I
woke up and my shoulder was not feeling that bad, still not as good
as the morning before, but better than I thought. I watch the down
hill as it rained a little for the women but then dried up for the
men's race. Anne won by a good margin and Chris Kovarick won again
but not by 14 sec this time, it was 0.01 of a sec to Steve Peat. These
guys are unbelievable on a bike, we will see some more close races
this year. Nathan Rennie flatted in Qualifying and did not transfer
to the finals. He will be back next week.
Tako's ended up closing so one of the locals called the owner of the Bar next door and made them open up. The fun continued on inside with stikman as DJ and rapping his own words to the music.
A great night always ends as we all have early flights back to the US in the morning, but we will all be back to Europe at the end of the season for part 2 of European fun and adventures. June 8th Race
day and the weather was looking great. We had nearly 3 hours of practice
today due to we didn't have any yesterday, so I left my apartment
at the top of the hill and did a run down the Down hill course on
the way down. The course is a lot more bumpier than a few days ago
when I rode it.
I will hang around tomorrow and watch the down hill and also get some treatment on my shoulder as hopefully I will be able to race next weekend in Wisconsin. June 7th It rained hard all last night I and the wind was blowing strong all morning long. Down hill practice was still on but the lifts where closes due to high winds. Some of the Factory teams were driving there riders to the top of the hill just so they can get there runs in. Most of the other riders ended up getting 1 run. When I arrive to the bottom of the hill for my practice they canceled it due to the dirt was to soft. This was a good decision as the wind was drying out the course so it would be in perfect condition for tomorrow's race. I sat on the trainer indoors just to get a spin in that morning, as the weather was miserable outside.
Later that night they had a small crit race down town but it started last and with being stuck up at the top of the hill we decided not to do it. Lopes won around the 15 sec course. He took home a Tissot watch and $160 dollars. June 6th Today I took it easy while Gary was going over my bike to get it all ready for practice tomorrow.
June 5th I rode down the hill with Gary and Mio and met Alan at the bottom, I took the car and went back to the fitness center while those guys where riding downhill all morning. I met up with them again at the bottom with Cedric and Doug his mechanic and we decided to do some more runs after lunch. There are some many downhill trails here and you just catch the chair lift back up again. The run is about 10 minutes, and it was a great day to ride.
We did the tight, steep section twice which run right underneath the chair lift. You are on the brakes most of the time down. Talk about hand and arm pump!!!
I took a little snooze after that and rode around a little later on. Gary cooked us dinner while Alan was giving me a massage, as we decided to go back town town for desert.
Nothing was really happening down town but it was good to get out and sit by the river and watch Gary enjoy his shot glass of coffee....
June 4th Today we started to get the bikes built together and Alan went to find somewhere to wash our clothes. I went for a ride with Cedric down the downhill course, (we are staying on top of the mountain) it is a really fun course and also really fast. I had lunch with the Volvo/Cannondale team and then went of to the fitness center and did a work out and hang out at the pools with the rest of my team. We went back down later that night to have dinner in town and also to get some food for the week. It is a pain to drive back up the hill all the time, so I think we will catch the chair lift from now on. June 3rd Travel day.... Early wake up call and 5 countries to go through. We drove back to Glasgow, Scotland and flew to England. Then we stopped off in Germany and then continued to Austria. We then drove just over an hour from Graz, Austria to Maribor, Slovenia. Long day of travel. Team Haro was also on the same flights. We arrived to the apartment and dinner was ready for us from the apartment restaurant. The weather is much better here. It is time for bed. June 2nd I went out to lunch with Lopes and stikman on the way to the race course to watch the Downhill race and the weather was looking to be good again. Steve Peat qualified 1st and Missy for the women. Brian I went up the chair lift to get a good overview look of most of the course, the course looked like a lot of fun. It started to rain a little towards the end of the men's race but this did not change the course. Cedric and Nathan Rennie finished on the same hundredth of a second. Chris Kovarick finished 15 sec in front of them and Steve Peat crashed. So Chris won with a tied second with Cedric and Nathan. Mio, my team mate finished 10th at her first World cup riding for Trek. About 10 minutes after the rain started to fall. We all met up at the bar at the hotel we were staying in and this was the beginning of a fun night. I lot of drunk funning people.
Some one let off a huge fire cracking in the bar and scared the shit out of a lot of people, and no one said a thing about it from the bar. No way, you can get away with anything like this in America. I had to leave the party early as I had to leave at 5 am to go to the airport to fly to Graz, Austria. We will then drive to Maribor, Slovenia for the next World Cup race. June 1st Race day. The weather was looking great for racing and the crowd was huge. I qualified 3rd with Brain 1st and Cedric 2nd, a lot of BMXer's were there from Europe and all looked good out of the gate. I won every heat and transferred to the main event where I met up with Cedric, Lopes and Steve Peat. I ended up having lane 3 as Brian picked 1 and Cedric 2. As the command started on the gate the crowd started screaming and cheering, which was great but I could not hear the starting command. They do have light s but I have listened for the last 20 years I have been racing. It totally caught me by surprise and I just went when I though it was time. I ended up go early of course and messed up and also bummed into Cedric. I was last in the first corner and buy the second Cedric was making a move on Brian an I knew something was going to happen as the course was tight there. Brian ended up running out of course and crashed and I passed Steve done the next straight. I was like 2 - 3 bikes behind Cedric at the line, where I ended up finishing 2nd. Steve missed a gate in the last turn and was put back to 4th and Brian moved to 3rd.
Most of us went straight to the Global party after the awards and then we ended up going back to the hotel and gathered at the bar. As most of every one had to get up early except Brain and I, we ended up playing cards in the bar with the Oakley guys and Stikman. Pat Mac ended up winning most of the money which was like $180. We then started another game which we bet push ups. Brian ended up losing that one bad and had 427 push ups to his name. He did 227 that night about 2:30am and we told him he can finish them tomorrow at the Down hill race. It was a fun night for all, so we called it a night. See you soon, PAST JOURNAL ENTRIES DOWN UNDER TOUR 2001-02 |
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