The guys really needed a day off to recoup & rest tired muscles, me included!!
Friday was meant to be qualifiers, but now it was the final day of practice & building, so we were up at the site at sunrise to make the most of each precious minute we had. The major goal for the day for Kelly was to clear the canyon gap, the 73ft monster of a gap that if caught short would send you down about 30ft to the bottom of the canyon.
3 other riders had a go that morning before Kelly tried it, they all came slightly short but still made it over, then it was Kellys turn and I watched through my camera lens as it makes it a bit more easier. He made it, but only just, I think my blood curdling scream as I thought he was going to fall down the canyon reverberated around the entire mountain! He needed way more speed if he was even going to start thinking about tricking it.
We broke for lunch and after being fed and watered our awesome dig crew continued perfecting is line while Kelly practiced his run ins, including a corked back flip over the top hip.
As the sun went down, Kelly had to give the gap another go to try more speed, this time I couldn't watch at all and turned my back, I'm glad I didn't watch cause he crashed hard, went down, and stayed down for a while. Luckily the paramedics were watching him do it so they were right there with him, and I ran down the mountain to see if he was ok.
He was sore, but ok, he smashed hard on his right hip and had an immediate hematoma and big graze, I'm so glad he was wearing his spine protector.
We knew what we had to do to his line to create more speed, so the morning of qualifiers, we made the adjustments and Kelly gave it another shot, this time clearing it with no trouble.
Qualifying began, Kelly was last to go cause his line was the furtherest to the side of the mountain, with a super clean run without any tricks, Kelly made it to the bottom for the first time in four Rampages, which was an accomplishment in itself.
He added in the hip flip at the top for the second run, was clean the rest of the way down and qualified for finals in 10th position. Also stoked to see our mate Mke Hopkins make it through with an epic run.
We all were so excited, Kelly had finally made it to the finals of Rampage, something that should have happened a long time ago.
In the remaining daylight hours, Kelly & Mike & our teams worked together to add some extra features to their runs for finals the next day.
Absolutely wrecked from digging, my good right wrist was packing in, I could hear & feel it creaking as the tendon was so inflamed and my bad left wrist was actually feeling better!!
Kelly was feeling good for the next day, he knew he could flip the gap, and was feeling good on the bike.
25 of the worlds best riders were scheduled to ride the next day, some huge names had some super scary lines and plans for the finals, it was going to be a super tough competition but Kelly had already reached a new level making the finals and I was so proud of him.
Lucky number 13....
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