I headed out to the US to catch up with Top Fuel Buhl and Nev Duck. First stop Phoenix and chez Buhl - a quick catch up - pack/re-pack and we were off to Nevada.
We pulled in a hotel which was about 10 miles from the Hoover Damn and boy were the views stunning- desert rock to the right a crystal clear Lake Mead to the left . We got up the following morning and drove from one end of the hotel carpark to the other maximising laziness and hopped on a helicopter and chopped our way over the hoover damn and lake mead.
Neither Buhl of I had been on a chopper - I was pretty excited - Buhl was fine tuning her rehearsal for a part delivering a baby in a Hollywood movie - she was bricking it - and I could see why - although I tried to convince her it would be safe - deep down, I was a little nervous!!
The Chopper was AWESOME - to be fair - I did feel quite vulnerable - as I was sat at the front and the base of the chopper was glass - so we could get a really good view - but unlike most of my flying experiences to date - it was really loose if you know what I mean - the chopper was pushed around by the wind and thermals - well, that's how it felt! Going over the Hoover damn was amazing - to think so many guys died to build it is incredible - and to think how effective it is - able to power everything in a 300 mile radius - wow - that's hydro power and then some!!
After the chopper ride - we headed over to Boulder City for breakfast - this place was cool too - a small but quite traditional 'typically western' style town with some amazing sculptures - I got some really cool photos of Buhl with some of the statues - but somehow I lost them. BOO.
Breakfast done..............off to Boulder city to RIDE. Team KHS were there in force -the race organisers were super cool and let us do shuttles all day. There was a race on - but we just stayed for pracci on the Saturday. The trails at Bootleg Canyon were again -frikking cool - the loose sedimential rock was surprisingly grippy. 
I had never rode anything like that before - it was a mix of sharp jagged rock, sand and dust! Some of the turns were super loose - parts were steep and the off camber rock sections were grippier than I first anticipated! I rode Buhls KHS lucky 7 and it was amazing - super light and really responsive - here Manitou Dorados were just SWEET - I used to have an old pair - but they have certainly ramped these ones up. I had so much fun out there minus my 2 punctures.
Desert sunsets - B.E.A.U-tiful. X
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