WADE'S JOURNAL

December 1 , 2001

This past month has been a lot of fun, the season is basically over and all I had left was the ABA Grand's. Now that I was not up for the title I took training a little easier and had some more fun doing other things that I don't get to do during the busy racing season.

I have been riding my TTR dirt bike a lot with Pete Dylewski, Alan Foster, Robbie Miranda and Brian Lopes. One day we had 3 TTR's and Alan, Brian and myself were racing around the little kid track having so much fun. But of course we knew sooner or later we were going to get kicked off, so we made it last as long as we could. So we ended up moving over to one of the other tracks and still had a blast.

I have been going out a bit in Hollywood and checking out the nightlife. This is really my first time down there and it was really cool. There are for sure some crazy sites and people to see but majority of the people are just having a fun time.

I was also invited to the opening of the new Oakley store in Hollywood were Lance Armstrong was doing autographs. There was a VIP party before the store was opened with food and drinks and I got to meet some other high profile athletes. It was a good time and the new Mall is in Hollywood is really cool.

The whole Trek Team for next year visited the head office of Trek in Waterloo, WI to make sure we are all on track for a good season to come. We have a few new members to the team and it looks like we are all going to get a long just fine, which will lead to a great year of racing. We all had the factory tour where you could see how our bikes are made. It is an amazing site to see as it all starts from a stack of tubes stored on a shelf. We also got to go to John Bourke's house (President of Trek) for the first annual Ping Pong championships before our team dinner. It was a lot of fun and Alison and John ended up being the champions this year. After dinner we all went out to close the 2001 season and to open the 2002 season.

The next week I was off to the ABA Grand's. I was sitting 5th going into the Grand's and had a shot to get to number 3 over all. In the 7 years I have been tot eh Grand's I would have to say that the track was the most basic track of all times. With so many moto's the ABA has to make a track that can run the races with out crashes, and this is what they did. It was nice to get out early after the races but none of the pros had that much fun on the track. Friday night I race the Pro Spectacular; this is the only ticketed event in BMX racing. There was a good crowd that came to watch, but it just did not have that hype about it. After every race I through one of my Jersey's out to get the crowd. This was a big hit as one of my Jerseys took 15 - 20 minutes to decide who caught the jersey. The Security was then sent in to split the wrestling match up and they took the jersey, later on that night one of the riders got the jersey from the security guard but had to give a hefty donation in exchange. In the main event I did not get out of the gate that great and was stuck in the back of the pack. I ended up 7th for the night.

Saturday was the start of the Grand's and I was riding really well. The last moto of Pro Open I landed on a riders handle bar and ended up bouncing off some other riders and ended up crashing hard. I got up and my thumb was hurting, I have hurt my thumb before (skiers thumb) and I thought I did the same thing again. I went back to the Hotel and could not use my thumb; I could not even pick up a towel. So I thought my racing was done and started to call on Flights to see if I could go home early on Sunday. There were a few flights available but I decided to wait until the morning to change the ticket. I woke up and went to the track and taped my thumb up and rode around. I could not hold on like normal to the handle bar. So I was holding on with my thumb across the top of the handle bar. I ended up racing the 3 moto and

placed 4th which qualified me to the quarter. I raced the quarter as I still had time to pack up and leave to catch my early flight. I ended up getting 3rd in the quarter and now qualified to the semi. So I stuck around for a few more hours and race my semi. I missed the gate again and was in the back. I was high lowing every corner but could not get by. The second last corner I come up against 4th place and was racing to the pro section. I did not get a good drive for the bottom of the corner and could not really attack the jump due to my thumb. I was then past in the air and then cut of to the hay bails and finished 5th in the semi. If I made the main this would have giving me 4th place over all, but I didn't and I am number 5 in the ABA for 2001.

Again I through out a jersey after every race I did on the weekend, about 10 in total. So congratulations to those who received a limited addition Wade Bootes Jersey.

The ABA title was a close race again this Year as Warwick and Christophe had 7 points difference going into the Grand's. Christophe did not make it out of his Quarter so he no longer had a shot of the title. Danny Nelson made the main but had a long shot to win the title. With Warwick getting second at the Grand's, this secured his points lead and won the overall ABA Pro title. I was so happy to turn over my Number one Pro plate to a fellow Australian, who back in the days in Australia as a little kid went to my coaching clinics. Congratulations Warwick, this is just the beginning of a great career to come.

I went to the Encino Velodrome after the Grand's to check out the venue. They are going to resurface the track and will be ready when I get back to the states. I plan to train a little more on the Velodrome next year to get more practice with riding these bikes.

I land in Sydney Dec 1st and am ready to have some time off and enjoy the warm weather of Australia. I will try to up date you more often with my journal down under as I go along with my tour.

See you soon,
Wade Bootes

PAST JOURNAL ENTRIES
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 1 & 15, 2001
July 1 & 15, 2001
June 1, 2001
May 1, 2001
April 1, 2001
March 1, 2001
February 1, 2001
January 1, 2001
December 1, 2000