June 28, 2009

I’ve been in Wellington these past few days for the BMXNZ AGM on the weekend and then today I have been in BikeNZ head offices doing a few things. The trip back from Canada was a great one. We had a 9 hour layover in LAX, which at first I though was the worst thing in the world, however it turned out great. When we got into LA we took a trolley down to Manhattan Beach and spent the afternoon/evening hanging out and playing in the sand. Avrianna just loves the Ocean and the beach and we were all loving the California sun and welcoming breeze.

Our flight left at midnight, so by the time we got back on the plane, we were all wiped out and all 3 of us slept most of the way. It was great.

Being back here in New Zealand is awesome; I love this place and will most likely be here for a very long time. It was great to go back to Canada and see everyone but our home is now in NZ and it feels great to be back here. Today Avrianna started up school again, the education system here is so much better than in Canada.

For all of the New Zealand kids who are using the training program that I set up for the Worlds, you’re only about 4 weeks out of the race so make sure your putting in the work. I know it’s rainy at times but you gotta do the best you can. Most of you know I HATE clip pedals and prefer you to train on flats. However,its time now that all your training is done on clip pedals if you are going to Adelaide. This will make sure your dialed into your bike.

Here are some pictures of my last camp in Stony Plain. Thank you to all the kids and parents who came out to my camps in Canada, I had a blast.

June 19, 2009

Today is a special day for the Cools family. Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife Jenn. Thank you for always supporting me in whatever I do, including moving to the other side of the world!

This afternoon I am headed up to Stony Plain to start this weekend’s camp. It begins tonight for the Experts at 6pm and will run to about 8:30. Tomorrow morning (Saturday) we will go from 9 am - 2 pm for the Beginner & Novice riders only. From 2pm - 6 pm the Intermediate & Expert riders will be getting on the track.

I am splitting up the groups into 2 so that we may focus on some more technical stuff with the Expert riders. This will also allow for the Novice riders to have more fun and do a few different things that they will enjoy.

Sunday we are going with one group together from 9am to 3pm. This will be good for everyone, the numbers will be smaller this year so the group wont be that large. If you came to the Summer Camp then this will be a free camp for you so please come out if you can.

Nick Goertzen, Josh “Nemo” Woolman, Calvin McRae and Mr. Smooth Jeff Jacobson are going to be helping me for the weekend. This is the last camp I have here in Canada until next summer when I come back home for a visit.

On Monday morning we get back on a plane and get to travel for 30 hours on the way back to New Zealand. I’m really looking forward to getting back but I could do without the travel, especially with a highly energetic 2 year old. If anyone has any tips/tricks or toy suggestions that may help with occupying long-ish periods of time, please email me!!

Heres a picture of Matt McCormack. Matt is a BMXer from Kelowna, who didn’t do his sprints, so now he has to model with hot chicks in Thailand! Go Zoolander!

June 16, 2009

Sitting at yet another airport on my way to Kelowna BC. I had a big group of kids that came out to my snowed out Summer Camp from Kelowna so  today I’m flying there to take care of these kids the best I can.

I know there are a few people who are upset about the cancellation of summer camp but I hope everyone knows that no one was more upset about this than me.

We tried to get this camp to go despite the weather. On Friday night we had a great session of dry land training and dynamic stretching which I taught the kids how to do. We also had a lot of fun on Friday night with come cool BMX videos. Saturday morning we woke up to below zero weather and snow! There is nothing that we could have done to prevent this. Saturday we tried our best to figure out the situation but there were no indoor facilities available.

Saturday morning we spent a few hours with the Pros, talking about mental toughness, training, what the Pros do to get where they are and the Olympics experience to name a few things. I also had speeches on goal setting and self-belief. We then opened the floor for questions so that the kids could ask the Pros any questions that they had. Unfortunately, you can only talk so much and there was nothing else we could have done. So we decided to cancel the camp a day into it as Mother Nature won the battle.

