Wow. I wrote the biggest essay about this and it all just deleted. Ha not doing it again.
-Finished 3rd on Day 1, better day on Sunday finishing 2nd
-Sister won her first title
-Did TV interview for TV 3 which was hilarious
-Good times.

The day of time trials came along, I was feeling confident and getting the track sorted, hitting the triple into the corner before time trials. When it came to stand on the gate for the lap I was nervous as hell. Managed a good gate, but then to over shoot first jump and made mental error to just jump onto the triple. Got the rest of the track reasonably smooth  and ended up 69th. something 0.177 seconds off the cut. With the new format being 1 lap no crap I had basically traveled 30 hours for one lap. Something I do not want to be doing again.
Overall though I am pleased with how things went, it was a fun trip and alot different than the last time I was here, but certainly coming away from it with a list of things to work on and keep on working at.

I've settled in well here, jet-lag hasn't really hit me very hard, I've been able to sleep 8-9 hours each night so getting enough sleep to get me through the day. The days have been pretty chill, few gym sessions and track/sprint sessions to keep the day going and keeping the body moving and into the same sort of routine when back home.
Had a look at the track, and wow. Track jump is into a 270 corner with a dirt jump pro set then a nascar flat bank corner into the longest rhythm of all time haha. Should be fun! Track has been covered for the majority of the time because of rain, everyday it has rained here so hopefully it stops by Thursday.

Some of the exciting things that have happened so far:

Daniel Franks pile driving Martijn Scherpen (Dutch team) when we were practicing at Golden Horse casino today. He basically had a head on collision because he was standing on the inside, Daniel went inside as well, then splat. Both were ok and was a laugh after that. I was riding behind him when it happened and looked so insane going from like 40km to 0 and flying over the top off him.

The local restaurant having to wait over an hour and half for meals. But I don't care the steaks are amaaaaaazing. 300g fillet for under 18nz dollars is so good.

Gym tomorrow then Track ride after that! hopefully shitty weather passes.

I had some good pics of the track but my SD card has decided to fall apart, so I have to steal some pics off a few people ha.

I'm currently in Perth in the Qantas gold lounge being a high roller on one of the 20 Macs they have here as free internet computers ha. 

This is the start of my trips for the year, and I'm going to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. 6 hour flight to Perth, 5 hour layover and then 12 hours to Johannesburg, pick up bags, then fly to Durban, from there  hour drive to Pietermaritzburg. Everything has gone good so far, so hopefully stays that way. 

The track Layout looks insane for this world cup with so much things going on! will be a fun practice for sure.

I didn't end up posting this so will carry on with the story.


Boarding the flight to Johhansesburg I was so tired from trying to keep myself awake so I could sleep in the plane, got into the plane, took half of Sarah's sleeping pills and I was knocked out for half the flight. But for next half I was just pinging the whole time not tired at all so got to watch a few movies. We got into Joburg at 5am SA time so I was pretty much tripping out not knowing if I was tired or awake or hungry or anything. We all managed to get into the Gold lounge as well so the 3 hour layover wasn't bad at all.
Flight from Joburg to Durban was a quick one with an hour drive to the motel we had finally arrived. I think it was something like 30 hours of travel and waiting in lounges until we actually got here, but it could have been alot worse.
We settled down had lunch, which felt like dinner, then had 6 hours to burn until tea, this was a burner.
We went to go look at the track to waste some time, and i was surprised with the track, it's no Chula Vista that's for sure. The track graphic design looks a lot scarier haha, but will for sure be a fun track to shred on. 3rd straight rhythm section looks like it will be the hardest straight. The track jump looks like its tiny, but haven't had a decent look yet, certainly looks jumpable, don't know about flow but that's all gonna show when we ride.
We decided that it would be a good idea to go for a swim, so we go to the pool and Daniel Franks decided to do a sick bomb in the pool. He cut his head open and then needed 12 stitches and a bald patch on his head which looks hilarious.
We finished tea at about 7 and I decided to try stay up as late as possible to try get into normal sleep routine, I got to 8pm then comoed for a solid 10hours sleep and felt like the best sleep of my life.

Today we are hitting the gym then a chill session at the track, so hopefully the rain keeps away(yes it's raining, its bs) but everything's going well so far. Got a few pics of some boredom moments.

Got a new video editing software, so put this together. Windows movie maker, I will never use you again.

The weekend started off with a 2am start to drive to Auckland to get ready for the 10am practice session. Was absoutley stuffed and felt the mcdonalds I had for breakfast start to come up. Good a good nights sleep and was feeling really good for saturday. The vibe at the track was so good, big marquees up, lots of people, food stands, it just all felt like a legit race meet. Racing went well, Finished 2nd after winning whole lap, but definetley a lot of positives I can take from that and be confident for South Africa WC.
On the Sunday I felt so flat, needed alot to get me going and was all too late and finished with a weak 3rd on the Sunday but managed podium both days so not too bad at all.
Clinton Tudor was there getting the professional photos part covered, its so good to him out there so getting the sickest shots and getting the NZ Bmx scene out there with some rad pics.

Went to Rotorua for the Flats meet, which I had been to for the last 3 years and was so keen to ride it, but my elbow was still not 100% so decided to flag it and not risk it. Ended up being a flag marshal on the corner and got stupidly sunburnt which was really fun. Taupo the next day for race and elbow still felt bad so decided not to risk it again, track looked rad and fast so was really pissed not to be riding.

Monday we had planned a race with Bevan from More FM radio for bikewise night, so decided I might as well roll around. Well I got carried away and tried to jump, and felt my elbow click, but in a good way, so rode more, and felt it click again. And then got to ride the rest of the afternoon with relatively no pain at all, and was/has been good ever since so im happy. Night turned out really well with over 200 people turning up! And some good publicity as well. The local scene here is starting to grow really well and i'm super stoked to see that.

will throw some pics up of the weekend. ok I don't have any.
WINNING.

