Wade Bootes: Official Web Site

WADE'S JOURNAL

June 30th

Today I am flying to my brothers house in Minneapolis. I have a weekend off from racing next week and it is a perfect time to visit. I will be building up a new BMX bike to get ready for the BMX World Championships in a few weeks in Australia. I was also looking at my race and travel schedule for next month, it is totally crazy. You will all see what I am talking about when you read it, during next month.

June 29th

After basically no sleep we all hopped on the plane at 6am to fly to Washington/Dullas airport. Then we were picked up in a limo style Van and drove for another 3 hours. We ended up arriving to the Wintergreen resort in Virginia and had the riders meeting. Then we went straight to practice as we were all on a race schedule for TV. We had like an hour practice and went into qualifying. This series is a lot different than any other race we do as it is more of a teams event. The race has 8 teams consisting of one male and female from the same country. We had qualifying and I ended up 6th in men's and Katrina 3rd in the women's, I was not that great here as it was a fast, loose, tight slalom course. The men's had their own race and so as the women's. There was only 3 rounds of racing. I was knocked out in the first round by Steve Peat. Cedric ended up winning with Vories 2nd, Steve Peat 3rd. Miller was looking good for us and was hoping to gain a lot more points than I did in the men's race, but with a huge crash in the semi, she ended up with 4th place points. All we can hope for next time is a course that is more suited to our style and come away with better results next time. With the hectic travel schedule it was still worth while as we walked away with $2500 for 5th place. I have to say the event was well run and hopefully more events like this will happen in the future.

Team Standings and individual results:

1 Team France 80
Cedric Gracia(1st)& Sabrina Jonnier(1st)

2 Team Two Australia 70
Mick Hannah(4th) Tai Lee Muxlow(2nd)

2 Team One UK 70
Steve Peat(3rd) & Tracey Mosley(3rd)

4 Team Two USA 50
Kirt Voreis(2nd) & Melissa Buhl(6th)

5 Team One Australia 40
Wade Bootes(6th)& Katrina Miller(4th)

6 Team One USA 30
Mike King(5th)& Jill Kintner(8th)

6 Team Two UK 30
Dale Holmes(7th) & Fionn Griffiths9(5th)

6 Team Holland 30
Bas de Bever(8th) & Anneke Beerten(7th)

June 28th

The weather was a little better for our race today, but the course was still really dry and dusty. During practice it was like a dust bowl. There was 2 tricky sections on the course, the first through second corner which was a hip jump left corner and then a roller Step up which we could not jump all which made us slow down to go through. There was some big crashes on the first corner jump as it was a pretty big drop from the landing to the ground. The other section was again between two corner as we entered really fast and needed to set up for a slow corner, going into the corner we had like studder bumps, more like 4 rollers not able to roll through. Some guys jumped all 4 but would end up going wide in the corner and other like myself slowed down a little and picked up for the first and hopped across the rest, which made for a tighter turning corner.
I ended up Qualifying 2nd with Carter 1st and Cedric 3rd. I was riding really well and made it to the final. Carter had the inside, and I had lane 2. Schmit from lane 4 hole shotted and Cedric backed off at the start. I was even with Carter over the first corner hip jump but was on the outside, Schmit was blazing around the out side but ended up running into me, while Cedric cut low as he missed us and ended up getting by me. Carter had a clean run and Cedric ended up second with myself coming in 3rd.
I am starting to ride better now as I am slowly getting my strength back into my upper body. With this weeks results I have moved back up to 4th over all in the world cup circuit. It is hard to try and rehab yourself and still race and expect the top results. Soon I will be mentally and physically ready for a win.

After the podium a bunch of us had to pack up and head to Montreal to catch a flight to Virginia to race the 1st of 3 rounds of the Jeep TV Series. We did not leave until 10pm as we had to organize the 11 people to fit in 2 cars with luggage for a 3 hour drive. On the way we stopped and we planned to get a hotel but the ones we tried to get in were all full. Some other people were also looking for a hotel for the past 2 hours, so we decided to drop off the rental car and sleep at the Airport. This was now 2am.

June 25th

It is so damn hot here, lucky there is a cool water fall that we can go hang out and swim in. Went down town to Quebec City last night for Dinner and to check it all out. Pretty cool place. I did a lap of the cross country with Travis and Roland and then did my own training I needed to do. The 4 cross course has some big jumps on it and just like the last few years it will be fast.

June 23rd

Another road trip with the team to Mt Saint Anne, Quebec Canada. This time the drive was not as long and we made it in the same day. So pretty much nothing else happened except driving in the van.

June 22nd

I did some training in the morning and then did the warm up for the short track cross country but did not end up racing. After the race I had a really fun ride with Travis, Alison and kashi. We just went on some trails that headed back to our house for the week. It usually was a 20 minute ride on the road, but we had an hour and 45 min ride through the swamp. Really cool trails and some mud hiking.

June 21st

Well, just in time for racing it started to rain, the course was still pretty good as it was mostly sandy soil. I was doing good and feeling better from my crash last week. Going into the semi I had Carter, Kovarick and Cedric. Carter got the snap on the random starting line and held me tight down the first straight. In the first tight slow 180 degree corner he slowed down and this let Kovarick come around the outside. Cedric popped in there and ran over my foot and I struggled to get my foot back in the pedal. He also had the same trouble sprinting and having his foot fly off his pedal. I got around Cedric down the last straight but it was to late to catch Kovarick. So I did not transfer to the main and this left me with a 5th for the day.

June 20th

We had practice and qualifying in the afternoon and the course was really fast, pretty basic, but fun. It was dry all afternoon and I posted the 4th fastest time in qualifying.

