Man, I don’t even know where to start
We left on Thursday, September 16th. My dad and I met my Uncle Alan and my Grandpa De Keyrel at the Minneapolis airport. I was all amped up. Never been to Spain before, never been on a plane before. We flew from Minneapolis, MN to Dallas, TX. Dallas to Madrid, Spain. Madrid to Seville, Spain. By the middle of the flight to Madrid, Spain the excitement of flying had worn off. I was ready to be at the hotel. We went over a couple of days early because flights were cheaper and that would give me a couple of days to adjust to the time change. On the first day there we went site seeing. Road a bus around all the buildings to look at. Toured the cathedral (AWESOME) saw Christopher Columbus’s tomb. Toured the bull fighting arena. Found out there was a bull fight the next night.
The next day we hung out at the pool at our hotel in Seville. Then headed to the bull fight that night. All I am going to say is, it was not nice. The bulls were winning and we left early. Enough said. For more info, search bull fight Seville Sept.
I was ready to ride. We went down to pick up our rental car. We had gotten the larger version, about the size of a Ford Fiesta. My dad drove and we headed for the track. It took us a while to find the track because the road was a small washed out road and we kept going past it. We did not even think this road was in use anymore. After finding the track we went and took a look to see what was going on. There were bikes on track. We did not even know there were three days of tryouts. Thought there were only two. Watched a little bit and decided to go check out the beach since we had 4-1/2 hrs till we needed to be at the track. The beach was 25 minutes down the road. Hung out there for about 2 hours, had some thing to eat. Then headed to the track for the riders meeting.
Monday: 6:00 pm check in. 7:30 pm riders meeting. Peter Clifford talked to all of the riders and their families. He told us all that Lap times did not matter and to just go out and ride our best. He also said that if you are not chosen to not be sad and to know that you road your best and that you were just not what the Red Bull Rookies Cup was looking for this year. One dad asked what they were looking for and Peter told him that the judges have over 100 years combined experience and that they know what they are looking for.
Tuesday morning: Ride day. Jumped into the rental car and headed out for the track. It was early and nothing was open. Not many cars on the roads. We found a restaurant that was open in the town right before the track. All they served was hard bread for breakfast. One slice or two. We all went for two. After eating one hard, dry piece of bread you have had enough. We arrived at the track just before 8:00 am. The riders were broken out into groups. There were 7 Americans that were at the selection event. Six were in my group and one rider from Spain. The other American, Mario, was in the group before us. We did not go on track till 11:00 am. Each group got a 15 minute session. 10:00 am went into gear up. 10:30 am went into briefing with Peter Clifford. 11:00 am it was our turn on track. I had some time and had not had much chance to do any training so I decided to go for a run. I wanted to get my body moving and get warmed up for the day. The other kids just asked what I was doing.
11:00 am they gave us all a Metrakit Pre 125 GP bike. There were numbers on the inside of the faring and each bike had a specific transponder for each rider. They rolled each one of us across the scales and then sent us out to the track. Joe Roberts and I hit the track at the same time. We battled the hole practice. My bike was really lose and the suspension was soft. The brakes felt like they had air in them. The bikes had DOT street tires on them that were warn and it felt like you were riding on Ice. After the first session, I was talking to Javier Orellana, a rider from Spain, about the bikes and how slippery it was. I asked him if his bike was sliding around and he said “yes” ” I liked it ” . I started to laugh because his eyes got really big as he said it. We talked some more about the track and bikes as we took off our gear to get ready for lunch.
3:00 pm gear up, 3:30 pm briefing with Peter Clifford, 4:00 pm second time on track. They lead us out to the bikes and the first thing I did was look at the number in the faring, #4, I had the same bike. I knew the brakes were going to be weak. This time I hit the track at the same time as Connor Blevins. We ran side by side most of the track. Connor would get me going into 1 on the brakes and I would pull up on him in the corners. I put my head down and started to walk away form Connor. The only rider to go by me was Javier the rider from Spain. After he went by I did my best to keep up to him but he was out braking me. After the session was over I talked to the mechanics about the bike set up. The mechanics said if you are still here tomorrow the bikes will have better brakes and suspension.
Though out the day we were interviewed for the RedBull Rookies Cup TV show. Measured for Alpinestars Leathers and encouraged to meet and talk to kids from other countries. I met and talked to alot of great kids. I passed out business cards to keep in touch with the new racers I had just met.
At 7:30 pm they let us know who was selected to come back to the 3rd day of riding. I was one of the riders that did not have what they were looking for this year. I looked at it as I had done the best I could with the bike they had given me to ride. I wanted to come back and just watch the next day, but we were not told if we could or not.
Last day in Spain we headed to the beach again. This time we brought our suits and hit the water. The wind came up as the day went on and the waves got bigger. Had an awesome last day in Spain trying to body surf waves.
All in all it was a great trip. Riding was awesome, track was great, Food OK, weather awesome ( 100 degrees everyday and sunny ) flying ok, bull fight ok. Glad to be home with my mom and brothers. I missed them. Who knows, maybe next year I will be what they are looking for.
I would like to thank the people that made this trip possible: My aunt and uncle ( Kim and Alan De Keyrel ), Bleakly Advertising ( Tom and Suzan Bleakly ), My aunt and uncle ( Curt and Tonya De Keyrel ), My aunt Paula Patterson, my Grandma and Grandpa De Keyrel, my two brothers Mason and Levi, last but not least my mom and dad.
Kaleb De Keyrel #251