Ray: Colorado Freeride Festival

Hi Everyone, Well after Claymore challenge I flew over to Denver, Colorado for the Colorado free ride Festival. Had a bit of a wait in the airport but got there eventually. Met up with Godziek, Churchman and Yakub, managed to get to the car rental place and thats where we had some trouble. apparently the car we had booked was to big for the driver who rented it because he was under 25 so we tried everything to get a car. thankfully I had a booking that I had canceled but was still on the system so we got a free upgrade to a Kia Sorento but that was still to small. being there till 4:30am i had had enough so we booked into a hotel and I booked another car from another company in my name, since i was the only one over 25. So we now had 2 cars which legally only i was allowed to drive, luckily nothing bad happened and we got away with it.

Had an amazing drive to Winter Park where the event was. Stopped loads to take pictures and look at the scenery. Got to winter Park at around 6pm picked up our keys, got to our apartment and chilled out with a few beers.

Spent the next day checking out the course and chilling in the Hot Tub. Thursday and Friday I got to ride the course and get use to it. I was a little wary about the first drop and again it was a flat drop so my tricks were very limited on that. Still need more practice on those damn flat drops. Had an amazing time riding the last jump was to good, landed my second ever front on dirt and got my flip whips dialled in. Saturday was Qualifying and finals. It was a jam format quaili's which took the pressure off. I felt really good got some sick runs in and Qualified 2nd which i was stoked on. Unfortunately the rain came down and the finals were postponed till sunday, So that meant that the riders party was rubbish, I left at 11:30 to get some rest for finals which started at 9am. Never had a great sleep all nervous about finals. Got down there early and they were still working on the course trying to get it dry. Eventually practise started and I was feeling good. got my runs dialled in. I was 15th to drop in, thats when the nerves kicked in. I dropped in for my first run which went just as i hoped. 1 foot X the drop whip up the whale tail to flip table off, off access flip the hip, whip off the Up Box, whip the racer an flip whipped the last jump. Unfortunately they had put sand on the landing to make it softer but I caught a deep spot which sent me over the bars. I hate messing up the first run because that puts so much pressure on you to get the second run perfect. Second run came and i did the same run again, just landed a little flat on the whip off the up box which made me miss the trick on the racer and still struggling for speed I made a last minute decision to front flip the last. It worked out well landed perfect and that was my third front on dirt. Waited ages for the results but found out I came 17th which i was happy with. Obviously Brandon Semenuk took the win, Soderstrom in 2nd and Brett Reeder in 3rd. Pilgrim hurt his shoulder so was unable to ride but he was every riders super fan that day. Had an amazing time in Winter Park and I think ill definitely be back next year. Got the cars back and flew out to LA on the monday. Heading off to WoodWard west next week which I am really looking forward to. Stay tuned for more antics and the rest of my trip. Cheers for now..