Nick Dawg: #steepcrest

Finally had a few minutes to bang the keys a bit and get some text laid down to describe the Red Bull event last weekend. For starters I have to say I was stoked to even get an invite to the event because for whatever reason people view Red Bull as the pinnacle of the sport. They do things proper as shit when it comes to events and athletes so to even get the nod was kind of cool. I had work scheduled that day but Rachel came through with the coverage and that made it possible to attend, so shout her out for that. Matt was quick to hop on the trip bandwagon so me and him talked about it all week and made joke after joke about how sketchy it would be. As the day got closer I took the mentality of eff it I am going to ride Im gonna give it a solid go and rip that thing. We wake up at the crack of dawn on 4 hours of sleep to make it down to SF by the riders meeting at 7:30am. Alicia and Matt stumble off to Mc Donalds and I get the first look of the who's who that was invited along with me. It was an epic group of dudes from my generation that were and will always be straight rippers in different aspects of BMX. From dudes still living the bmx dream to legends that never chased it but it followed them anyway. I had a solid streak at one time in the contest scene so everyone knows me well and to an extent all those guys are my idols and living legends and I enjoy sharing in a session with them so it's an odd feeling to compete against them. Anyway we get acquainted to the staff puttin on the event sign away our lives and start to trolley up the hill. I already knew we were in for a LONG day when the trolley was smoking like crazy just to make it up the 21% grade. Wild. We get to the top and dudes are wondering how to scrub off speed for the initial run, squeeks aka Josh heads down first brakeless and just gets murdered into hay at the bottom. I was shortly behind him and feathered the brakes to save myself. Racer guy behind me skids down and blows a tire first run from skidding so much. Dummy. and it just got wilder after that, we start hitting the small kickers at 35-45mph and things get loose in a hurry. Great times and everyone was juiced. Qualifying was cut throat as hell and quick. Mind you this is a test event so they just want to see the action quick and see how it works. we made 4 groups of 4 and they said winner out of each group moves to a 4man final and winner takes all. WOW. I draw Kurtis Elwell in my heat and D block and someone else and Im stressing Kurtis for sure. Dude has been an icon for me for years and he can pedal and fearless as they come. Only dude at 7am who was drinking coors type of guy. I get a good start and me and Kurtis start to pull away but he fades after the first jump. I pin it the whole time and finally when I want to stop and slow down I catch a solid speed wobble for about 50-75feet at 40mph or so? Sooooo sketchy and everyone thought I was done for. I fought it off and rode it out like a boss and everyone started making jokes and it was hilarious. Ticket punched to the final where I had Jason Lopez of Haro/Premium fame to deal with. He lays waste to me for the first leg of the hill. Im watching him the whole time and I tell myself when he stops pedaling I have to take 4-5 more cranks, sure enough he stops to get set for the first jump and I seize the moment to gain ground, we hit the jump at the same time, but my extra cranks have paid off Im carrying more momentum and pass him quickly, at this point I take 2 cranks more and tuck in for the hill bomb. Jason ended up fading to 3rd and I held on for the win. I was stoked and crashed into the hay wall. Hopped up to a cheering crowd and high fived everyone. It was a dope experience to win but the results are irrelevant just seeing and being respected and held in the high regards of the riders at the event that day is the real payoff. BMX has given me everything in life, it truly has as crazy as that sounds and most of those guys have been there every step of the way. So to those other 15 guys I salute you. Truly Nor Cal's finest out there that day and respect to everyone. Shout out Jackson for the invite. Next year Im doubling up and taking the MTB title too. Ill post more about this soon. It was sick.