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WADE'S JOURNAL July 30th. I have been back home for the last 2 days and heading off to Germany to watch Rochelle race the World Championships on the Track. Then I will be on the road for a while and will return back home late September. It was sure nice to spend a few nights in my bed this month. July 27th. After a few days off and watching the cruisers and all the amature classes at the worlds, it was time for the Junior's and Elite classes to battle it out for the UCI World Title. I was not going that great as I needed a little bit more time on my BMX bike, but I did manage to win my motos and transferred into the 1/8 final. In this race I got out ok and followed Tomas Allier around for second place. Then it was the quarters, where it was a tight race but I managed to keep safe in 3rd and transferred to the semi. In the semis there was 5 Australians, 4 of us where in one semi (Luke Middil, Darren Hawkins, Kamakasi and myself) and Kallen Young in the other. I did not get out that great and I ended up rolling the huge set up down the first straight. Darren Slide out in the first corner and I was in 6th place going down the 3rd straight with Kamakasi behind me. I was catching the 3 riders in front of me and noticed that Jason Richardson was slowly cutting over on the other 2 riders going into the 3 berm. So I slowly set myself up to take the high low line, as I could just see that it was possible that all 3 riders would tangle up. I ended up high lowing 2 riders which put me in 4th and Luke ended up crashing. I had the other rider hot on my tail all the way to the line but I helded on to transfer to the final. I was pretty happy making the final again at the worlds, but knew that I was not really fast enough to win, due to the lack of riding on my bike. So I gave it everything I had out of the gate, but ended up a little late leaving and then had to shut it down before the big first double as Kyle Bennett beside me was starting to come over as he was in lane 6. So I could not jump the Double or the step up and this put me behind a long way. Not sure what happened to Tomas but he finished behind me as I ended up 7th. So not the greatest race in my life but still happy getting to the final. Right after the Elite final we had the team race again, this time it was Australia and France racing for 1st and 2nd. It is one rider from each country from the Junior Men and Women and from the Elite Men and Women, which make up 8 on the gate with the 2 countries. You have to basically beat your rider from your category which was Tomas Allier for me, other wise you tie on points and the winner of the race win's on a count back. I got out great but Tomas got me over the step up and jump across in front of me and I landed right into his back wheel. We did not crash but I landed weird and twisted my ankle, I continued to finish the race and placed 3rd with our Australian Junior rider in 2nd. We tied on points and Tomas won the race so France wins the Team event and Australia 2nd. July 24th. Today was just practice late in the afternoon and then I was invited to go to the Footy Show after party. This was the AFL Footy Show, even though I don't really follow the AFL, but it was still a great night mixing it with some other top Australian athletes.
July 23rd. The
Red Bull King of Dirt and International Pro Shoot-out was on tonight. The best
4 riders from their continent were invited to race for some big money. With a
total of 16 riders and a different format than we usually race, there was some
really close racing. We started with 4 on the track at once and then eliminating
the last guy. Then We had 3 on the track with the last place rider missing out.
Then it was a one on one race so then the final 4 left went into a 4 man final.
I ended up making it all the way to the final and was running third around the
track until I was passed on the line for a video finish. My track speed is not
as good as it should be, the lack of time on the bike is the only blame, so I
am doing the best I can to hang with the best in the world on this technical track.
I really needed to ride more trails before this race as the jumps are big and
straight up and down take offs and landings. I am finding it hard to hit the jumps
at speed and still be able to get a good pump on the back side of the jumps. Tomorrow
I have one more practice session and then I am done until Sunday.
Just
finished doing a live interview on the Today morning show. A few of the Elite
BMX Australian team went to the track at the Burswood dome at 4:30am so they could
get some riding shots and then at 5:20am Perth time I was chatting to the studio
live in Sydney.
July 22nd. I am now on the plane to the World BMX championships in Perth.
This last week has been very hard. It was hard for all of us who sat beside my
Mum in her final days. We have had some close calls in the past with Mums health
but after the phone call I received Friday night while I was in Vancouver, Canada
and knowing there was no longer any food or liquid going into her system, except
a huge dose of morphine and other drugs, it was time to go home. While Dad knew
the exact time of my arrival he had the doctors hold off/or time the drug dose
so that she was able to recognize that we were all there beside her before her
next dose. After that Mum was 98% of the time sleeping, as when the drugs eased
off, another lot would go in. My Mum was a very strong lady and held on until
her very last breath at 3pm Thursday the 17th of July. "May you now rest in peace Mum".
