Imagine this. You fly across the world to race a BMX race. In the qualifying event you need to set a time of 32nd or better. This normally shouldn't be a problem. But you crash in this very lap and are out of the race. It happened to Lauren Reynolds from Australia. But instead of being bummed at the hotel room, she started supporting her fellow riders. Read on what she has to say about the Papendal track.What did you hear about the track before you made it to Papendal?
Lauren: I watched a couple of videos of the Dutch team riding the track at the opening, but there wasn't very much of the girls riding so I didn't really get to see the girls section. I knew it was going to be big, fast and simular to the Olympic track
Did you try to find videos of it to see what it was like before you went to Holland?
Lauren: Sure did, there wasn't too much to look at though.
Tuesday’s With Miles – Alex Vazquez Sand Springs Session. By Miles Rogoish
Jun 01, 2011
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Brian Kirkham has been one fast rider on the World Cup scene but during the Time Trials run I saw him struggle on a part of the track. He had to get back to his pace a.s.a.p. to set a top 64 time to be able to ride in the main program. Coming all the way from Australia to do one lap would have sucked. Brian pedaled to 55th place. Not all too great for his standards, but he was part of Saturday's race where he did make it to the main event. Now Aussies aren't scared quickly. What did he think of the track?What did you hear about the track before you made it to Papendal?
Brian: I spoke to the Dutch guys in Phoenix and they told me it was crazy and they couldn't jump the whole track yet. They also said it needed some fine tuning to get it working
Did you try to find videos of it to see what it was like before you went to Holland?
Brian: Yeah I'd seen 1 video of someone ramping the first berm
The women rode a different track at the second World Cup in Papendal than the men did. No box jump but still the same size first two doubles. These distances were no joke. No S-turn either for the girls but three jump/rhythm sections after the frist left hander before they arrived at the finish line. With this being the Olympic pre-trial, we checked in with a few girls to see what they thought about it. Amélie Despeaux was the first to answer back.What did you hear about the track before you made it to Papendal?
Amélie: Heard the 1st line was crazy, and we (girls) should take line 5 to 8 as best gate. Plus the wind was strong over there
Did you try to find videos of it to see what it was like before you went to Holland?
Amélie: for sure I tried, I found a Joyce Seesing TT video, where she almost pumped everything..
The Papendal Track. What do the riders think? Thomas Hamon's opinion
May 31, 2011
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The Papendal track was something else. We asked some of the riders what they thought about the track which is supposed to be the same as the 2012 Olympic track. Here's Thomas Hamon's opinion.What did you hear about the track before you made it to Papendal?
Thomas: I heard it was a huge track. Some dutchies were posting selected videos on Twitter. I don't know if it was to scare us before we rode.
Did you try to find videos of it to see what it was like before you went to Holland?
Thomas: Like I said, bmx-videos and Dutchies posted videos; So yes, I had seen a few videos sessions before I went to Holland.
When you arrived at the track, what was your first opinion?
Thomas: First Opinion was GSX plays with the elements. With
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