September 21, 2008
Hanging out, watching football today and feeling pretty antsy. I think it may have to do with this being the first weekend I’ve had free in the last 6 months. Time flies when you have no time to sit down and relax.
Most of you have been waiting for the rest of my updates from the Olympics, I got a lot a to say so I guess I will start with the Athletes Village. This is one of those things that you needed to be there in order to fully appreciate the lengths that the Chinese went to, it was second to none. A perfectly engineered community that was full of designated apartment buildings for all the countries, food facilities, laundry, entertainment, medical, media, and a perfectly timed bus system that was flawless. Anything that you could need and want was found within the highly secured complex, and if you didn’t have the right credentials, you were on the outside looking in. The entire village itself was completely new, including the bus system and the buses, which meant that everything was very clean. Flowers were everywhere and the landscaping was very modern with eye-catching artwork and sculptures found throughout the grounds.
Each apartment building was 8 stories high (Chinese lucky #), and was split into 4 quadrants that each housed one country. If the country was big enough, they would have a whole side of the building. I think the Canadian team needed a full side, but the New Zealand camp only needed our quadrant, right next to Switzerland. The Kiwis did our building up right! Outside to greet you was a traditional sculpture and other NZ type artwork to make the athletes feel a sense of home. Also, we had a good supply of comfy chairs and beanbags outside so that we could hang out in the sun and use the WIFI system that was provided (which was shadey at best.)
Once inside you really felt like you were in NZ, with all the artwork and other familiar items that the support team put up on the walls. On the main floor was the media, medical and management offices for the team, as well as the hangout area that was equipped with flat screen TV’s and even more beanbags to veg on. New Zealand is known for their terrific coffee (not the brewed stuff we get in North America), but the real stuff. Over the past year in NZ, there was a contest held to find the best barista in the country, the winner won an all paid trip to Beijing to be their Coffee slinger. I forget her name (Marc would know), but a young lady who was really cool, won the trip and was posted up in the coffee room right next to the TV’s. The NZOC shipped over 500kg of the best coffee, milk and sugar that the country has to offer and anytime you wanted a coffee, all you had to do was ask. Lets just say I had my fill of flat-whites, like a latte but in a smaller cup and only 5mm of foam compared to 7mm. HaHa, I know, I’m a total junky!!
The Canada apartments had similar types of rooms and was serving none-other-than, Tim Horton’s Coffee, which I’m not a fan of but I know many Canadians loved.
All in all, I think that the Kiwis had the best set up at the village. I may be a bit biased but I know several other countries thought the same. One of the best things about arriving into the village was the gear kit that you received once you showed up. We were not supposed to bring anything because once you showed up you recieved all the clothes from your country. I got a huge 50lbs bag of t-shirts, shorts, jackets, pants, sweat suits, sweaters, foot wear and more. The Kiwi colors are black/silver/white, which is perfect for me as those are the colors I’ve been rocking in BMX for the past 10 years.
One of my favorite parts of being ‘Kiwi’ in the village was the Haka. (NZ War Dance), This is a dance that was performed when an athlete who won a medal returned to the building. The whole NZ team (182 athletes’ +support staff) would wait outside for the athlete(s) to turn the corner and when they did, the dance would start. This dance in an old tribal war dance that is done at Rugby Games and gets you really pumped up when you are there in person. When an athlete would walk into the ‘Haka’ there would be a ton of bystander’s video taping the ceremonies, it was pretty awesome!
More tomorrow.
September 18, 2008
The last week has been pretty busy for me, it’s been great to get into the swing of things again and get some much-needed work done. The last week has also been full of birthdays for us Cools. I turned 30, Avrianna turned 2 and yesterday my Dad became another year wiser.
On Monday, I flew out to Vancouver with a few friends to help consult with Yess Products, the best bike manufacturer in the business. I can’t tell you who, or for what, but this is going to be huge and the next best thing in BMX! Once I’m allowed to spill the beans I will post it up here. I’m just excited that I will be apart of this venture, in whatever capacity that is. The meeting went really well and I had a lot of fun, thanks guys for the great day.
