The X-fighters is one of the most insane sporting events ever, it’s my 3rd time to Madrid for it and this year was also crazy.
Thanks to RedBull I got some well good seats and the atmosphere was insane, Dany Torres RedBull and Spanish rider got one of the loudest applause but harshly got knocked out. Also one of the French brothers Pages went for a full 360, it was one of the first times I had seen it, I always wanted to see someone carry on the whip and he did it, he crashed out pretty hard and couldn’t continue but it was insane.
Back flips are normal now in these events but there were a few that stood out, one of the best was the superflip, basically half way through they are standing up straight and the bike is upside-down above them, then they catch up with the bike and finish the back flip…. it’s stupid what these guys are doing now.
Respect to the most extreme sport on earth!!!
Cabarete was pretty strange this year, I didn’t ride my 9 or 7 once, most of the time I was on an 11 or 13.
In the singles I ended up 2nd, it wasn’t my best heat although apparently it was still close, in the doubles I came up against a dominican, half way through my lines snapped all the dominicans on the beach started cheering and telling people not to help me with another kite, I though that was pretty nice, defiantly one of the reasons why it is not one of my favorite events, luckily I had already done enough to keep 2nd and challenge 1st.
In the final it was up against Kevin once again, I had a good heat and felt pretty confident I would go through to have the chance to win in the final heat of the day. The decision went the other way, they said he had more speed and amplitude.
It seems that this is what the judges are looking for now, speed and amplitude, which is quite disappointing, pretty much you can keep your kite high, send it a little and as you come in dive it down lower, this can give the illusion of power and is the only way to land at that speed.
Obviously if your kite stays in the same place, low, through out the trick it is hard to get the same height, and if you do go really fast and high in choppy conditions you drop out the sky making landing super difficult.
Tarifa this year was also quite strange and actually quite similar to DR, the off shore megaloop weather, which I was looking so forward to, never came. Instead it was cross-on and not so strong.
This time I got knocked out in the 3rd round for the same reason, once again not enough amplitude, this time I couldn’t really handle it so in the doubles I came back from about 9th – to the final with some of my best competition riding.
With distance in mind, i did what I could, luckily towards the final I could still give the crowd some spectacle, I was lit on my 9 and could get a few mega loops, I also landed one of my best tricks in a while, mega loop, un-hooked handle pass, then spin into a back roll with a grab, I was pretty stoked with that.
Coming up though the doubles is pretty hard and tiring, I had to do 7 heats, I finally came up to Kevin, I had a decent heat, got loads of moves under my belt, had another hooked-loop 3 although another close decision went his way again.
For the last week I’ve been at Colona Watersports in Egypt for a photoshoot, we had wind everyday and got some sick photos.
The place is one of my favorite, the set up is really good, you are right on the beach and all you have to do is wake up walk a 100m or so and you are at the center where all your kit is stored, out at sea there’s a sand bar with flat water and its super warm.
The week was fun, we also managed to get a C-rail and a kicker to use so that made the week pretty epic.
Will try and get some pics or vid up soon.
Yesterday was the last day of the Triple-S, it turned out to be an epic week and well good fun.
It was cool to ride with all the guys here and see everyone push it in the right direction.
I ended up coming 2nd in Sliders and 2nd in the Slick which put me 3rd overall.
Dre was styling it hard on the sliders to win that category and Ruben was killing the kiteloops on the downwind slick section.
Hope to come back some time, it was sick.
