Steven Wong Report – West palm to Phoenix

A little update about my racing and training here in USA.

After the ABA race in Oldsmar Florida I knew where I was at and knew what  I had to work on the next weeks. The training after that race couldn’t been any better as it went. We had awesome riding sessions and some really nice sunny days for training, a bit windy sometimes but didn’t really bother.

Had those 2 good training weeks done and left for west palm beach NBL national… got there friday just before practice and love the track. I didn’t really train that evening on the track because the lights weren’t that great and I have problems seeing in the dark already so I basically left my proper practice for Saturday.  Had a good night sleep Saturday came around and felt kind of sleepy the whole morning and took me a while to get into it. With that practice done and feeling kind of ok on the track racing started. With a whole international field of riders qualifications where not easy. With random qualification draws for every round it was really hard to prepare for each lap. Anyways first round came around and found out I had a pretty stacked rack already, I went alright in this one nothing special got a 2nd place which I was happy with for my first round. Well then it got kind of hectic I thought we had a lot of time for the 2nd round which didn’t turn out to be and I kind of missed it “ooooops” oh well got 8th in that one haha. Well only 1 round of qualification left and I had to get a 1st to make it into the finals, got that one done and took 1st place. I was super stoked with my riding and my confidence for that day shot way up. Then Semi final came around and ooh jesus it was super stacked…got lucky with the random lane draw and lane 3 was where I had to do it from. With NBL  champ on the outside and ABA a pro winner of oldsmar on the inside I had no other option then get in that first turn 1st and take that semi home. I couldn’t believe what I did, I took that semi and passed to the main event. This was the point where I realized I could take the win that day but then crazy clouds came in and it started pouring down so hard the cancelled the finals. Well thats what I thought so I went to the hotel and thought we where racing the final in the morning. The next morning got super stoked at the track to found out the raced 2 hours later the day before and just didn’t tell me.

Well turned out I missed the final and all that kind of made me so angry but so focussed at the same time. Sunday racing started and I was so determined to show everybody I was there and I was going fast. Same system as the day before with the random qualification selection, I didn’t even care anymore I just got in the gate which i got called in and I just told myself I was winning everything today. Started off like I wanted got 1st win of the day soon after that 2nd  qualification came around and got another win. I was really feeling it and really wanted that win so my 3rd moto I saved my power a little bit and got first in the first turn and kind of cruised around got a 3rd there. Well I qualified easy and we where off to semi finals again. I got lane 6 which is not the best but I had such a good start I came a bike ahead in the first turn and won that semi. Then the big moment was there, FINAL !!!! I looked at the final draw and I had lane 3, as I saw that number 3 I had the biggest smile on my face haha I knew with a good gate that the most perfect lane you can have. presentation for the final done ready in the gate I felt so ready. Gate call went and I dont know what happend everything felt like slow motion I had the most perfect gate of my life and so much power by the first jump i was more then a bike ahead already. Coming out of that first turn I was basically 3 bikes ahead of everybody and then unfortunate happened. Jumped the pro section in the 2nd turn and my left leg just totally cramped up, still cant believe that happened but I couldn’t pedal anymore and I tried to hold on as much as I could. I must say I still held on for a long time tried to get some pedals in but didnt really work and got passed by 2 people on the last straight. I was so bummed I didn’t win and got a 3rd instead but really happy on the other side seeing myself race this way.

http://www.flbmx.com/site/index.php/videos?task=videodirectlink&id=12 <http://www.flbmx.com/site/index.php/videos?task=videodirectlink&amp;id=12>

Got home from that race and just forgot what happened and got straight back into my training. After a short week of training I left to Phoenix on thursday for the next ABA national. I got a bit sick monday but felt fine the whole week and training really strong. Then friday practice came around and the whole day I felt so tired and just before practice I started to get headache and my eyes started hurting. Just on the wrong moment I got sick, I tried to train I did 3 laps but I had no power and was just not feeling well. So I went to the pharmacy straight after tried to get some medication and hoping to be better for saturday. Well not really, I woke up saturday huge headache, sore throat and muscles where aching. I took some medication and hoped to feel a bit better for practice but it didnt help much my headache was gone but my legs felt like pudding. Racing came around and I kind of knew my day was over, I tried to make the best of it and gave it all I got but didn’t really matter people where passing me like I was parked. I felt sad about this race that I couldn’t prove myself but I guess being sick you cant control.

For Sunday racing my Coach and Me decided to not race… Just to make sure I get better fast and get ready for the world cup. I had enough races under my belt and I can not take the chance to get any sicker and not bein able to train for a week.

Steven Wong – USA Trip – Report

As many of you know I left to USA for a training camp and some races. 
Well everything has been good so far, we been having some cold and 
funny weather but seems like everything is clearing up now.
I also had my first race last weekend. The weekend I have been waiting 
for, for a while now to have a little test to see where im at with my 
training.

Saturdays race wasn’t that great I can even say bad I think. kind of 
bummed I have to write it this way but nothing was working. I felt so 
awkward on racing in this new environment and it being the first race 
of the season didn’t really help that. Then also I totally  choose the 
wrong gear… it was slightly to heavy for the part after the first 
jump and i kept me every time in the middle of the pack. Because this 
was my first race I still felt so lost and I had no idea where to go 
and I was out in qualifications fast. Saturday was over for me and I 
really felt disappointed but I also knew where the problems where so 
on the other side I learned a lot of things as well.

after that first day I just got myself sorted out… put everything 
together in my head fixed my gears and got ready for sunday.

Sunday’s race came around and I was a totally different person… 
pumped to ride and show what im training for. First qualification 
started of bad actually. Came out of the gate first but the rider next 
to me made such a stupid move on me just before the first jump and we 
both almost crashed and i ended 7th. 2nd qualification I cleaned my 
act up had to come from lane 8 but allmost took the hole shot and had 
a nice solid lap ended 3rd. 3rd qualification was very interesting. I 
basically had to get 1st to qualify from lane 3. I just managed to get 
my whole package together and took the win in the last qualification 
and moved on to the main events.

then in my Quarter main I had such a good gate and i was close to the 
hole shot came out of the first turn 2nd and down the 2nd straight I 
had a nice battle going for 2nd/3rd but as soon as I wanted to set up 
the 2nd turn to keep 2nd place the guy in 4th made a nice move and put 
me in 5th where I finished and missed out on the semi final. Just a 
little mistake I made but the overall feeling for my first race is 
good for sunday at least.

I know where I am at now and for what kind of training I did before 
this race I’m perfect on schedule for this season. So I’m excited for 
next race to see if and feel my improvement.

greets out of cold and sometimes warm florida

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