Last weekend was the Grand Provincial up in Red Deer and it turned out to be a pretty good weekend. My team did really well and I had a lot of fun hanging out with all the Alberta BMXers and being there for my team. It rained on Friday but the rest of the weekend was perfect, chilly in the morning but hot and sunny by the afternoon. Red Deer is a great place to race, the park is gorgeous and for some reason I love the drive there, it’s really easy and I always enjoy it. This year the track is completely new and overall it’s very technical, which I personally enjoy riding as it’s a ton of fun. There are a few things that need to be tweaked, like a bigger first turn and the pro turn pushed back about 30ft, and then the track would flow and be great. I heard a few complaints from parents that the track sucks. It doesn’t, it’s actually really good and I bet the more your kids ride this track the better they’ll get. Which means the more fun they will have on ALL tracks! And if you didn’t noticed, Red Deer kids have skills!!!!
I know there’s been some ‘banter’ on a different website about how bad the weekend was. Personally, I thought that the weekend went great, weather was good, race was awesome and it was a good time. What I also thought is that 1 official ruined the race for several people. This guy is on a complete power trip and needs to back off! These kids are racing, which means they may bump elbows and not ride in a straight line, but that doesn’t mean they are out there trying to hurt each other and need to be DQ’ed. My Dad and I were in disbelief on how many BS calls this guy made. This man needs a 101 in racing decorum before we have no kids left wanting to race. If you didn’t notice any top Elites there on Sunday, it was because they didn’t want to deal with the constant drama that is associated with this ‘official’. This is unfortunate for the Elites who want to have fun racing the way they’re use to on every other BMX track, and for the kids who are excited to see their favorite Pro race. It’s a double negative that ultimately affects the young kids. The Elites can just go to a different race series, however these kids are ‘stuck’ not really knowing what else is out there in terms of racing in BMX reality.
The rest of the volunteers on the track who give up their time and overall enjoyment of the weekend (so that they can help put a race on for everyone) Thank You!! You do a great job and it sucks that one person makes everyone look bad. Sorry for that.
Just my opinion, and if you don’t like it you have the option of going to another website. Thanks.
On a more positive note, Samantha was also up in Red Deer hanging out with everyone. I know she really appreciated everyone’s support. It really cheered her up as she is still bummed out about the Olympics. Sam had a line up of kids and parents the whole weekend to get a picture or a signature and I was impressed with how well she conducted herself. She also did her own raffle draw, selling off tickets to win her jersey. All the proceeds went to the Riley Zeer fund, the little guy who hurt himself at the Okotoks BMX track, and I think she raised something like $820!
Anyway I’m off, moving to another Country is a very time consuming venture. We are trying to sell off most of our belongings, mainly our electronics and vehicles. I will post a for sale list on my site in a few days and I have a lot of good stuff I need to get rid of. I must say I’ve got good style, which makes for some good stuff, lol!
Here are some pictures of a few of my team riders. I would have had some pictures of the weekend but my usual photographer, Barney was kicked off the track, guess by who?
Brett Sieders
Joel Quennell
Cam “I get DQ’ed for cutting people off who are in front of me” Quennell
Sam Leuck and Sammy Cools
September 8, 2008
Sorry for the lack of updates, I’m still in a fog and feeling burnt out. I’ve been mostly doing nothing but hanging out with my girls, which has been awesome. Last weekend I did a camp in Okotoks with the help of my buddies Luke and Martin, it was a great day. I had about 30 kids show up and we rode all day, they all had an awesome time and it was a lot of fun! This Thursday night I will be doing a camp in Okotoks again from 6:00pm ‘till dark for a cost of $30 per rider with special guest, Samantha Cools! So if you want to come ride with us and hang out with Sam, then we’ll see you on Thursday night. You can sign up at the track with me when you show up. Again, preferred payment is cash only please. The new gate is sweet so that makes it fun to do a camp, especially for that, to help get your gate skills dialed in for the Grand Provincial this weekend!
I still need to talk to the powers that be but I am hoping to do a camp in Red Deer on Saturday after the race. My sister is going to be hanging out with me under the Camp Cools tent this weekend and is going to help me out with the camp, if there is to be one. If you’re at the race then you’ll know if I’ll be doing one. I will also be selling my t-shirts for $10 so come by and get a shirt.
