WADE'S JOURNAL

October 15, 2001
Being in Boulder before the World Championships was great. I had a blast riding some mountain bike trails and also riding through town on the bike paths around the college. I was feeling good with how my training was coming along and I finally got to spend some time with my teammate Travis Brown in his local town.

Before I knew it I was heading up to Vail to the World Championships. The elevation in Vail was 8,150 feet and the course for dual was awesome. It was basically a downhill BMX track, with some huge berms and jumps and also a section of stutter bumps. On the day of qualifying it started to rain, then it stopped and then during practice the course was nearly perfect…. But the rain started to come down again, and it was pouring during the qualifying runs. I am not that great when it comes to riding in mud or slippery conditions, so my qualifying time was bad. I ended up qualifying 11th.

I was still confident in doing well on the day of racing even though I had a hard bracket of races. I was feeling good on the day, as the course was dry. I went through the first few rounds with ease as I ended up having the inside lane. I then went against Cedric Gracia who qualified 2nd and he had the inside lane. I got out of the start perfect, did not see Cedric as I had a lead and I decided to take the first corner through the middle so I could keep my speed for the next straight-a-way. I was at the end of the berm when I saw in the corner of my eye Cedric coming right at me. We hit, and we hit hard … hard enough that we both flew off the berm and off the course. I was trying to get back up but my back wheel was stuck on a fence pole, by the time I got my bike out Cedric was already back on course and jumping on his bike.

I was disappointed with the decision of the officials as the race before, Deldycke was disqualified for a similar move he had done on Cedric. I don't mind hitting during a race but when you get hit so hard that both riders end up flying off course, this seems to me to be a legitimate take out, and a good call for a disqualification. There's nothing much you can do after the judges call the decision so all I could do now was to go back up and race my race for 3rd place.

Again I had the outside with Karim Amour in the inside. I was in the lead out of the start and the exact same thing happened in the first corner that happened with Cedric and me, except that we both were still on course. I was then in second and on a mission to make a pass. I railed the berm before the stutter bumps and skimmed right over them and made a clean pass in the next corner. From there the race was mine, along with the 3rd place medal at the World Championships.

I was disappointed in the 3rd place as I thought I had a good shot at keeping my World Championship Jersey. It would have been a close race with Brain and I as he was looking good all night but I had a place in mind to make my move as he would have had the inside lane at the start and most probably been in front at the first corner. Oh well, 3rd is still good and all I can do now is try my best again next year.

I would like to thank the two people who traveled with me all over the world making sure I was taken care of: Sean, my mechanic and Patty, my road manager and souiner and the rest of the team riders and staff for their support. Now that the mountain bike season is over, it is time to get back on the BMX bike and try to get enough scores in before the end of the ABA Session. I went to the Gold Cup central in Oklahoma and I was struggling a lot on my bike. It has been a while since I have had some good time on my BMX bike. I missed out on the Main on Saturday but I was riding a lot better on Sunday and ended up 5th for the day. 5th place is not going to help me that much for the title chase, as every score I get will count.

After I got back home Sunday night I drove up to Lake Mead early Monday as the mountain bike crew organized a week holiday on a 65 foot house boat. We had Brian's Wake Board boat and the whole lake to ourselves. It was great; we all went tubing and wake boarding and just had a good time. Brian and I jumped off a 50-foot cliff on the lake, that was pretty high for me and the water did hurt a little when I hit.

I then went straight to the West Gold Cup in Vegas, again I did not ride my bike all week, but I needed some time off every now and then. During practice I did not feel that bad, but the track was so unfair as the first straight was really short and was going to be hard if you had the outside lanes in the races. Saturday I made the main and crashed in the first main, so I got 8th. Then I rode in for a 3rd and a 4th, which gave me a 5th, overall. Sunday, again I made the main with some luck from lane 8 in the semi, as there was a crash in the second corner. I got 2nd in my first main, 5th in the second main and I crashed in the 3rd main and got 7th which gave me a 4th overall. Still not very good scores but I am happy to make the mains.

From the race I went straight to the bike show in Vegas, went to the Chain Smoke II video premier and cruised around the show on Monday. I ended up driving back home on Wednesday after a relaxing day in Vegas and then it was nearly time again to pack up for the next race in North Carolina.

Thursday afternoon Pete and I went to look at some dirt bikes and they did not have the ones we were looking for. Pete then called Lopes to see if his dealer had any and within 10 minutes we had 2 dirt bikes reserved for us at Mission Valley Yamaha. Within 2 hours Pete and I had 2 new dirt bikes and on our way riding with Brian and Steve Pete. The bike to get these days for playing around on is the TTR L 125 from Yamaha. They are a perfect size just to play around on and are about the size of a downhill bike. Perfect training equipment for me next year, as I will be doing some downhill races.

The motor home is still getting built inside and will be all finished within the next month.

See you soon,
Wade Bootes

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