On the forms that were signed it states a policy ‘No Refunds’. This is because it costs thousands of dollars to get the Pros up here and then the other accommodations ect… To have the caliber of racers we did it cost lots of money! Even though the weather had a different plan for us, it doesn’t mean we can go back on our word to pay them.

For those who came to camp I am offering the following:

-2-day camp voucher for any Camp Cools that I will be doing, this is good until you use it!
-$75 off of next years Summer Camp at which most of the pros who were here will be back.
-I will also be offering a 3 month training program which would normally cost 250$. 

I hope this works for everyone but I think this is fair as we did to everything in our power. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Last night we had to say good by to my family as they are leaving for Kingston tomorrow and I will be in Kelowna. Here is a picture of my princess and me.

June 14, 2009

Currently sitting at yet another airport, on my way back from Kingston where I had an awesome camp this weekend. I love Kingston! The people there are some of the best people in BMX and Todd Harper, the man behind the track, does an incredible job. This is my 4th trip to Kingston and it gets better every time, not to mention that the kids are getting faster and faster. We had about 45 kids out this weekend, which is an awesome turnout for any track. There are some kids out there who blew me away, I hope that by this time next weekend they’ve put their names on the BMX map!

Nick Goertzen flew out with me to help with the camp, thanks Nick; you did a terrific job this weekend. Nick does his own camps up here in Canada and in my opinion is a great coach and is awesome with the kids, not to mention his bike skills are thru the roof!

The Canadian Championships are on this (Kingston) track next weekend and it’s top notch! Last year they held the ERA Flat pedal race for which they built this track. After the race they made a few changes to get it ready for all the riders to be able to ride and it turned out great. It’s one of the best tracks in Canada, if not the best, with a big Pro-Section down the second straight that certain Canadian “top” Elites are going to have issues with. Maybe this week some people should quit doing their long sprints and go ride some jumps!

You heard it here first! Derick Sipkoi is going to own Elite next weekend. Derick is a fellow tattooed Canadian who lives and grew up in California and is coming up for this race. Last year he raced the Nationals with a broken foot so didn’t produce, but seeing this track I know he will do well. But what do I know!

Last weekend my big summer camp got SNOWED OUT! Are you kidding?! I don’t even want to talk about it. All the kids who came to camp last weekend have a two day camp voucher with me as well as a $75 off for next summer camp, so if you’re in the Stony Plain area then come out to the camp this weekend. I will post some pictures this week from the last few weekends.

June 4, 2009

Here is a checklist of things you need to bring to camp this weekend:

-Racing clothes, at least 2 changes
-Changes of clothes for warm and cold weather
-Indoor shoes and gym clothes for indoor training
-Toiletries, you don’t have to brush your teeth but you should
-Swim Trucks and towel; we’re going swimming! I will personally be putting $100 in a pot for a belly flop contest and encourage all parents to add to the fund. The bigger the payout, the bigger the belly flop!
-Jacket and maybe a rain jacket! It maybe cold!
-BMX racing or riding videos with your name and number on both the disk and case.

Parents can you please not let your children bring the following:

-Dora Videos (not this weekend!)
-Candy, Chocolate bars or chips! We will have our own treats and also can regulate them a little better.
-CELL PHONES! No kid under 15 should have one! I will be passing my number out to any parent who wants it and will have this phone on my hip the whole time.
-Bad attitude! I will send you home!

June 4, 2009

The last few weekends have been great, starting off with Red Deer and then up to St. Albert. Camps went off without a hitch, good turn out on both and the weather was good as well. A big thanks to Josh Woolman, Tim Pratt, Cam Helm, Cam Quennell, Dayton Peterson and Calvin McRae for helping me out as trainers over the past couple of camps.

This weekend is my big Summer Camp, which is being held in Airdrie; all the guys are flying in tonight which will be fun to see all my buddies. I will be picking up Mikey and Marc and then watching the Lakers game tonight in the first game of the NBA finales. Last year Mikey and I bet $500 at the beginning of the playoffs and of course, my team won, this year not so lucky. Good thing we didn’t throw down a bet this year or I would have lost my winnings.