Two weeks after the race in Beijing I’m still trying to figure it out, it was an insane few days and emotions ran higher then I have ever seen them. A few of the top guys looked like they were wound up so tight that they were about to pop, some of them did. The racing started with 2 practices in two days, so there was sufficient time to get the track dialed in. Marc, Sarah and Sam all had it down in no time and were having a lot of fun with it. When we first rolled into Beijing we checked out the track the day of the opening ceremonies and it was in horrible shape. Sometimes when it rains there, the water comes down for days and it comes down in buckets, which it had, so the track was trashed. However, when we returned to Beijing from being in Taiyuan for a week, riding the World Championships track, the track was perfect. One thing the Chinese have down flawlessly is a great work ethic and a mass amount of people. These combined gets things done fast and right.
Marc and Sarah only did the morning practice of the two days. They were feeling confident so I figured that the rest would be better for them so they wouldn’t get burnt out. Sam did both on the first day and only the first on the 2nd day. She had it figured out after that but still had a few issues with the gate. It’s hard at tracks like this to work on your gate because just getting to the top of the starting hill and around the track takes lots out of you.
The 3rd day was the Time Trial (TT) for everyone and quarterfinals for the guys, and the first day where things got real serious. I wasn’t too excited about TT because TT are not Marc’s thing. He’s a racer and really, it doesn’t necisarily matter where you finish. Marc had a decent TT and finished top 20 and Sarah had a couple of good runs and finished 4th overall. Samantha was in the back-of-the-pack but not worried about it at all. The day was done for Sarah and Sam but for Marc he had to go on and race the quarterfinals, which were 3 mottos with total points going thru. As Marc went on his mottos he got faster and faster and finished 2nd out of this motto behind Mikey Day and 3rd fastest on the day. I was stoked and ready for the next day as everyone was looking good, feeling good and having fun. The main thing I focused on in our camp was to keep things low-key, low pressure and to have fun. Overall, I think we did a great job as a team. Marc and Sarah had a good time at the track and I’ve had a few people comment to me on how happy Sarah looked at the race. CBC TV even commented on how happy and chilled Sarah looked .
That afternoon you could see the clouds building and you just knew it was going to rain. When we woke up in the morning it was pouring and I knew right away that there was no way they were going to race. We all headed down to the track anyway as if the race was going as planned but a few hours after we got to the track it they postponed it to the next day. The only saving grace for the track was that they tarped the whole thing with 3 layers of tarps before the rain started. About midnight that night (after 24 hours) the rain finally stopped and they pulled off the tarps to get it ready for the race. When I got to the track at 7am I was in shock to see how good the track was looking. There were a few wet spots that had Chinese guys with blowtorches drying out with flames. By the time the track opened for practice it was perfect. Marc and Sarah were ready to race and in great moods. Samantha was up on the gate for a bit mentally visualizing it and ready to get it done during practice.
Guys went first from 7:50am to 8:20am and Marc looked smooth, loose and having an easy time out there. The girls got to practice from 8:20 to 8:50 with their first gate at 9:00am. Samantha was first up to the gate but when she came down the first straight you could tell something was wrong. But because I was paying attention to Sarah, I didn’t think too much of it. Sarah was looking great! I was happy, she was happy and things were good. After about 10 minutes, Sarah and I walked up the starting hill and noticed Sam sitting up on the side of the gate with no bike. Apparently the mechanic was supposed to put a 45/16 on her bike but he forgot to change the front chain ring and put a 41/16! Are you kidding me? This is the Olympics and the mechanic screws up Samantha’s bike again! So anyways, she gives her bike to him to fix but then he must have panicked or something because 15 minutes later it was still not together in the team pit area! Frantic, I found the Team Canada Manager (who had no idea) and together we got the Switzerland Mechanic to take her bike and fix it for her. After all this, Samantha was in tears as she missed her whole practice and was finally given her bike at 8:50, 10 minutes before she is supposed to race the biggest race of her life! The UCI allowed her take a couple of laps after her practice ended but by the time she got in the gate she was distraught, crying and pretty upset. That’s why she sucked so bad her first lap, ha-ha, sorry Sam! However, she came back around for her second lap and did well and by the time she raced her 3rd motto, she was back to Sam and got the job done by getting herself in the main. By the time that Sammy rolled into the gate for the main she was there and ready to race and doesn’t blame her crash on anyone but herself. Even though a few newspaper reports like to say what they want and take things you say and twist them around; I do think that Sam would have had a better day if she didn’t have this happen. This is the Olympics!!! Is getting a mechanic that knows what he is doing that hard?! We can’t really point the finger at him as he was the only mechanic to do all the sports and to top it off, is a mountain bike guy. All I know is in the Kiwi camp we had 3 mechanics for a smaller cycling team and I had Ryan Hollows, my one and only BMX mechanic, best in the business and would never screw up a bike. Thanks buddy, you’re the man!
