TP Diaries: Nitro Circus Live Aftermath
Nitro Live Las Vegas may have been the greatest day of my life. ?Landing the 5th double flip of my career, side by side with good friend Cam Sinclair definitely put a stamp on the final product but it was just one of many great memories that I will never forget. ?Nitro pushes the limits all the way through the show and because we are such a tight nit family of friends, the athletes go through as much of an emotional roller coaster as the fans do. ?Levi Sherwood violently broke his arm in warm ups just minutes before the doors opened. ?He was a huge part of the show and probably the world?s best FMX rider. ?We all felt horrible that he was injured but had to re-group and fill his spot in the syncro jumps. ?He was our point man in almost all of the technical 3 way / 4 way / 9 way and 10 way jumps. ?We were already scared to death about the timing with such a narrow runway and landing. ?So many people in the air and the timing with everyone?s tricks had to be spot on or we would all crash in a big heap. ?Now we had to do this without our anchor and without practice. ?I actually kicked Todd Potter while upside down in a heel clicker flip during the show but we were able to pull ourselves together for the landing! ?On top of that, Chad Kagy and myself were leading a few sections of the show and had to know where to be and what contraptions to get ready. ?The big kicker for me was that I only told three people (the audio guy, Jamie, the announcer, Bruce, and my good friend, street bike Tommy) about my plan to propose to Lyn-z. ?Oh, and Lyn-z's "Dad" Dan who I had asked a few days earlier if he would approve that I take his daughter?s hand in marriage. ?Point being, I wanted it to be a surprise. ?Not my mom nor dad or any of my other close friends or family had any idea I was even considering taking that next step.
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I'm so lucky to have Lyn-z in my life. ?I never thought I would be settled down enough to propose to anyone before I turned 40, but here I was awkwardly sliding down a ramp towards the feet of a girl I truly adore and respect, wondering if she would say "this is your idea of romantic!!! Both of us in our riding gear and in Sin City of all places!!! Try again when you think of a better way to ask!" ?You see, Lyn-z is the sweetest and most loving and downright cuddly girl you could ever meet, but she is very strong willed and independent. ?I figured she might say "NO" just to see what kind of reaction she could get.. ?But fortunately for me, she gave me a big hug and kiss, grabbed the mic out of my hand and yelled "YES". ?
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Amazingly enough, it wasn't proposing to my future wife or doing a double back flip side by side with Cam that made me the most nervous that night. ?I signed up to do a 3 person back flip with Greg Godfrey's kids Megan and Chandler. ?Shelly and Greg are practically my parents and for sure Megan and Chandler feel like my siblings. ?If there is one thing I never want to experience again, it's hurting someone else. ?Crashing my car with Matt Bigos was the worst day of my life and that feeling still holds a horrible place in the pit of my stomach. ?I knew we would be fine and I gave my word to all of them that I could do it safely. ?Megan (18) and Chandler (15) weren't nervous at all but that made me even more nervous. ?It was so much weight and so much area was taken up that Chandler had to actually do the flip in unison with me. ?Megan had to keep her head down and never look (which is very difficult when you are wondering if you are going to live or die but have strict orders to keep your face wedged into the front fender where you can't see anything). ?On top of that, Chandler had a very tough time keeping his feet on the make shift foot pegs so Megan had to, not only hold herself up, but also hold his feet tight against the bike! ?If Chandler leaned back to early he would literally knock me out by smashing his helmet into my chin. As we came up to the ramp, we had another unforeseen problem. ?They were holding on so tight to the handlebars that I couldn't steer, I had to tell them, ?stay loose until the ramp, then hold on for dear life and trust me! ?Don't let go and I will bring you guys into the landing safely.? ?Not the smartest thing we've ever done but it worked out and the show went on?
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The day after the live show we took most of the nitro live cast to Salt Lake City and started filming even crazier shenanigans for the Nitro Circus 3-D movie. ?The filming has far exceeded our expectations in every way. ?The 3-D camera's can be slow to work with, but the footage they have been getting is beyond anything the action sports world has ever been able to showcase. So, I write to you from a plane heading back to Maryland to build everything we need for Monday when we start day 18 of 31 scheduled shoot days. When you guys see the footage early next year in the theatre, you will surely wonder how everyone is still alive (fingers crossed!) and why Tommy is still our friend! haha
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- Travis
06.12.2011