July 17th. In Loving Memory of my Mum. July 12th. Spent the morning packing and organizing all my stuff that I want to take home and leave in the truck. I also finalized my brothers ticket using my miles to get him back home as well, I ended up meeting him in LA where Qantas upgraded me to be able to sit beside him in business class. We finally arrived at the Gold Coast about 11am Monday morning the 14th. July 11th. Did
some more practice, then went into Qualifying and then the finals. I was feeling
really good and was having a really good run in my qualifier until I laid it down
in a tight corner. I ended up still qualifying but I was 52nd when taken a max
of 64 riders. This made it hard for me all day as I had the outside most of the
time. I won all races except for the semi where I place 4th, did not get out well
enough to get over on King and Bas De Bever. I bumped into Bas a little and it
made me get off line for a sec and that was it. In the Small (or loser) final
I snapped out hard and cut over and took control of the race, which gave me 5th
for the day. King ended up winning with Carter, Prokolp and Bever. I am still
in 4th in points over all but it is really close between King in 3rd by 2 points
and Cedric in 5th behind 3 points. Carter has won the series for the year and
I can still make it to 2nd if all things fall into place. July 10th. Did some practice today and had some fun on the BMX style course. We had a lot of jumps this week and also had a few tight tricky corners. The course was short but made for a lot of spectators to watch the action. July 9th. Travel day, Flying to Vancouver for the next World cup. Had some great sushi for dinner. July 8th. Today was mostly spent looking and working on new products. I have a new BMX bike in the works and we also made some changes on my Track bike on the computer and came up with some cool new ideas. I had the engineers watch me ride my 4 cross bike and they also seen some new ways to increase the advantage we already have over the competition. So maybe later this season or next season we may see some more new trick things coming out of the ACG engineering department. I also seen some new cool stuff coming from Bontrager and I should be riding some of it soon. I had the chance to see the way the new carbon Road bikes are being made and the advantages, Lance is the only one riding them now at the Tour de France, but they should be all going to production soon. Later that night I went to dinner with a few of the guys from ACG.
July 7th. I ended up leaving early and drove to Waterloo, WI, head quarters of Trek Bicycles. I made it just in time to join in with the group ride they have during lunch. I had a lot of fun as after half way the pace started to rise and attacks were made. I ended up hanging with the fast group and got a pretty good work out. I ended up meeting up with a few people at Trek after lunch and then headed down town to the ACG office and started to make a chain guide with Jarod on all the machines. It took a little longer than we thought but it came out really well and did the job. I ended up staying at a really nice Bed and Breakfast, Sweet Autumn Inn. The owners are relations with the team coordinator (Sherie) and we all ended up having a big feed on the Bar BQ that night. July 6th. In the morning I helped my brother redo his deck at the house. Later that day I went to some trails in Minneapolis in the afternoon, after a few runs I was having a lot of fun. After the trails we all went to dinner as it would probably be a while before I see them all again.
July 5th. It had rained earlier in the week and I was finally able to ride at one of the local BMX tracks, Elk River. I was still feeling a little weird on my bike but it will just take a few more time riding and it will feel normal again. Later I went to the Movies with my brothers family and seen Terminator 3, we all had a pretty good laugh. July 4th. We spent most of the day at the lake in the back yard of my brothers friends house. We had a few boats and jet skis to play on and we even went in the local lake boat parade. We dressed up the sailing boat and joined the rest of the neighbors in a lap of the lake. Towards the end of the lap it turns into a huge water fight between all the boats. It was so much fun, blasting everyone, throwing water balloons and just getting wet. It was a great day for being on the lake. Later we had a huge feed and then went and played on the tube behind the speed boat. We also got in some trouble as the water police stopped by as one of the sailing boat's was not registered. We stayed there into the night and then had a huge fire works display.
July 2nd. Today all my parts for my new BMX bike showed up at my brothers house, so I went to the local Trek bike shop in Maple Grove to put it all together. I felt really weird riding my BMX bike again, so much different from riding my 4 cross bike. Within a few weeks I will be feeling good on it again. We all went for an easy ride around a lake and jumped in for a while. July 1st. After getting in late last night I settle in to a room a my brothers house for a few days. Spent most of the day with his kids, Mitch and Makellan.
June
2003 DOWN UNDER TOUR 2001-02
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