LamaCycles/NS Bikes
Garrett Robertson kicked off his 2013 season in the best way possible by taking home the win at the annual Teva Winter Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado! Here's what he had to say:
"I'd been looking forward to this event all season, it's basically a massive snow jump....over a huge fireball..... on bikes! The crowd at Vail was unreal and the jump was perfect, nice and floaty with plenty of airtime but not soooo big that you were terrified to try anything crazy.
I arrived in Denver on Wednesday and met up with Chris Olivier of
Plussizebmx.com to hangout and do some riding around the Denver area. It was nice to do some riding again before the event and relax for a bit in Denver after the long drive. On Friday morning we packed up and headed to Vail. It was a short 2 hour drive and it looked like the conditions were going to be perfect! it was a nice sunny day and just cold enough to keep the snow hard enough to ride on. Practice went great, I ended up going a little fast on my first hit and having to hit the eject button but everything went smoothly after that. I did a couple of flips to feel out the jump, I knew I wanted to lawn dart it before I even got to Vail but after hitting I was set on doing it for the big air comp.
Saturday was a long waiting game, I had a short practice session but just jumped it a couple times. I was dying to start the competition and start really going for it but we had to wait until night. They set up the lights and had a huge fireball shooting up in between the gap. All my nervous excitement was killing me but finally 6 o clock rolled around and we headed up the hill. It was an hour long jam session and we were alternating jumps with the telemark skiers next to us. I wasn't sure how many jumps we would get in so I figured I would go for it early and try the lawn dart on my second run. The snow made it really tough to see how far I was from landing and I ended up tucking in to complete my flip too early. I didn't realize I was over rotating until it was too late and there was nothing I could do but brace for impact. It certainly didn't feel good but after a few minutes I knew I hadn't hurt anything and would be okay to try again. My next two attempts didn't end like I had hoped either. I had the right rotation but my right hand blew off the handlebar when I landed on both attempts. I wasn't sure what I was going to do to hold on and I was running out of time. Right as I was about to drop in for my final attempt Jeremy Wytek told me "Just death grip the bars and ride that thing out!" It ended up being very good advice, in a split second decision I took my fingers off the brakes and locked them onto the handle bars. Normally on a lawn dart I would grab my back brake as I tuck in to complete the front flip. I had no idea if the flip would rotate without me grabbing the brake but there was no way I was going to let my hand blow off again. It ended up working perfectly, in fact I didn't even really notice a difference other than the fear and uncertainty I was feeling on the run up. As I landed and road away the crowd exploded in applause, it was an amazing feeling and I was so happy that I kept pushing to land the lawn dart.
It was my biggest win so far and I'm really excited to start off the 2013 season on a high note. I've been working hard this winter and I'm looking forward to pushing forward and keeping this momentum going throughout the season."
