Posted by Rocky on July 10, 2008, 1:04 pm
64.58.175.241
The Gambler
July 9, 2008, 6:55 PM
Well, I guess you can sum up Ryan Capes' latest world record attempt by singing, "You gotta know when to hold 'em...know when to fold 'em." Throughout the weekend I've been in contact with his Monster Team Manager getting bits and pieces of info as it was made available to me and unfortunately, I just discovered that due to massive wind gusts, Ryan Capes had to fold 'em as Kenny Rogers would say. Besides rain, wind is a freestyle motocross rider's worst enemy. Sure you may have seen riders perform in windy or rainy weather conditions, and yes, it's extremely dangerous. But, when you're hucking a 400 plus gap like Capes, safety needs to be your number one concern. Once you leave the take-off ramp at over 90 miles per hour, it becomes a matter of life or death.
Continue on to read the official update letter I received from the Capes camp.
MonsterEnergy.com
A distance world record attempt has never been approached like Capes approached this one. Ryan wanted to focus on the task at hand without having the pressure of live TV and screaming fans, keeping it local with friends and family.
Happy belated 4th of July everyone. We're out at Toes MX Park and have been here for about a solid 5 days prepping the layout for my distance jumping training facilities. I've been fortunate enough to have a great crew, which has kept my quest for distance records alive. Here's a quick description of the preparations that were made over the last 5 days.
Thursday morning, July 3rd—Land Surveyor team from Seattle came out to grid out the layout with measurements all the way down the landing to 450 feet. The landing stood at 32 feet high and about 180 feet the ramp pullback was also measured in 10-foot increments. We also worked on the in run.
MonsterEnergy.com
Ryan Capes was prepared and focused only to get shut down by Mother Nature...that b###h!
Friday, July 4th—Toes (Steve Eiler) and Derrick worked on the in run with tractors and a water truck. Later that day the D-9 tractor seized up on us and didn't run the rest of the weekend. So we were left with a D-5 and the water truck and a few personal SUVs' to help pack the dirt down.
Saturday, July 5th—We decided to build a giant berm/sweeper (NASCAR) style. This would be my entrance onto the runway. So I start out on a pavement in run from the street and glide onto the inside of the sweeper that shoots me out directly into the main runway towards the MONSTER ramp. In the afternoon we did a few speed runs.
Sunday, July 6th—WIND gusts all day. It was unfortunate that Mother Nature wouldn't allow me to fly my motorcycle during the day as planned. I did get to do a few speed runs at 8:30 pm when the winds calmed down for an hour or so.
Monday, July 7th—8 am I re-geared my bike and made sure the in run is all good to go. 10:30 am I hit the ramp at about 91 mph. My first jump of the day was a 280-foot ramp gap and I landed at a total distance of 321 feet.
We then did our first ramp pullback to the 300-foot gap barrier. My next jump was 352" 8.5' feet. The landing was butter and I definitely hit the sweet spot on this one. I was once again ready for the next ramp pullback. Now the ramp was pulled back to the 320-foot gap barrier. I calculated on my next jump I would be somewhere in the 370-380 feet range in distance.
While we were moving the ramp back the winds started to pick up again. I was ready to jump but, the wind gusts picked up to 26 mph and we were forced to stop for the day. We are hoping tomorrow morning we will have good jumping conditions. I'm finally starting to feel comfortable with my new landing, in run and bike. Woody has been a key person who has built and maintained my exceptional distance jump bike. My dad (Greg Capes) has been out here helping me with my ramp pullbacks and all around moral support. Keep checking in because I'm planning on getting some higher numbers tomorrow. We are heading out to Toes Mx Park once again tomorrow morning. This time we are heading out a little earlier in hopes to arrive there and get some more jumps in while it's cooler and hopefully with the winds calm. I am on a mission and have the determination to go as far as I can!!
MonsterEnergy.com
Capes reads The Brap Haps while waiting for the wind to die down.
So ya, I got that previous email from the Capes camp last night and just as I was getting ready to post my blog today (July 9th), I received an update stating "Capes has abandoned his attempt at a new world record for now. More info to follow soon." All I have to say is that I'm glad Ryan is safe. Congratulations Ryan—I know you didn't reach your goal of 400 plus feet, but I'm glad that you played it safe like a true champ. I know for a fact that Capes will be back as soon as he has the chance. And so the saga continues.
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