What an experience my first time in Vegas was! The people, the lights, the buildings…. everything there completely blew me away. I flew down on the 29^th of September out of the Vancouver airport. I met up with Steve Smith and Darren Berrecloth who were on the same flight as me. It was funny when I got onto the plane because I was only able to get a first class ticket through my Dad’s air miles. Here I was sitting up front in first class while Darren walks by into coach with confused look on his face. Then so does Steve Smith, Peter the team manager of Rocky Mountain Bikes, and Lisa from Kona who was smiling away. It was quite a funny moment. Now my nickname at Kona is “First class”.

The thing I liked most about Vegas would have to be the unreal food that we ate. I stayed with Cheryl and Taylor from The Bicycle Café while I was down there, and every night we ate the most amazing food! We also checked out the roller coaster New York New York, which I was terrified to go on. We went out to the Outdoor show the first day and rode some really fun trails out there, and demoed a few bikes as well. My favorite one was definitely the Green Speed! Sorge and I took out these recumbent and had a hell of a time!

The Rampage part of the trip was amazing! It could not have been any better. Even packing up the truck to leave was hilarious, I have no idea how we fit everything in there! Plus there were seven people inside.

We stayed at a house for four or five days after we left Vegas and were shooting for The Ride Guide TV show. There was a nice pool at the house and it was rad to go for a swim every day and goof around with friends. Wade Simmons was also with us, and he told us a little but about how the judging was going to done, and what they were looking for. So it gave us a pretty good idea about what we should be looking for while we are out there digging our lines. It was also cool to listen to what he had to say about the bike industry, where it’s taken him, what he’s been able to do with it. It’s cool because Wade is from the same town I am from, and he has been one of those people I have always looked up to. Oh yes, he was also definitely the dad on this trip! He took care of us.

We eventually ended up at the site of the comp, and what I saw blew my mind. I had never been to Utah before, and I was not sure what to expect. I had seen the movies and had a small idea, but once you really get there and see everything for your self. It was gnarly! Everyone spent a good solid day or so just walking the course followed by a good solid day of practice. There was supposed to be 2 days of practice but unfortunately it rained out on a day. This left us with only one run to qualify.

Qualifying day came and everyone had there lines done and ready to go. Everyone was a little bit nervous before we had to do our runs. We only had one chance to make it through our run successfully without falling or messing up in any way. I was able to do the run a wanted without any slip ups. I was very excited on how it worked out, and it was good enough to qualify 12^th out of 15.

Immediately after qualifying awards we had to go scout and build our line for the finals. It wasn’t enough time for the majority of us, and we all used our practice time in the morning to finish our lines. We then had 2 final runs; which meant for most of us that our first final run was also our cold turkey practice run. Unfortunately for me and many others I fell mid way through my line. But I got back up, finished my run, and then prepared for my second run. I was a little more nervous now then before but after a quick pep talk from my buddy T Sage at the top of the course I was good to go! I knew what I had to do to differently and what I need to add to make my run a banger; so I went out there on a mission, and everything seemed to piece together perfectly how I imagined it. At the bottom I was bombarded by all my friends who were all giving me high 5s and all stoked on my run. I ended up finishing in 8^th place.

I couldn’t have been more excited. Just being a part of the event it self was amazing for me. I came into the event thinking that this is contest that I am going to have a lot of fun with. Finally a big mountain event where I got to show people the style of riding I like to ride. This was my debut contest as a professional, and I was really happy with how I rode during the contest and not getting caught up with pressure. This season just keeps getting better for me it seems. I say this every update, but every month it just keeps getting better and better. Over the past few months, I have never been happier and so excited all the time to ride my bike. Being able to ride with your friends every day, riding new things, and learning new things is amazing. This has been a dream come true for me, and it’s only just begun.

Thanks to everyone for all your help and support this year! I could not have done it without everyone’s help.

Graham