A lot had changed since the camp this time last year, but for the best of things. Had a really good time at this camp, weather was amazing! Somehow. Got stupidly long sessions of riding done, and were some of the funniest training sessions I’ve done! Ate the most amazing pizza from local Pizza Bar, it was a Roast Lamb pizza with mint sauce, yeeeeeeeeeeeees.

By the end of the week I was stuuuuuuuffed but a good week of training and catching up with everyone else in the world is always good, especially when I’m stuck in Gisborne, by myself... hahahahaha.

I stole some pics from Jones so chur.

Early January I went on my first non bmx holiday in about 5 years! It was a bit weird just having to lie around all day and not go to a race but I was fine with that. We went to Lake Waikaremoana which is 80 kilometres southwest of Gisborne.  We had been going just about every year of my life until bmx took over and hadn’t been there since. It’s always good to come back to the jumping spot where I always used to be so scared of when I was younger, and find it stupidly small now. Family enjoyed to go fishing alot, but I really don’t find standing around for 2hours too exciting, plus I suck at fishing haha, the main fish there are Trout, which are amazing to eat,

Had a really good time, and a great break for my body to get right into the 2011 season.

2010 is just about over, and for me, was the biggest year of my life, and it all happened so quick.
Starting the year off at a HP camp where I got told I was selected for the Europe squad was a good start to the year. then getting knocked out on Puni berm jump... maybe not a highlight at all, just a nightmare ha. Nationals was my first year of Junior men, and was for sure a crazy one. The Sunday was a better day with so much luck going my way and finishing 3rd.
From there was a few days home and then traveling to Europe begun. This was pretty big for me, because it was the biggest flight I had done other than to Aussie a few times. But the morning of my flight, I watch on TV that Mt rjackfrrvjvhfvfsbruchjbswhjcrbsc decides to blow up and delays our flight 4-5 days. This was almost a blessing in disguise though, as we ended up going to Chula Vista, San Diego, USA and train on the Olympic Replica track, this was also my first time ever on a SX ramp. It was a huge help having to hit the biggest SX track in the world first time, made others feel sorta tame. When Mt rjackdhjsjfjfjajdjdjsjfjksfthjehfjk decided to sorta stop erupting, we got our flight to Italy back on, to ride in 2 European champ rounds in Perugia. Another learning experience for me here, as the track was like triangles (not even joking) super gnarly. Over 130 people went to hospital that weekend, and alot of serious crashed (4 in NZ team got injured on the track as well). Roads in Italy were terrible, drivers were even worse and tooted at just about anything, riding down the road we got tooted at more than I had ever been in my whole life. Ended up making semi, but got loose in the triangle rhythm section and coming 5th and out of qualifying position. Copenhagen was next on the trip, this was for the second World Cup Round of the year and my first ever SX race. I was so nervous just everywhere, managed to get full lap in both time trials. but it was not pretty, at all. Was great to experience the whole thing and witnessing Marc Willers bomb Sam Willoughby on first corner in the Semi final was definitely the highlight. This was the end of the trip, and begun to make our way home. This time got to feel the full 24 hours of flying in packed plane. BURN. I was jet lagged for a long long time. This was a huge experience for me.
Next trip was the Pre Worlds camp. This was in Murrietta, San Diego, USA. We were staying in a house living next to normal Americans, good experience. Main reason for this camp was because it was winter in NZ and rain was unpredictable. So 30+ temperatures and sun everyday was amazing. I also learnt that I sucked at riding dirt jumps haha (hence the reason why I wanted to build dirt jumps in Gisborne). A camp in Chula Vista was done again as well, feeling alot more comfortable on the track as well I felt I was ready for the World Champs In Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

World Championships in South Africa was a tough one. We went to a ghetto track (casino) and gate malfunctioned and didn't drop which flipped 5 of us over. My wrist got wasted, hip got attacked by the bar and re injured ankle again. Not being able to walk, 5 days out from the biggest race of your life... not the best prep but fought through it and felt ready as ever to ride. Got to the practice day and I felt alright again. The track was super gnarly, well pro section was. It was really tight and steep. I managed to get through it on both days, which alot of juniors didn't even get through. I didn't have the track on lock so my racing I felt was very average. Its all learning though, and Ive learnt from this and it will only make me better. Managed to bend my bars in cruiser and annihilate my ankle once more, made semi in cruiser and guys slid out in front of me and that basically finished me off.
Next was  the World Cup in Chula Vista, USA. This was the hardest SX race yet with 170+ riders, and all HUGE names. But even because of this, I felt it was my best Supercross race yet. practice went well, I was confident on the track and not nervous to hit the jumps. didn't pull out of the Berm Jump once as well which I was super happy with. Time Trials... So nervous for the first lap. Over shot first jump to flat then managed to put a decent lap in after that. Second time trial, I undershot the staircase into first corner, which was fine then over shot berm jump and lost alot of speed. Ended up like 80th and off qualifying by a second and bit. Watching the racing live was good. But racing would have been alot better.
North Island Champs was the last big race for the year, with 2 Oceania rounds. Finished 2nd overall and was a good way to round off the year of riding.


Huge Thanks to My Parents and family, Ken Cools, John Cowell, Ryan Hollows, Bikenz and all the support staff there, Alan Hogarth, Tairawhiti Rising Legends and Travel Foundation, Adestra Foundation and everyone has supported me along the way. Without these people I would not have any of the opportunities that I have been given, Thank you.

Happy New Year!