June 16th

New page on WadeBootes.com: Rochelle Gilmore.
Follow Rochelle on her Road Racing circuit.
Today I headed towards Mt Snow, VT with the team. We took it easy and stayed over at a hotel so we could go ride and not be stuck in the car for 15 hours straight.

June 14th

The cross country race was before us early in the morning, weather was good but the dirt was still wet and especially muddy in the tree sections. During the day the ground was starting to dry and by the time we finished practice and about to start the race our course was dusty again. Some of the jumps were still a little wet as they were holding water and left a few ruts on the take off's and in the middle of the jumps. I had my dry tires back on and the course was fast. I won my first round and also was in the lead in the second round until I hit one of the tricky sections on the course. It was a tight hip corner step down jump, which had a few ruts on the take off. I was going to the inside of the ruts so that I would have a good surface to jump off. I am still not really sure what happened but when I took off from the jump I was sent into an endo. It was just like my back wheel got hung up on something, but I am sure I missed the rut. I was in the air trying to pull it back and thought I had it for a sec, but by the second bounce on my front wheel I was heading over the bars. The dirt was not the greatest here more like fill dirt with a lot of rocks. So basically I came down hard on my head and bad shoulder. I was slowly got off the course and sat down for about 20 min... I was pretty much out of it. Felt like I was just run over by a truck. I was really worried about my collar bone and was not really moving it as I had a lot of skin off my shoulder. But my head took most of the impact as my head was killing and had a few bumps on the side of my head. I also had some skin off my face under my eye and chin. I ended up going to the hospital to get a check up x ray on my collar bone and also to check over my head. Everything came back fine, but I really feel like I was beat up, kicked in the face kind of stuff. With me qualifying 1st I ended up 9th for the day. It just kills me that I am riding fast enough to win but some stupid happens like this and puts me back again......
So I will have a few days off so I can get over all the soreness and head off to MT Snow, Vermont with the team Monday for the next round of the Norba series.

June 13th

Today was practice and qualifying on the course. All day the weather was looking nice until we started to go out for practice. It just poured down for a while and practice was delayed. After the rain had eased we all went out and rode the course. I now have some new mud (spike) tires from IRC, which worked perfect in these conditions. I have always struggled in the wet but now I have some new tread, hopefully I can keep up with the rest of them from now on in the mud. The course was longer than last year, but very narrow and a few up hill pedaling sections, which I don't mind. During practice the fog was so bad that you could not see the next jump in front of you, it was pretty crazy at time. I ended up qualifying early as I wanted to go back to the house and get out of my wet clothes. Later on that night we received the results and I had qualified first with Kovarick 2nd, Carter 3rd and King 4th. So I was feeling good and was looking to have a good race tomorrow.

Pedaling hard in wet conditions during qualifying.

June 7th

Today we did some more practice, then qualified then raced. I ended up qualifying 5th which I was happy with as the course is more suited towards a downhiller, not much pedaling for me to take advantage of my strength. My bracket looked good and I was feeling ok with my shoulder, still not 100% but was looking to have a good race. I was a little nervous though as the course was going to be super fast and everyone was going to be riding real aggressive to get the good lines. This was soon not going to be an issue as 15 minutes before we started the rain came down. My first run was ok and the course was not yet effected by the rain, so I moved onto the next round. The next time down it was a little different due to all the riders racing on the course, it started to get a little slippery. I was back in 3rd for a sec but down the long fast last straight, I past both of the other riders and moved into the next round. So I thought about trying to do the same thing and take it easy and try to hang with the riders and wait to the end to make my move. I got out fine and backed off for the first crazy corner and sat in 3rd, as we went along in the race I found myself not keeping up to the other riders as I was all over the place on the course. I once again straggled in the wet conditions and found myself in 9th place for the day. Really disappointing as I know I am as fast as the guys in the dry, but cannot keep it straight in the wet. Maybe I need to start to focus on all areas of mountain biking and not all disciplines of cycling????
Oh well, still not that bad since 4 1/2 weeks from surgery. This now puts me in 9th for the overall world cup ranking. With a good result I can easily get back into top 3 as points are close.
Carter ended up winning and has a good lead overall, with Prokolp in 2nd, Beaumont 3rd and Gracia 4th for the day.
I will be packing up tomorrow and heading back to the States to West Virginia for the 2nd round of NORBA, next weekend.

June 6th

Today was practice and the course is more like a short Downhill. Really fast, no berms or double jumps and not much pedaling was needed. Alot of the riders did ride their Downhill bikes and more downhill racers raced the 4 cross due to the course lay out. I was riding ok on my short travel bike but I did up the length of my fork to 5". This made it alot smoother and I was having fun with the speed we were hitting. The course was just over 50 seconds long, this was good to see the length of the course was longer but it needed a lot of work as it is a little to fast for 4 riders racing down the hill.

The view from my room in Alpe d' Huez.

June 4th

We arrived to Alpe d' Huez, France last night after we had a day in Annecy. Today was all about getting the bike's together and checking out the course and all what's around. Like most ski resorts they are all closed down for the summer and limited stores and restaurant's are open. Later that day I got to ride a cool little 2 1/2 minute down hill course a few times, it was more like a BMX track with jumps and rhythm sections on the way down. Alpe d' Huez is famous for its skiing, but also for one of the stages of the Tour de France road race. This year it will be stage 8, July 13th, as the finish is on top of the 12km steep climb through the famous 21 switch backs.

You guessed it, I drove up the hill, I'll leave that for Lance to ride.