The weather up here has been awesome, well until tomorrow that is. It’s supposed to rain this weekend and there is really nothing I can do with that. Since this weekend is a “Summer Camp” we will have plenty of things we will be doing if we need to move it inside for some of the day. If we can’t be on the track we will be filling the time by:

-In Door Training Sessions
-Watching BMX Videos
-Talks on Racing
-Mental Approach to Racing and Training
-Question and Answer with the Pros

So no matter what the weather is going to be like this weekend, the camp is a go. Please bring a warm jacket and a few changes of clothes, as you may just need it. This is Alberta though; lets keep our fingers crossed and hope that it’s hot and sunny outside.

Pictures from the Red Deer camp.

May 22, 2009

Have been spending the week hanging out at my parents and at Jenns parents, nothing new or exciting happening right now. Spending lots of wasted time on Facebook, but who doesn’t. Sorry Mr. Knight, I’ll make sure next week is more exciting for you, haha. I did start going to the gym here in Airdrie this week though, gotta loose the gut and lately I have been feeling like there’s a bit more ‘pop’ to my step.

Last week I was down in Airdrie for the UCI race. It took me 2 hours to walk from my car to the gate of the track, as I was catching up with a lot of people. Finally made it to the track to watch a round of the Elite riders go at it. I heard that the tunnel was taken out of the track and it didn’t set in until I saw it myself. I dont understand why after 17 years, multiple UCI rounds, Canadian Champs and no one ever getting hurt on it, why is it now unsafe? Come on! Really! Sounds like people are power tripping again.

For those of you who dont know the story of the tunnel then here it is. About 18 years ago we use to get a ton of flooding in the middle of the track, which always kept the first straight wet. At the same time CP Rail was re-doing the Rail Road ties (big wooden blocks) and throwing the old ones in the creek next to the track to be picked up at a later date. So my dad would walk thru the creek, put one of these ties on his shoulder and walked back thru the creek over to the track.

You have to keep in mind that these things are about 300pds each and most of them were water-logged from being in the creek. My dad actually got a hernia and ripped a hole in his abdominal wall in the process. Instead of stopping, he took a belt and wrapped it tight around his stomach to keep everything ‘on the inside’ from falling out. He did this up until he was done the job weeks later cuz he wanted to collect all the ties before the CP Rail came and got them. About 200 Rail Road ties later, 3 hernia operations, 100’s of hours of labour, Airdrie had a tunnel jump to help with the flow of water! So now you know why I’m a little upset that it’s gone. And for the record, no one ever fell off the side and hurt themselves. Can’t say the same about a lot of things that go on in BMX that are allowed!

This weekend I will be in Red Deer doing a Camp that will be open to everyone. The camp will run from 10am to 4pm both Saturday and Sunday and it looks like the weather is going to be great! Finally! So if you are around this weekend and you want to get some training you cant find anywhere else then I will see you in Red Deer.

Checkout this SICK video from Copenhagen! video it’s a facebook link.

May 12, 2009

Well I’m back in Canada hanging out at my parent’s house, which is a lot warmer then when I was here last month, thank god!

The Europe trip was an overall success but it also ended up on a bad note with Kurt having to get his wrist operated on and two pins put in to immobilize it. I feel pretty gutted about it, its seems that half of the HP team is not physically at %100 right now, so I hope that the team can heal up and recover for the next few months of training leading up to Australia. We have a real strong team in New Zealand and once everyone starts clicking and feeling good we will start to post more and more results.

A big thank you goes out to Ryan Hollows, who as you know is my right hand man/mechanic for our team. I think Ryan always does more than what he should and is a great guy to have around; I know road trips would not be as good or as fun without him. I hope you and your girl have an awesome time on your holiday buddy.

Marc had a real good weekend of riding, even with his bummed shoulder. He would have made the stacked main in Copenhagen if it weren’t for his foot coming unclipped down the first straight. All in all, I think he is mentally good to go now and ready for the next few months. In a couple of weeks Marc will be flying up here to Canada to hangout with me for a while, doing some 1-on-1 training while I am in North America.

