Flashback: October 19th 2007, Friday at the Dew Tour

I'm starting a new series of post that I will do momentarily called Flashbacks. What they are for all purposes are post that I wanted to do and didn't get around to doing that happened a long time ago or awhile ago.

The first is about my 2007 dew tour experience. The day before, my friend Aaron had called me and asked me if I would be interested in attending the Dew tour. He had apparently scored some VIP all access pass tickets from his place of employment. Of course I couldn't turn the offer down and he gave me confirmation later that evening that we were all set to go the next morning. I am lucky in that my job allows me a certain amount of freedom with my schedule and it was a piece of cake to get the following day off.

I picked him up at his house, we met up with another of my friends Jake, and we took off towards the TD waterhouse in downtown Orlando.

It was tough to find parking since Jake's modified super tall truck doesn't fit in any parking garages. Eventually we found a spot close to the entrance and we made our way inside pass the line right thru the VIP entrance. Immediately we hit the drink stand and quickly made our way to the street park course. Turns out the prelims had been rained out the day before and we got to watch the event from the perfect viewing area.

A serious street session went down, and the skating was top notch. I was really impressed with the Florida Locals that showed up to compete against the Pro's.

Shortly thereafter we made our way up stairs to the penthouse to get some of the free food and drinks that were available for the VIP's. After we had our fill we made our way all the way down stairs to where the tunnels for the athletes are located. We walked around and made our way to the very top of the Vert Ramp. I was amazed at our good fortune and spent the rest of the times watching the pro's practice and hang out. It was truly an honor to be up there hanging out with skateboarding legends and seeing and meeting some of the pro's I admired growing up. The list included, Chris Miller, Andy Macdonald, Bob Burnquist, Sandro Diaz, PLG, and Neal Hendrix. There were some other guys there as well as some younger kids that I didn't know but were all straight killing it. The spot we were standing on led to the Huge roll in that was ten feet taller then the 30 foot deck of the ramp. That deck we were on was 3 feet taller then the top of the ramp and these guys were flying over our heads. It made me wonder what it must feel like to be that high in the air and to have time to plan your next move cause the hang time is so long.

I didn't have a camera with me but I did manage to snag some pix with my camera phone and I put up the best three on here.

I got one of Bob Burnquist on the opposite side of the ramp.












One of some young kid that was ripping it up.






And one of Andy Macdonald.

Enjoy, I did.

laters....

Check this out!!

Already got some cool GPS Edge 205 data to share.

The Discovery ride.

And

The Kids Loop.


When you open the links click on the different views offered by the dashboard on the left and your able to see everything from total distance ascent and descent stats, to speeds, distance and elevation profile, pretty sweet!!!

Lucky me, got two new toys!!!

My Birthday is October 24Th. Its true I'm getting old. But the good news is, I got myself some presents!!! Yay! I Rock!

Edge 205 O yea, all kinds of cool stuff I can do with the motion based.com site is superfly!
And I have been officially Wobble Naughted. So far So Good I totally dig it!

Stay tuned for the new things my new toys will allow me to share!

It's Official!

I broke my middle finger!


I have only broken three bones in my life and they all have been on my same right hand. Late in the 80's I got in a fight with a kid on the school bus and I punched him in the head and broke my knuckle bone that sits in front of my middle finger.

Early in the 2K, I was road riding down the cady way trail in Orlando. I was riding with my friend Alex. Well I knew the end of the trail was near and I decided to launch an attack to beat him to the finish line. So I start mashing and I got my head down doing a cool 26mph in the start of my attack, when I look up and smash right into a fence. I managed to turn at the last minute and deflect the impact into my handlebars and shoulders, but it eventually rebounded me off in a launched twisting motion towards the ground at a very high speed, landing on my wrist and upper back. Three month's later when the pain still had not gone away I went to the doctor and he told me that I broke a tiny little bone in my wrist and they would need to do surgery and install a titanium screw to repair it. Well six months later, I was healed but I lost some range of motion in the process.

Last Saturday. Saturday the 13Th of October 2007. I met up with my friend Magii and his friends and family and we went Canoeing down the Wekiva river. I was all about it and ready to have a good time. He told me that there was a rope swing and after ten minutes of paddling we were there. He promptly ascends the tree and swings away successfully. Looked fun. Looked dangerous. Both things I like. At first I was not interested but then my warrior spirit got the best of me and I was compelled to ascend the tree and prepare for the jump. Well, the view from the top, was scary as balls. But Magii coached me, told me what to do, and forgot to tell me or remind me to pull my feet up in the middle of the swing. Once I was up there it was too late to back down, so I went for it. My feet hit the water, forced me into a river related face plant, creating an Apex with my middle finger as the fulcrum, cleanly snapping my finger.

Well, after swimming to shore I knew right away it was broke. I pulled it straight, got in the boat and calmly paddled 4 miles to our lunch picnic stop. One of the people we were with had a first aid kit so I was able to splint the finger. On the following Monday, they took the X rays and confirmed my diagnosis. O well, what can you do!


Well this a random pic off the net, but you get the Idea!

Third Stop From the Florida State Championship series: Jaksonville Hanna Park.

