Teva Games 2012

June, 12

I've always wanted to go to Vail, CO for the summer mountain games and this year I was finally able to make it out. The course always looks like a ton of fun to ride and it seems to always have a great vibe and be a fun time for all the riders. I have seen lots of videos from the festival before and there always seems to be something going on and it almost reminds me of a mini Crankworx. Vail village even looks pretty similar to whistler when you're there. All this just added to the excitement and I couldn't wait to get on my bike and start riding the course.

The course was very well laid out and a lot of fun to ride. It only took a couple of runs to start feeling comfortable and flowing through the course nicely. Every one was riding great and enjoying the sunshine. Practice was going pretty well for me, I front flipped one of the jumps and was flipping out of the start step down. I pieced my run together and was excited to get qualifiers underway and do my runs. Unfortunately qualifiers didn't go exactly as planned, my first run I ended up just coming a little to fast into the step up and lost all my speed for the step down so the run ended there. On my second run things went worse and I ended up sliding out on the second jump. I was pretty disappointed to have two silly mistakes and to miss out on finals but that's just how it goes. I didn't even know there was a best trick until after qualifiers but as soon as I heard there was I knew I wanted to make up for my less than ideal qualifying runs.

Teva Qualy Run from Garrett Robertson on Vimeo.

It had cooled down just enough before the best trick as the sun started to go down. I was excited and nervous waiting for it to start. I took 2 straight airs to warm up and get the feel for the jump again. On my third hit I went for it, I was getting super close on every try but just washing out on the landings. On my 6th try I finally got it and was stoked to ride away with only a minute or two left in the session. It wasn't clean and I was fumbling for the pedals but I was stoked to ride it out. The judges decided it was good enough to take the win and I was really excited to get some redemption from qualifiers.

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