WADE'S JOURNAL
JULY
15, 2001
Before
heading off to the World Cup in Vancouver to the home of Alison
and Roland, I got to spend some time at the beach; the water
was great and I even body surfed some waves in. I met up with
Chad and Travis in customs and then we headed off to the house
that we rented for the week. We had an awesome view of Vancouver
on the back deck. Full moon every night and the city lights
reflected onto the bay. The race site was a little weird as
the tech area for the race was on the bottom of the hill and
the entire racing was done on top of the hill. We all had
to catch the gondola to the top and take everything we needed
with us and bring it back down every time. The view was spectacular,
especially from the dual course, as you could see us riding
away down the hill with the city in the background.
When it
is a triple World Cup like this weekend, Downhill, Dual and
Cross-Country, Dual Practice and qualifying is on Friday and
then race Saturday night. This course was fun to ride, really
fast and straight down the hill with plenty of jumps and berms.
I ended up qualifying 5th, but when it came to race time is
was all about who got to the second corner first and from
there is was basically single file. I ended up winning my
first two races and then I came up against Eric Cater who
qualified 4th which gave him lane choice over me. I know I
could hole shot and beat him to the first corner from the
outside, but during the race the gate broke so they ended
up going to a manual system of saying: Left lane ready, Right
lane ready, then within 5 second the starter would say go.
I thought I would be fine with it, but when it was time to
go my body started to go but my leg didn't push on the pedal,
which ended up making me collapse on my bike and go all over
the place. So Eric ended up getting to the first corner first
and from there it was impossible to pass. So my day was over,
I officially finished 5th. Sunday I went up to the top to
watch my teammates in the cross-country and Roland had a 1
minute and 30 second lead on the last lap. He was for sure
going to win. I went to the other side to see him come up
the hill and Roland was not in the lead, he was just behind
the leader and he finished 2nd. When we went back to the pits
he told us that he flatted 2 km from the finish. What a total
bummer, but I am impressed that he change the tube with in
2 minutes to keep himself in second position. You rock Roland!!!
I flew home
Monday morning and had lunch at the beach; it was great. Went
for a ride later on in the afternoon and chilled out for the
rest of the night. I went to the gym Tuesday morning and went
back to the beach and started to rest up for the next World
Cup in Durango, Colorado. I flew out Wednesday morning and
met up with Patty and Karen in Phoenix. When we landed in
Durango we went to go check in and then I went for a ride.
Thursday was course inspection and I was the rider to test
the course. I did not get to ride that much as I was told
just to ride through a few sections to make sure it was ride
able. The course was much different than what we have raced
before, Corners were opened up more, the course was slower
in most section than all others, we had 6 rollers which you
had to roll over each one slowly or other wise you would endo
over the bars and then we had a man made rock garden to go
through. The course did not have any big jumps except for
the finish step down jump, which was like 40 feet. All and
all the course was challenging, not that fun to ride but great
to race on.
Friday we
qualified and I had a good run and ended up qualifying 3rd.
Friday night there was a time trial race, which Brian Lopes
entered and ended up winning. It was about 2 minutes and 30
second race through the streets of Durango, which also went
through a bar. It would rain on and off during the day and
most of the time it would be late afternoon when the dual
finals would begin. Just like clockwork it started to rain
right before practice, but it did ease up and did not rain
again while we where racing in the finals. I ended up winning
the first 3 rounds and headed to the semi final with Eric
Carter once again. Eric Qualified 2nd so he again had lane
choice. I followed Eric out from the start, as I knew there
was going to be plenty of places to get by. Eric went low
in the first big berm to protect the inside, which gave me
room to rail and make a clean move in the third corner. From
there I led all the way to the finish. I transferred to the
finals to face once again Brian Lopes. Brian had lane position
as he qualified first, I had a slight problem at the start
as my glasses started fog up due to my hot air from my mouth
was trapped in my full face helmet which fogged up the cold
lenses due to the weather. I was somewhat blind to the first
jump but quickly got back on Brains back wheel in the third
corner. I entered the third corner the fastest I had all weekend
and came out with a lot of speed, I went to suck up the double
(which Brian tried to jump it early in practice and cased
big time) and I ended up jumping into the landing on my front
wheel and lost all my speed. Now thinking about how much speed
I had I should have at least tried to jump it and fallen than
doing what I did. Oh well, 2nd place is not that bad when
you look at it. With this 2nd it has still left me in 5th
overall in the World Cup but it is a close race for 2nd between
Cedric, Eric, Mike and myself.
Sunday I
had a bunch of fun as I rode my fifty all over the place.
There are so many single tracks right in town; it is an awesome
place to ride. I flew home Monday and again got to go to the
beach with Pete Dylewski and again Tuesday with Robert Macpherson
as well. We all had boogie boards and had a blast; weather
was great and the water was perfect.
My next
2 races are going to be in Mammoth and then off to Japan and
then continuing around the world to Switzerland. I am now
on the road for 6 weeks.
The big
money race in Vegas has been canceled and will be run later
in the year. September BMX plus has a cool interview of the
2 Number one pros, Tomas Allier and myself.
Keep in
touch for my next journal.
July
1, 2001
Snowshoe
West Virginia, wow what a drive. It was 5 hours from Baltimore,
and the worst thing was I was flying out of Baltimore on the
way home. All airports were a minimum of 2 ½ - 3 hours away.
