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WADE'S JOURNAL

July 28th

Race day in Brazil for the BMX World Championships. I have not raced a BMX World Championship for about 3 or 4 years and it was good to be back.
After a few days off I still felt a little tired from all the practice I did Wednesday and Thursday. I had one of the hardest motos of the weekend which also joined some heavy hitters early in the quarter and semi. I was not riding that well during the motos as I felt so much better during practice on Thursday. I qualified out of the motos and placed 2nd in the quarter. One of the fastest riders of the weekend was eliminated in my quarter, Darren Hawkins. One of the toughest things at the Worlds is just trying to make it to the main, as one little mistake can take you out of the big show. I had a great start in my semi and placed 2nd which gave me a spot in the main. I had lane 2 with Stumpy in lane 1. Stumpy looked the fastest guy all weekend. The races ended up dragging out longer than thought and I started to get tired. I did not get a lot of sleep in Brazil and I think it was finally catching up to me.
In the main I was a little late on the gate, and Stumpy and Christian had the lead. Somehow Kyle got around the first corner first and I was following Stumpy and Christian. Going into the second corner I went to high low both of them and at the last second Christian slid, then I had to change direction and try and pass Stumpy in the Pro section. I caught up to him a little but not enough to get him on the line. So I ended up 3rd, which is the best I have finished at the UCI BMX World Championships.
Right after the Elite men's final we had the team event. We raced for 3rd and 4th against Brazil, you have 1 Elite Man, 1 Elite Woman, 1 Junior boy and 1 Junior girl on your team making an 8 rider race. Both teams ended up on the same points, as they had down the Brazilian rider first instead of me. I passed him on the line but because the video did not show us cross over exactly on the line they went to the score's who had the Brazil rider first.
The award ceremony went on for a long time and I had to fly out that night and still did not know how to get back to the airport. One of the Brazil riders drove me to the airport and caught a bus back to his house, if it was not for him I would not have made my flight. We ran into traffic so he took a back way which got me to the airport just in time.
So my trip to Brazil was an experience for sure, with the police, culture and the thrill of the atmosphere of the World Championships.

Cruising around in practice

July 25th

We went for a little ride around the area were we are staying and then ended up sitting in the pool most of the day, as the weather here is great. We had elite men practice in the afternoon which was bad for the pro section as the sun was in our eyes. It finally went down and most of the riders had the track dialed. It is a real tough track, fast, steep, big jumps... you could say this is a real BMX track.
On the way out of the venue, Kamakazi, Darren, Khalen and I were driving back to the hotel and we ended up getting pulled over by the police. I hit some of the cones on the way out due to all the traffic and parking situation, so they shut down the traffic at the front entrance about 2 miles down the road. They pulled us over and we had to wait for an english translator to come and translate the reason they pulled us over. They said that someone in the back was knocking down the cones with a water bottle which did not happen, because I did knock them over when making a turn in the car. We were let go and nothing happened and everyone was fine and happy.

Khalen and Darrin being held by Brazilian Police.

We then came back to the venue for the opening ceremony. It did not start on time but when it did it was worth the wait. They had a Brazilian parade with drum and dancing girls.... can you say shake your booty.... because they could.

The girls shaking their stuff.

We left the ceremony before it finished as it was getting late and on the way home one block from the hotel we get pulled over again, but this time it was serious. I stopped the car and then the next second the police were yelling at us and had their guns out. We could not understand them so we would yell back ENGLISH...ENGLISH. We had our hands out the windows and we were not sure what to do. Kama was the first out of the car and laid down on the ground, so the rest of us got out and did the same as they were screaming at us. Then they picked up Kama and then started yelling again so we got up. With their guns out, one of the guys went over us to check if we had anything on us. Then they took me to the car and then they started to search the car for money, drugs and weapons while the other guys were lined up with guns on them. I started to communicate with one of the guys and things started to cool down. Lucky towards the end one of the Brazilian riders stopped and told the police that we are here racing the World Championships and everything was ok.... after that we were set free, leaving shaking hands with the cops and poop stains in our shorts. All we needed was a TV crew and we would have been on the TV show "Cops".

July 24th

Today was practice by countries, we had nearly 2 hours to get the track down. They did not open the pro section as it was really just practice for the Challenge classes. I went out to dinner with the Australian elite and junior team, and then we went to a bar/club which was right in the mall with the restaurant. We ended up meeting some of the US team and the place started to get packed, so packed that we could not move. We ended up leaving somewhat early, well early for the Brazilians.....

If you don't drink, then they make you drink Brazil style.

July 23rd

I arrived into Sao Paulo, Brazil and ran into some of the guys, Wildman, Stumpy, Christian at the airport. I went to the Hotel with the help of Nato and found the rest of the Australian team. I had lunch with a few of the guys and went to check out the track. The track is pretty crazy, big tall steep jumps and in a great arena. We then went to the local track right down the street and had a good time. Again big steep jumps, I would not expect to see track like this in Brazil, they are better than the National tracks we race on in the US. We then went back to the hotel and went for a ride near by and stopped into some of the local stores. We were told to take off our watches and sunglasses due to the area we are staying at. We made it back safe and had dinner at the hotel and then I started to get tired from all the traveling.

Check out one of the jumps on the pro section.

July 21st

With a disappointing race last week I was able to do some good training on my BMX bike to get ready for the World Championships in Brazil. I rode with Lopes a few times as he is also planning on racing the X games in a few weeks time. I had a few days at the beach with Robert Macpherson, getting a tan and also catching some waves. It was nice to have another weekend off from racing just so I can catch up with stuff at home. I leave for Brazil in the morning and plan to take a few picture on my trip.

July 13th

I flew in yesterday to the World Cup race in Telluride which was like at 9500 feet above sea level. The Course was really fast, but fun as it had a lot of jumps and some tricky corners. I qualified first and was feeling pretty good. I did not have to race the first race as 2 of the riders did not show up so I was transferred into the next bracket which was the quarters. I picked lane 2 as the first corners was a little tricky. I went the outside berm as they had a smaller one on the inside and ended up sliding and tangling with Dale Holmes I could not believe it.... First run down the hill and I fell at the first corner. I had the easiest bracket as most of the top point chasers were in the other bracket. This gave me 9th for the day and slim chance to take over the World cup Series at the final race in France.

July 9th

For the last week I have been having some down time in California. It was nice to get back on my BMX bike, but it is really tough to get used to again. I am planning on racing the BMX worlds in a few weeks and also the BMX X games, so I thought it would be best to just ride my BMX bike for a while. I went to Sheep and it is hurting due to no rain. Orange Y BMX track is looking good and it is finally looking smooth. Danny Nelson has been riding good lately and it showed when he smoked me at the Semi BMX track in practice.
4th of July weekend was great as I got to hang out down in Huntington Beach.
Christophe Leveque is back in the States after his back surgery and plans to race the next MTB World Cup in Telluride this weekend.
Robbie McEwen won the 3rd Stage at the Tour De France, maybe all the road ride's and races we did in Australia helped out...LOL.

See you soon,
Wade Bootes

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