kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt from corse178's blog
Alise Post and Brooke Crain line up their bikes at the gate. Womens Pirates Jerseys . Donning navy jerseys with red-and-white sleeves and covered in stars and stripes, the BMX riders are ready to launch themselves from an 8-meter-high ramp.Here, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, lies one of the toughest tracks in the world; its jumps and turns dare riders to conquer or crash.The slightest error, youre on the ground with a punctured lung, says Jamie Staff, director of BMX for USA Cycling.Heads down, backs straight, hands tight -- hands really, really tight -- Post, 25 and Crain, 23, dont have time for fear. Two and a half seconds later, the riders who will represent Team USA at the Rio Olympics starting Wednesday, zoom down the track, bouncing over jumps like billy goats and hanging in the air as if they wont come down. Less than a minute later, theyve completed the outrageous course.I think everybody in this sport is somewhat of an adrenaline junkie, Post says. You get addicted to that rush of it. Thats what keeps you coming back. That little bit of unknown, and that bit of fear, its always going to be there. But thats the thrill of it.A need for speedPost and Crain ride again and again from 9 a.m. until noon on the Chula Vista track, alongside their Rio-bound male teammates, Nic Long, Corben Sharrah and Connor Fields.BMX, or bicycle motocross, took off in Southern California in the 1970s. Testing riders to the brink of physical and mental exhaustion, the sport debuted on the Olympic stage at the 2008 Beijing Games.Side by side, cyclists race over a course filled with giant leaps and challenging turns, with the winner being the first to cross the finish line.Though three USA riders medaled in Beijing -- Mike Day (silver), Donny Robinson (bronze) and Jill Kintner (bronze), an American has yet to win gold.Post and Crain hope to change that this week.In practice, they dont go at any gear other than all-out, especially since the sting of the 2012 London Games remains. Post crashed twice in the semifinal heats, while Crain wiped out in qualifying on the first day but still advanced to the finals before finishing eighth.In practice, theyre always pushing it so hard, says Long, who conserves his maximum effort for races. I dont crash very often. Maybe its because I dont push it super hard out here.They dont seem to have that switch. They just go as hard as they can at all times.Both women grew up with family members who motivated them to keep up.The first time Crain hopped on a bike, she cried. The 6-year-old from Visalia, California, was terrified to ride down the hill at a local track, so her parents took turns running behind her, clutching the back of her shirt. I wouldnt let them let go, Crain says.Post, also beginning at 6, walked to the top of a local course in Minnesota and chickened out. My mom and dad tried to get the membership money back, like, Oh, cancel it, shes done, Post says.But Post returned the next week, fears be damned.She crashed.Hearing her brother yelling at her to get up, she realized she could do it. Whats a few bruises? BMX was gnarly. Cool. Something most girls didnt do.Crain, too, fell in love with the rhythm of the sport: fly, get knocked down, get back up.Post, who holds eight national No. 1 USA BMX series titles, is the winningest female in USA BMX history.Crain, who won two world titles as an amateur, became the youngest rider to make a Supercross (international elite style of racing) final as a 16-year-old in 2009. She has made the podium at four World Cups and has been in the top three in the USA elite womens class every year since 2012.But both battled injuries that threatened their chances of qualifying for the London Games.Post broke her ankle in 2010. After a full recovery, she blew out her knee in the same leg three months later while going over the handlebars on a jump, which also left her with a ruptured hamstring tendon, a hairline femur fracture and a detached meniscus. She was back on the track in January 2012, just five months after surgery.Crain broke her shoulder at the world championships in 2012.BMX provides a high, no matter the physical costs, that only riders can understand.I dont think were human or were just not going to be able to move when were 30. One of the two, Crain says. You have to be tough to be in BMX, you really do. Thats just part of our sport.A shot at redemptionPost remembers London in pieces. It was just an emotional blur, she says.During the second semifinal heat, she failed to clear a jump, coming out of the tunnel into the second turn, and crashed. In the third heat, she crashed on the final straight, hitting her head hard.My parents told me that I came up to them and was just like, Hey, thanks for coming. I gotta go race now. They said, No, no, no. Youre done, Post says.Crain, originally selected as the alternate, was asked to compete at the last minute when teammate Arielle Martin crashed days before the team was supposed to leave for London. Crain didnt feel physically or mentally prepared.They were like deer in headlights, Staff says. It was a shock.Exhausted and disappointed after returning to the States, Crain rested on pillows while wrapped in blankets on her parents living room floor for three days. Post had two hand surgeries. But soon, the friends and long-time competitors were back on the track, using London as motivation for Rio.The driving force behind any athlete is wanting to reach your potential and put your best effort out, says Post, who bounced back from a broken tibia in 2014 to capture back-to-back Womens Pro titles in 2014 and 2015. Post currently ranks third in the world and is expected to contend for a medal.I personally know [London] was not even close to my best effort, Post says. I dont want to say that Rio has been the forefront of every race Ive done, but everything is a stepping-stone. How do we work backwards from that? How do we grow from every race experience and try to be overall more consistent riders?Crain, who is fifth in the world, recently recovered from a broken leg she suffered during a World Cup race in Holland 12 weeks ago.The grind doesnt stop.If you race BMX at this level, you have to be resilient. ... If you dont have that certain level of resilience, youre not going to make it, Fields says. Brooke and Alise, they just keep punching. They get knocked down, they get back up again. Authentic Pirates Jerseys . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. Discount Pirates Jerseys . Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. http://www.cheappiratesjerseyschina.com/ . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury.Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves handed Manchester United goalscorer Jesse Lingard the Barclays Man of the Match trophy after the 1-1 draw with Chelsea. But moments later he took it off him again and handed it to team-mate Juan Mata!The mix-up came at the end of a frantic Super Sunday as Diego Costas injury-time strike denied United thrree points at Stamford Bridge. Cheap Pirates Jerseys. But the United players were all smiles following the amusing moment during the post-match interview.Hit the video at the top of the page to see it for yourself. 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