He is also going to help me out with the Summer Camp I am having here in Airdrie on June 5,6,7. Other trainers as you know will be Bubba Harris, Mike Day, Nick Goertzen and Jimmy Brown. It’s going to be a great camp with lots of talented trainers and some fun stuff planned for the weekend. There are still a few spots open so check out the flyer on Airdrie BMX and get yourself registered, you don’t want to be that parent who didn’t let your kid hangout with the best in BMX.☺

While I am here in Canada I will be doing a series of camps, starting next week in Red Deer Alberta. These camps will be open to all so check the Events tab to see where I will be over the next month. I am going to make sure I keep doing camps over here in Canada each year but since I am only here 4 weeks at a time, I don’t have too many booked.

This weekend I will be at the UCI race here in Airdrie just hanging out and catching up with my fellow Canadians. Make sure you find me if you are around.

May 1, 2009

The last few days have been wet yet fun. Since the rain has been coming down all week, we have been unable to get in any track practices. However, the team has gotten their daily training in by way of gym or sprints but I hope that next week we can get in a few more track practices when we get to Denmark.

Since we have had a lot of down time this week we have been making the most of it and are doing the tourist thing. When we picked up Jenn at the airport we headed down to San Marco Square in Venice. What a gorgeous city! If you don’t know much about Venice, it’s the city that floats on the water. No roads so the only way to get around is by boat and it’s not the cheapest of places either, but you have to experience it while you are here. It was a blast.

Yesterday we drove to the city of Verona, the hometown of Romeo and Juliet. Originally we went there to get in some track practice but like all other tracks, it was soaking wet! So we headed down to the city center to check out the sites. Some really cool stuff, again, if you’re into old architecture and art.

We checked out the balcony of Romeo and Juliet and took some photos and also Juliet’s statue, which if you rub her left boob gives you good luck. There is a wall dedicated to writing something about you and your loved one, so I had to tag it up with a KC+JC. There was a really cool, laid back feel to the city and so far one of my favorite places I have been on this trip. Finished the trip off with some Sushi which was a real let down, kind of weird having a Japanese person speak Italian to you!

Today the sun has been out and it’s gorgeous outside, just in time for the weekends racing. We are off to the track here in a little bit to get in today’s much wanted practice. Here are some photos of the last two days.

Here is a photo of the team (and Jenn) wearing there New Era hats thanks to Drew Van Iderstine. Drew has been hooking me up for a few years now- I appreciate it buddy. All the guys are buzzing with their new lids.

Venice, Italy.

Parking in front of the Hard Rock!

More Venice..

Juliets Statue

Me and my Juliet!

April 28, 2009

We have moved countries and now are in Creazzo Italy for this weekends European Rounds 5&6. Last weekend was such a great weekend for us and we hope to build on it and get some more great results. As you probably know by reading Kurt and Sarah’s site, Kurt crashed on Sunday in his Semi (in 1st) and Sarah pulled off a 3rd place while Chatter Box continues to get better lap by lap.

I have to say that our accommodations are a step up from last weekend and we are all a lot more comfortable and enjoying a 4 star hotel. Even though our hotel in Klatovy was something out of a horror movie, I loved it. I think the Czech Republic is great and its very cheap, a perfect place to go for a holiday if you’re into old culture.

Tomorrow is going to be awesome for me as Jenn is flying in and joining us for the remainder of the trip. Having her come is kind of a thank you to her as she has done so much for me. She quit a job she loved (a good one too) left her friends, family and everything she knows so that we can move to New Zealand. There are not many women out there who would drop everything so their husbands can do what they love. Since we were in Canada before I came here Avrianna will be hanging out with my parents and Jenns parents for the week and a half. This will be our first trip together with no kid in almost 3 years so I am really excited, however I miss my kid more then I can tell you and Jenn is already missing her as well.

A huge thank you goes out to Marc Willers and Ryan Hollows who just surprised me with a room upgrade for Jenn and I that they paid for. I’m lucky to have the people around me that I do, you guys freaking rock!