The race site was on top of the mountain and everything was
close by except the grocery store. The slalom even had its
own chair lift to get us back to the top. I was feeling good
during the week; I wanted to ride as I had been resting my
shoulder a lot. I was ready for practice and ready to qualify
towards the top. I woke up Friday morning and looked outside
and saw that it had rained hard the night before, and the
sky was not looking so good for the rest of the day. Cross-country
started and for the men's race it rained hard. Roland finished
the race first on the day but it was hard to recognize him
due to all the mud. Right after the cross-country race was
slalom practice; it was wet and slippery. I was having troubles
like always in the mud, but luckily the sky started to rumble
and lightning was striking and they canceled qualifying until
the next morning.
Saturday
morning was not too much better, but they ended up changing
the course for the better. I ended up qualifying 10th, which
is good for me in the mud. During the day it started to clear
up and by the time we raced the course was nearly completely
dry. There were still some mud sections, but now I was able
to ride my bike like I knew how to. With qualifying 10th this
gave me a hard bracket of runs. Kirt Vories was hurt in Downhill,
so the first 2 runs I was able to take it a little easy. Then
I was matched up with Eric Carter. He beat me the first run
down but then I beat him by more the next run and transferred
to the next round against Steve Pete. The first run Steve
Pete crashed in the first corner, which gave me another run
to take it easy. The second run down Steve had the faster
course and was flying. I was trying to take it easy as I knew
I have a 1.5 sec lead in time, but I nearly took it too easy
as Pete beat me by 1.27 sec. So it was close but I still transferred
to the final. Again it was Brian and I in the final. The first
run down we both were sloppy on our bikes, but I ended up
beating him by .43 on the faster course. The next run down
I was trying hard to stay with him, he was just in front of
me and in the last corner Brian made a bobble which allowed
me to pull up right beside him which guaranteed me the win
for the day. This win put me into first place overall for
the Norba Series. What a day - muddy for qualifying and then
a nice tacky course for the finals. I am so glad that the
sun came out.
That night
we went out for a team dinner to celebrate, and Roland not
only won the cross country but also the Short track as well.
So our team had a great weekend. Then we all had to go back
and pack up as we had early flights in the morning, and/or
long drives.
I got to
go home for 2 days and went to the beach and relaxed before
it was time to get back on the plane to head to Salt Lake
City, Utah, stop number 3 on the Norba circuit. Utah has the
best condos to rent out; they are all close to the race site
and are totally decked out with all the good and fun stuff.
Every room had a surround sound entertainment center, we had
a spa, sauna and a pool table and not to mention the big screen
for the DVD player. Much better than the nights spent in the
Van. I have never really raced well in Deer Valley. Every
year I end up not qualifying good or I am eliminated early.
This year I was ready to change all that. I qualified 6th
and was feeling good on the course. I ended up falling on
the last run down in practice before the finals, right over
the bars as I was heavy on the brakes into a corner and hit
one of the braking bumps hard. It buckled my upper body and
I hit the ground hard. The first run down in the final I took
it a little to easier to get my self back together and I was
beaten on the slower course. I went up for my second run and
I was doing fine, I had a good lead and was going to transfer
easy. Going into the last corner I was fine but on the way
out I started to slide and I could see the finish line. I
slid to a holt 2 feet from the timing beam, I reached out
for it with my hand to break to the time but I was to late,
as the other rider had already past me. So my day was done
due to a crash. I landed on my bad shoulder; it felt like
I was punched in the arm 100 times. It is not the separation
that hurts now it is my shoulder muscles. I watched the finals
to see who the winner was going to be and it was Eric Carter;
he won here last year as well. Chris Kovarick from Australia
finished Second, Mike Deldycke, 3rd and Brian Lopes 4th. Now
the points are really close for the overall. Deldycke is leading
with three 3rds, and then it is Brain, Eric and I all close
together. We end up dropping a score at the end of the series,
so this still keeps me in first position overall.
I now have
2 World Cups back to back in North America. I get to go home
for a few days and rehab the shoulder to get ready for next
weekend.
In Deer
Valley I put in a 70 engine in my fifty, which I got from
Fast50s.com and I just received the pipe this week and will
put it on in Vancouver. Now it is going to rip.
The motor
home in Australia has been painted and looks great; now it
is going to have the inside all built up and be ready to go
get all wired up with the JBL sound system.
The World
Cup that was canceled in France will now be run in Austria.
We will race twice in Austria to make up for the canceled
race (Aug 12th). This is the same weekend as the BMX X-Games,
so it makes it for a really tough decision in what event to
race. The week before Austria there is a World Cup in Switzerland
(Aug 5th), but now there is a race in Las Vegas with a $20,000
first prize. It is an invitation only event and will be run
like a BMX crit with a short climb involved on mountain bikes.
The race will last for about 2 minutes for qualifying and
4 minutes for the final. This will be a real tough race for
all of us.
I am now
in 5th position in the ABA as all the top riders have their
15 scores. I still need 4 more to have 15 but I would like
to drop 2 of mine and replace them with better results. It
will be a tough run for the title at the end of the year.
The Tour
De France starts this weekend (July 7th), so best of luck
to my teammate Lance Armstrong who will try to 3-peat the
Tour De France.
See
you soon,
Wade Bootes
PAST
JOURNAL ENTRIES
June 1 & 15, 2001
May 1, 2001
April 1, 2001
March 1, 2001
February 1, 2001
January 1, 2001
December 1, 2000
