CHULA VISTA, CA Bryn and I decided to roadtrip the west coast- Seattle to so.cal to do some riding, see some friends, visit sponsors, and watch an epic supercross Bmx race at the Olympic training center. I lived at the OTC for two years, rode that same track daily, so it was good revisit and see everyone.

Arielle Martin is one of my good friends. She was my roomate and Training buddy from 2007-2008. We had a monumental battle to make it to Beijing. It turned out well for me that year, But now it is her time to shine! World cup final on home turf:)

She has ridden that exact track for almost 5 years, so it is fair to say that team usa had a bit of a leg up.

Mike day was also there, racing again after a back surgery a year ago, donny robinson, Kyle Bennett, Anne Caro was there as a coach, I was there as a friend and supporter, nick long, herminator, Connor fields, Josh Meyers, Brooke Crain, Amanda Carr, amanda gieving, even little kim hyashi was racing this event. No shanaze? Dunno why.

Pretty much all of our friends and industry people who love Bmx were at this event!! Old school, new school, etc.

The wind was pretty strong all weekend. Santa Ana can do some cross winds in the middle of the day. Took out so many people. Last few times this was a night race, so no winds, but not this time.

Marc Willers of NZ was in title contention for the world cup overall, but he went down in practice over the first jump- didn't race. French guy- Daudet won the title just showing up with willers out. Prokop, 4x world champ folded a wheel on the first jump and hurt his hip and ribs- didn't race. Ol DR donny robinson got hit from behind and went down on the same jump- tko. Sarah walker caught a wind gust in practice, still raced. So yeah, big jumps and wind is not all that good unless you know what you are doing.

Impressive to see the progression o the sport. Especially with the girls. Lot more young girls hitting huge jumps and attacking. Arielle was the only lady to boost the massive triple into rhe first turn. Guys too. Beijing seemed like a veteran advantage, London might be a different story. Will see. London is the most amazing track I have ever seen. Kinda wished I could ride it. Without a perfect start though, forget it.

Everyone was here; foreigners were all hungry for a win, but it was never gonna happen. Usa took 4 out of 6 medals, and dominated.

Arielle had been mixing up her lane choice all day. Starting in the middle for earlier rounds, but picked lane 8 to avoid the carnage for the main. From there, clear shot, no interference and pull all the way to the first turn. In the middle lanes, people were bumping , crashing, casing the first two jumps. Us girls were getting that little bit extra pump on the backsides and gaining. Sarah walker, who is tough to beat, was struggling a bit, and couldn't hold em off. Straight domination here for Arielle!! Must have been the awesome sign I made her, or her husband, family, etc.

Brooke Crain also rode awesome for 2nd, with Mariana Pajon the world champ rounding it out for 3rd.

Men's semis and finals had a ton of carnage. Poor Mikey was in 4th in the semi after the berm jump, but someone came inside and he swerved and lost his front end over the edge of the paved turn. Hamburgered his skin. Final, Nick Long n Connor fields got the early lead. First turn was dead even, but with Connor on the inside he came out first. Nick was not so lucky as someone dove low and clipped his front wheel out of the turn. Only Connor made it outta the turn clean. Nick took a major slam, and got run over by 6 people. Some Dutch kid made it out, and herminator got outta the pile and took third. Barry nobles 4th. Damn.

Connor won every lap I think, maybe lost by an inch at the line on one round. Can't remember. Nick too. Nick's bike was interesting. He's like 6'4" and had the longest rear end I have seen on a Bmx. Drag racer:) probably helps keep the front end low.

Anyway. That's the news. Lots of other stuff happened, but I'm typing on my phone. Stoked to see Greg Romero working with some new talent, arielle take he first itnl win. Mikey healing up. Steve Spencer wearing the shirts I made for Mikey for trials, usa doing so well, catching up with chris Powell n Tiffany, Leigh and Stik, kinger, dave from the OTC, pete d, j.rich, n more. Good times.

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