WADE'S
JOURNAL
September
14th.
Sorry for the delay in getting things put up.... I will
give you a run down in a few days of the last few weeks.
August
17th
Norba
finals.. Yesterday Practice was called off early as a huge rain storm
came through and qualifying delayed to this morning.
I ended up Qualifying 4th. Which put Brian, Eric and I in the same
brackets, which the Overall title was between us three. Carter had
a huge crash in his quarter so he never got to transfer to the semi
to meet up with Lopes and I. Now the title was between Brian and I.....
Brian picked lane 2 in the semi as the best line for the first corner
was to swing wide to carry speed. So I pick lane 1 thinking I would
be fine here either if I was first or second out of the start. But
that ended up being the wrong desision. I should have pick lane 4
to be as far away from Brian as possible. Not realizing all Brian
had to do or vise versa is to elimnate the guy out in this round and
who ever survived would win the overall title. Brian had a great start
and cut over on me and making me loose a few pedals and put me behind
in 3rd. I tried to make some moves to get back into the second spot
but I ended up running into the back of the other rider, and not been
able to make the transfer spot or the chance to win the overall title.
So I had to settle for 5th for the day and 2nd overall.
Later that night the Fisher team had a party at their condo and it
got a little out of hand...nothing bad, just a lot of fun.
Roland
Green celebrating a clean sweep in the Norba Series for cross country.
August
11th
Race
day at the X-Games... and $14000 to win for 1st place. I still did
not do a lap with a bunch of riders and when I did it was so different.
You have to have a lot of trust with the other riders around you as
if they stop and get in your way, the outcome could be a huge crash.
The hardest thing was trying to stop in time if anything like that
happened, and you did not want to take off from a jump with no control.
I had all my protective gear on, Asterisk Knee braces, Elbow pads,
O'Neal Chest protector, gloves helmet and race gear. Everyone ran
flat pedals as it was to risky to be clipped in.
We went straight into quarters and it seemed there was no moto fillers
as it was more based on skill than power, so every race was going
to be tough. I ended up having 2nd lane choice, so I picked the out
side lane as the inside was taken. This way I had room to move down
the first straight with out getting boxed in. This worked out for
me all day as I was not the fastest out of the 5' drop start and allowed
me to catch up and be in a descent position at the first corner. I
basically followed Jamie staff down the course during the quarter
and we were so excited to make it down as we finished 1st and 2nd.
We all had a little break waiting for the TV crew before the semi.
Again I picked the out side lane, this time I had a good first straight
and was leading out of the first corner. This time it was Jamie who
was following me down and transferring to the main event with Kyle
Bennett and Matt Polkamp.
We then meet up with Robbie Miranda, Bubba Harris, Robert Dewilde
and Randy Stumphauser. Again I picked the out side and this time I
had Kyle on my inside. Robbie picked lane 1 as he was the fastest
qualifier. It was a tight race to the first corner as I over jumped
the first jump which lost most of my speed to get through the rest
of the jumps on the first straight. I was way wide and was going to
make a high low move but Stumpy went for it instead. I then went back
up hi in the first corner to avoid Stumpy's crash and Staff stepping
off his pedals. I was in 5th out of the second corner and dove on
Matt for the 4th spot. We hit pretty hard but we both stayed up. After
the 3rd corner it was hard to pass any body unless they made a big
mistake. So I ride the rest of the course in 4th to the finish where
I seen Robbie crashing over the finish line jump in 1st and Kyle and
Robert close behind for 2nd and 3rd.
It was a great race but with me over jumping the first jump held me
back from finishing in a better place. I was so happy the race was
over as I was relieved I made it down the course with no big problems.
I did not walk away with the X Games Gold medal or $14000 or the chances
of having my own video game, but I did have a lot of fun at a well
run event. Now I am automatically qualified for next years X games
and will be back in search of the Gold. Congratulation to Robbie and
all the other riders for putting on a great show and walking away
safely from a tough weekend.
1/2 a
crank to a 5' drop out of the start.
August
10th
Today
was Qualifying for lane choice at the X-Games for the BMX Down Hill
Event. I was invited to the games as an alternate as they had 32 guys
picked already for the 32 spots for the X-Games due to past X-Games
results and current standings in the ABA and NBL as of June. 2 of
the 32 riders did not show up so that left 2 spots open for the alternate
invited riders. I did a run of 49.10 which put me in 5th overall and
taking the first alternate spot of 31 out of 32 riders. Brian Lopes
filled the next spot with a run of 49.46, beating out Mike Gull and
Todd Lyons for the final spot. Robbie Miranda Qualified 1st with a
47.67, he was looking good for the past 2 days in practice.
The finals are tomorrow and will be aired on ABC this week, check
out the TV guide and EXPN.com for times.
August
3rd
I arrived to Durango Thursday afternoon for the 4th
round of the Norba series. Not having riding my mountain bike for
a while it was good to be back on it again. Practice and qualifying
was Friday, and the course was short but with a few cool sections.
Down at the bottom there was a Double double jump just like if you
would find at sheep hills. The jumps were big and fun, but easy to
mess up and not be able to jump the second set. I ended up qualifying
4th with King, Carter Lopes just in front of me. Lane choice was important
as the first corner was about 25 feet from the start.
Just before we raced it rained really hard and we were all prepared
to race on a muddy course. But within an hour and a half the course
was in perfect condition, towards the end it could have used some
water. I won all my rounds going into the final with the semi being
the most nerve racking race all day. King hard lane one, myself in
2, Schmitt in 3 and Allier in 4. The gate was held for a long time
as it is random and we all ended up going early as one of us flinched.
But luckily I still maintained my balance and got a good start, King
was in toe until the last jump and came up short to let Schmitt pass
him on the line.
The final was Carter in 1, myself in 2, Schmitt in 3 and Rich Houseman
in 4. I totally missed the gate, all day they were dropping the start
late but this time it was early. I dropped in behind Carter in the
first corner and tried to catch him down the 3rd straight as that
was the last possible move to make unless he made a mistake down the
bottom. I couldn't get to the 3 corner quick enough so I followed
him in for a second place.
With this second it has moved me into a clear 2nd spot over all closely
behind Brian Lopes. The final round is in 2 weeks in MT Snow, VT.
See you soon,
Wade Bootes
E
mail Wade
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