This was Kain's first race in years. We have joked it would be cool for him to race in skate shoes and a bmx helmet shirtless and see how many xc hardcore guys he could beat. Well they didn't allow the shirtless thing, but he did real well finishing 8th beating half the field.
This was Kailan's first race ever on a 26in wheeled MTB. He has a sweet ride handed down from his brother. Specialized s works with all the best stuff I could afford to put on it. He finished 7th and rode with a strong spirit the entire race.
I honestly believed Gabriel would win his race since he is such a powerhouse on all the rides we go on. This is after all a four year old that has done 12 mile road rides under his own power at 8mph avg speed. I don't even think he understood it was a race and still managed 6th place.
I just love how fast he looks here on his single speed!
Kai looks so focused he passed the girl you barely see on the screen left.
Gabriel enjoying the sites cause, he wasn't really racing I don't think
I included video clips of all their starts, they all started great, that's for darn sure!



Me I'm happy I didn't race. Truth be told, I'm not in the points race, my focus is the 12 hour race I have coming up on the 27th and then its back to base miles with my eyes on the 6 hours of carter or the 12 hours of razorback next, whichever comes first. I admire everyone who went out there and did battle especially Kain. He did the best he has ever done in a race and I think its cause he has improved his skateboarding, which has in turn made him a better technical rider.

The rest of team bike works cleaned house:

Brian Hastings: xc3 40-49 2nd place
Sean Wallace: xc2 19-29 2nd place
Tony Deal: xc3 30-39 6th place
Osias Lozano: xc1 19-29/pro 10th place
Chad Bobbitt Jr: 9 to 11 kids 8th place
Alexis Bobbitt: 6 t0 11 kids 10th place
Kailan Tai Rodriguez: 6 to 8 kids 7th place
Kain Rodriguez: xc-J 11 to 14 8th place
Gabriel Cruz: 3 to 5 kids 6th place

And that's it for the finishers. See ya guys at Gainesville maybe, if not I will keep you posted on my latest misadventures.

till next time, stay smooth and stay fast!

Dear Sir,

The guy that came up and gave me the huge compliment on my blog. Thanks, I appreciate hearing that kind of feedback. I was caught by surprise, I guess, although I type things on the web, I sometimes fail to realize that people actually read the blog. So my apologies for not introducing myself or getting your name, but again, thanks, that was an awesome moment for me.

The Grim Reaper of RAZORBACK: My first yellow wave experience.

This weekend I made my Yellow Wave debut at stop number two of the Florida State Championship series. I arrived around 4pm on Saturday, the whole ride up there it was raining, but when I got to Reddick, it was bone dry. Hey, I'm not complaining, I love Reddick, but its better with traction.

I brought the Beast, which is my Raleigh Single speed, and decided I would give the single speed class a go. Now I honestly think I'm a fast single speeder, but I was really given proof of the super human single speed level that can be obtained.

I camped out Saturday, brought all I needed and decided after much reflection to just blow up my air mattress and lay it on the floor and enjoy the open air sleeping experience. My pre ride was spectacular. I felt strong and fast and snappy and just plain dangerous on the bike. Got back to camp, watched the end of the Team Time Trial which proved to be a bit of a disaster to my team, but looked fun nonetheless, to see the other teams riding together and motivating each other. Eventually, after hearing about Osias Crash, and Chad's Crash, and Tony's ultimate show of sportsmanship, giving his front wheel away so that "O" could finish the lap, I showered up, cooked dinner and sat in my chair listening to some good ole Howard stern on the radio. After a couple of beers and preparing myself for the possibility of rain, I decided it was time for rest. I had the citronella candle right next to me and the bug spray on my left. During the night, anytime a bug bothered me I sprayed the area they were trying to get at. My rest was Ok, but I never really slept as good as I would have at home. I'm so used to sleeping on my tempurpedic mattress, that the air mattress was a little uncomfortable. In retrospect, I should have deflated it a little, maybe that would have prevented the lower back pain I experienced throughout the night.

I felt good in the morning. Got on the line and started noticing that the competitors I was racing against were a little more serious then I was. The one dude I lined up next too had a single speed full on carbon fiber hardtail, by default the thing must have weighed 18lbs. The whistle went off and I hung in there for a minute, then on the first climb watched the entire group just ride away from me. Admittedly, I was out classed by the competition.

I was OK with it. My legs had no juice for speed, but they had plenty of juice for a steady ride. So steady ride is what I did. I was passed many times and made sure, to get clear as soon as I heard someone coming. Just cause I was out for a leisurely Sunday ride, didn't mean anyone else was. At some point, I figure I must have been the DFL(dead F-word last) person of the yellow wave. Then something interesting started happening. I started passing people. Riders who were broke down with twisted wheels or flats. One guy that was walking around in small circles looking completely lost. Ryan Woodall, aka the Ryno, who apparently had the mystical magical two tire flat combo. One guy who I actually stopped and asked several times if he was OK, cause he was laying there bloody arm, surrounded by a dust cloud.

While I rode, I gave myself the nick name the "Grim Reaper". Truth be told, if you saw me during the yellow wave and I was passing you, chances are your race was done. And even funnier was, that none of the people I saw, did ever catch me again to cheat death so to speak. It was pretty amusing.

My team mate, Brian Hastings, got third place. Way to kick butt. Turns out, of all the racers from my team in the yellow wave, by just finishing, I managed the second best finish of the wave for my team. Heck, I guess my long haul enduro skills payed off in the end.

After, my team mates and I met at chili's where we enjoyed some good food and good conversation, it was a blast and I was glad I went.

My next race is Gainesville, which I love, where I will ride the Beauty aka the bitch, aka the mamasita.

Till next time, stay smooth, and stay fast, and wash that ass Sucka!