Anyway, Sarah breezed thru the mottos and was looking and feeling great. Marc on the other hand had one of the worst days he’s had in a long time, just had no luck at all. I think he crashed all 3 mottos, which is such a bummer because he should have been in the main for sure, I was gutted for him. You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good, as my Dad always use to say.
Sarah had 2nd lane choice in the main on she got to take lane 2. She had great gates and first straight and knew if she was up in the first turn with Ann C and Shinny, that podium would be a shoe in. She came out of the gate pretty good but got cut off a bit over the first jump and lost some speed. You can see her putting the power down and moving up to 3rd going into the first turn, however Diaz came in low and hit Sarah coming out of the turn putting both of them back a few spots while Samantha was picking herself off the track. Sarah tried get up one more spot but just ran out of track, it’s racing and she did her best, I was proud of all three of the these guys.
Big shout out to Mikey Day for killing it! I was hoping he would have pulled off the Gold but Silver is an incredible accomplishment. He called me two days ago and he just finished doing the Oprah Show, Baller! Then he backs that up with the Flats Race in Kingston and takes home the win and $10,000 cash. Mikey is going to party like a rock star in Vegas next week and Jenn and I might be heading down there to hang out him and help him spend some of that bonus $$.
Today is my 30th birthday and Jenn and I are heading out to Fairmont in the morning for two nights of Mountain Hot Springs. I have tons more to update so I may update while I am in the mountains but more likely in a few days.
Here are some pictures of the track. This is me sporting my usual head gear for the race, a sweat towel. It was really hot and humid there. 
This was the warm-up area behind the starting hill.
Front of the start hill.
From the top of the gate.
Behind the start hill from on top of the gate, warm-up area and team sheds.
This was the venue picture outside of the main spectator entrance.
September 3, 2008
I have been home from China for about a week now and I’m still not over the jet lag. On the weekend was the CBA Grand Nationals here in Calgary so I spent the weekend down there to support my team, fully equipped with no sleep and a BBQ! It was fun to hangout at an old fashioned BMX race with the kids and no pressure or real job other than to flip a burger. Unfortunately, Sunday was rained-out and it ended up being an extremely wet and cold day for those who waited around for the better part of the day. This extreme weather change isn’t helping me out much with this already hard transition!
The whole Olympic experience is still unraveling in my mind and I’m still not sure what to make of it all. As all of you know, Sam crashed and finished 7th, Sarah a solid 4th and Marc had one of the unluckiest days of his life and crashed out in his Semis. At the time you get pretty bummed out that you didn’t win a medal, as the whole idea of going to the games is to get something around your neck. However, the more I think about everything it’s such an accomplishment to place where these guys did, something that only few could dream about. So I’m proud of all of them and all 3 are still so young that they’ll have a few more shots at it. The Olympics was somewhat of an overwhelming experience for me, with all of the emotional highs and lows. It’s still taking time to register and process.
I have lots to say and have a bunch of stories that I will start to post up here tomorrow with what really went on at the race. Some stuff you won’t hear about on CBC!
This weekend Luke Wilson helped put together a gate camp in Okotoks. The camp will run on the new Pro-Gate on Saturday from 10:00am to 1:00pm for a cost of $30 per rider at the Okotoks BMX track. We will focus on first straights and gates and you can sign up when you get there, cash only please.
Also this weekend is the Flats race up in Kingston. It’s going to be an awesome race so if you are an Elite rider than you NEED to head out there, $30 000 PRO PURSE!!! It’s gonna be wild!