The Olympic Training Center Trip!

It's 6:30a.m., and it feels as though I just laid down long enough to close my eyes. The alarm began wailing like a Harpie less than thirty minutes ago, and I'm already here at the airport awaiting my flight to Denver.


Last night's two hour soundcheck for Lydia's show at the Dolphin Lounge was draining and it's going to show today in the bags I'll be dragging to the film shoot under my eyes.



***The Garden Of The Gods...
All things considered, I'm in a great mood and happy to go help P.O.Beezey out with this whole thing. It's a great opportunity for exposure for the Backboners, and one I would not have missed for the world. I'm coffee'd up and ready to rock the camera!




***Three Time Olympian Hunter Kemper prepares for his video shoot...



It seems that snow is in the forecast, so they have decided to move the shoot up a day, which means that the bike I had waiting for me to ride on Monday (the original slot for the shoot) isn't going to happen now. Jason at Big Ring Cycles in Golden, CO had a sweet Large Tomac Snyper prepared for me to ride and shoot film with, but with the schedule being bumped a day, it's out before
it starts. I guess someone should have told them mountain bikers can still ride in the snow! My plane is here, and so United flight 7705 to Denver and I have a little joint date with destiny.

Arriving in Denver at 2p.m., Natsai fom Matrix Advertising (the company hadnling the whole thing for Amino Vital) arrived shortly after. We jumped in the convertable and drove up the mountain to the picturesque town of Colorado Springs. We needed a "drop top" car because the film crew had planned on following us as we ride from a moving vehicle. That works for Hunter Kemper's road stuff, but a Toyota Solara doesn't fare too well on singletrack. Natsai dropped me off at the Antlers hotel to meet the film crew and photographer for the weekend. The crew hired were world-renowned film and photo folks who specialize in action films and sports photography, and no expense was spared to get them there. So we met, and drove quickly to The Garden Of The Gods, where a quick location scout revealed the potential places for the interviews and photo sessions. The weather was changing quickly, so rather than wait for Natsai we got to work.
Hunter Kemper arrived with his personal bike for me to ride for the afternoon, and as they took some short video clips of him running and me riding, the daylight quickly darkened from the towering rock pile of Pike's Peak. We ended the day with the film crew driving around filming Hunter on his Tri bike from the convertable. Exhausted, everyone packed it in as the weather changed and the light dimmed, so we made for the hotel. We showered, then reconvened at the old Victorian Era train depot-converted-to-a-restaurant "Guiseppe's."


After beer and pizza, sleep couldn't come fast enough.



***Davis Kemper, Hunter's son, calls this "Daddy's work."
















The storm arrived as planned early Monday, and we were smart to push the shoot ahead a day. By 8a.m., it was only about 30 degrees and the wind was blowing at a brisk forty miles per hour. Thankfully, MY riding stuff was all done Sunday...but poor skinny Hunter had to show up for an hour of road loops in the park with the film crew again. Freezing his fuzzy yarbles completely off, and actually probably being mildly hypothermic, the bitter cold was enough to make us cut the day short and head directly to the Olympic Training Center and shoot the interviews and Hunter's swim video there in the comfort of 70 degree rooms.







Once inside, it was an odd mixture of '80's pastel colors and what looked to be Cold War era military buildings, angular and seemingly devoid of life. As it would turn out, the facility started it's life as a military installation, so it all made sense. I was able to see the inside of the Hall Of Fame, the President's Office, and several other facilities. We shot the interviews in a large video/conference center, then walked to the Aquatics Center






for still photos and Hunter's swim portion. I was allowed to get up above the pool on a catwalk for pictures, and I am assuming that VERY FEW people have ever been given that courtesy. There were four locked gates that led to the catwalk over that pool, and none looked to have been opened in some time.





***Hi-Tech camera-sled!





***Natsai trying to keep her hands to herself...

The shoot was only over budget by an hour or so, and that was great considering all the last minute panic venue changes and weather issues. We ended the night all having dinner in Colorado Springs with Hunter and his wife (a former Olympic volleyball player!), and their son Davis.



Hunter was a great guy, and any sponsor should consider themselves lucky to have such a team player on their payroll. I was very pleased to be considered good enough at something (pimping product, NOT being athletic) to be in the company that I was in, knowing full well that everyone at that facility was the best in the nation, if not the world at what they did. Thanks to P.O.B. for getting me involved with this thing, it was huge fun and something I won't forget for some time.


**Pike's Peak looms in the distance, and was never actually summitted by Mr. Pike!




I took Gold at the Munich games in pairs metal midget wrestling...