In my head, there was a massive explosion. Bike parts and pieces of my body armor went in all direction. Spectators near by had to take cover from the carnage. I slide 100 feet over jagged stones with the back of my head bouncing of the steel hard dirt. I left a trail of fire from where I landed on the ground to where I came to rest. Hunderds perished, thousands were left homeless, and mountain crossers world wide held there breath.

What actually happened is obviously different than what I saw in my head.

I came into the lead up to the 30' long triple jump of the infamous Chicksands track. Just as I left the lip of the jump I knew my foot was wrong. I decided to suck the jump up and drop my back tire into the first and second dips instead of flying over the whole thing and landing with one foot.

I left the lip of the jump. My foot came off like I thought it would. I over shot the first dip and landed, back tire first, into the second valley of the three hump jump. The bike and I bounced back into the air and I almost managed to get my foot back on, but it was too late. At some where between the 20 and 25 mph mark, I landed on the ground on my right knee. I ditched the bike and rolled.

While in a roll I bounced off my right cheek (not my face) and smashed the back of my head along the rocks.

I came to a rest nearly 30 feet from the landing of the triple and about ten feet from my bike.

After a quick check on myself (Move foot-check good. Move leg-check good...) I bounced back up with nothing more than a desire to do the jump again-minus the fall.

Sixsixone- You saved my life today.

All of that on my second practice run.

I'd in the day in 5th for the series and I finished out the day in the semi-finals, where all I had to do was beat 3 time UK National 4X champion and Pro rider Martin "Oggy" Ogden (Ram Bikes) and Pro rider Daniel Yeomans  (Curits/Easton) to the finish line. 

Is that all? Phhbbb, that's too easy.

I got a great gate with them and even stuck it out through 3/4 of the track just half a bike length from Yeoman's back tire and about five bike lengths behind Oggy...but only two from this race would move forward to the final four.

So close.

Had I made it, I'd have been the only rookie in a line of full-paid, factory supported, world cup winning, crew.

For a new guy like me, that would have been a dream race! Shoot, I'm happy I made it to the semi-finals today!

Tomorrow's the nationals! Same place, same channel!

Bob Burnes

You can take so many lessons from one race. One race can inspire you to new ends or it can break your will to compete. I've chosen the inspiration end of that spectrum.

Round one wasn't a very good race for me. Shoot, it wasn't a very good race for alot of people, but it's over and behind us and we've got an awesome course ahead of us.

The Chicksands course is a multi-line beauty that could easily make it to the worlds UCI rounds. With an extension in the works, it's promising to be even better in '07.

I've been completing the MTB Strength Training System program every other day (Mon-Wed-Fri). Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, I'm at the track practicing gates, turning, and what is slowly becoming less and less of a weakness-jumping with speed.

With some awesome coaching from multi-national 4X/BMX champ Martin "Oggy" Ogden and some great advice from Dave Garland (Stendec Racing: www.stendec-works.com) they've really helped me raise the bar for this round.

It's not going to be an easy round to win. The 30-39 crowd is not full of push-overs and gettin' old foogies. These guys mean business and many of them have decades of experience. Winning here would certainly call for a celebration!

I've also since changed my plans on where I want to go with this 4X thing. I want to go all the way. I want to go pro and compete on a world level and I want to get more involoved with my sponsors in the research and development area of the products I use. Pretty big step I know, but I'm willing to put the work in to get there.

Here's the track low-down for Saturday's UCI Super-Cross and Sunday's National Race:

Temps: 50-65 f

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Track: Slightly tacky from recent rain, but weather reports are calling for the possibility of thunderstorms Saturday. If it doesn't rain and temps stay warm then we're looking at a dry and very fast course.

Thank you for all your support!

Bob Burnes

The chase for the national title began March 4th at 1230 pm under the only indoor BMX track in England; The Sheffield Wheelbase track in rainy, cold Sheffield.