I woke up this morning after a short night of sleep.  I kept waking up and visualizing the course, turn for turn and jump for jump.  It is crazy how the atmosphere changes on race day, a complete 180 from the last week of training. 

I was pumped to hop on the track and wheel around the course, and even though we had some training on the top portion of the track the nerves were still there.  Going into time trials, the only thing I was focused on was having a clean run and staying on my feet, which proved very difficult for the field of competitors, even the winner of the past two competitions Kyle Croxall, wiped out hard in his time trial.  Time trials more or less go out the window once the elimination round starts.  Having a high seed helps, but once the racing starts anything, anything can happen. 

I sat in the athletes tent waiting for my heat which was the 11th, and I watched my brother Andrew and Tigh Isaac, both team USA members, race in the 6th heat.  Out of the start, Andrew flew out of gate faster than anyone I had seen all day, and both guys had a very competitive race leaving the other two guys in their heat way behind them from the start.  Once I saw those two make it, it was game time. 

Stepping up to the starting gates is one of the most intimidating yet exhilarating feelings I have ever experienced, and I couldn't help but reflect on how awesome it was to be standing in the starting gates in Are Sweden competing in Red Bull Crashed Ice.  The starter announced the five second warning for the gates to open and everything else went quiet.  I flew out of the starting gate, off the first drop and approached the wall ride with a guys on both sides.  There was some contact with the guys on both sides but I pulled through and jumped the double bump section.  The next part of the course is very steep and a banked right turned, so myself and the Swiss in my heat tucked and grinded through the corner as the other two competitors drifted out of view.  The next section of the course is very technical, as the track narrows with a lot of jumps and turns, so from there I just held on to my position.  Before the finish is a bridge drop much like in St. Paul, and then a banked turn to a foot race finish.  This was about the time in the course when I could finally let out a sigh of relief as I knew I would advance to the next round. 

The finish is awesome because the track cruises into downtown Are, with ski shops all around.  The atmosphere at the finish was crazy.  Music was blaring, fans were screaming, and lights were flashing everywhere.  My teammates Andrew and Tigh Isaac were there at the finish to greet me, as well as Sal Masekela, notable X Games reporter, was nearby to offer Team USA a big thumbs up! We all stayed at the finish and watched the big screen as our fourth teammate Cam Naasz won his race to qualify for tomorrow's final.  Tomorrow's final promises thrills, spills, and the unexpected will most certainly happen! Go Team USA!

Today we hit the track early again and started going four deep down the track. 

At first guys would stagger the starts so that everyone was spread out going down the track to avoid injuries, but within a few minutes everyone was just going for it and racing.  The top of the track is super-fast, so flying down it with three other guys towards a towering 27 ft high wall ride was super intense. 

We arrived at the track at 9:30 in the morning.  Best track conditions, they flooded track the night before so the ice conditions were very fast. 

Each day we would meet Chris near the wall ride before our training session.  All the international riders who hadn’t rode the track yet came flying down and kept falling on the wall ride.  There were some epic wipeouts, and the four of us who had rode the previous day had front row seats for the carnage.  At lunch I made a sandwich in the dining area and a Swede who was standing by watching very curiously ask why I was making a sandwich as he thought that it was breakfast food, I thought that was pretty funny and different.  Tonight all of us camp participants got on a coach bus and road to a small town twenty minutes away which had the only hockey rink for miles around.  It was a cool experience hopping on the ice with the Crashed Ice riders, as nearly all of us are former or current hockey players, so there was a lot of skill on the ice.  Although it was just a friendly pick-up game, the game became really competitive with Netherlands players trying to dish out big hits.  The teams were North America vs. the World.   

Hello St. Paul and Minnesota!  My name is Danny Bergeson and I am a member of Red Bull Crashed Ice Team USA. I am very excited to have Visit Saint Paul as a sponsor on the tour of Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship races as I grew up playing hockey in and around the St. Paul area. 

The third stop on the tour is in Are, Sweden, a small ski resort town located at the base of a small mountain with a lake on the other side and a population of around 10,000.  I arrived in Are, Sweden late last night with my brother Andrew who is also a member of the team and his wife Sam.  The trip included over twenty hours of travel time with a transfer in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Trondheim Norway, and a notable five hour wait at a train station located in Hell, Norway. 

We arrived at the Tott hotel, which is a beautiful hotel located on the mountain, allowing guests to ski right from the hotel.  This morning, my brother, myself, and Tigh Isaac, who is another member of the US Team, as well as one Japanese skater practiced the top 180m of the course with Christian Papillon, director of Red Bull Crashed Ice.  The track is set on the ski hill near the bottom of the mountain in Are, Sweden.  The top 180m is the fastest section of track.  Out of the starting gate, the track is flat for about ten feet and then has a two foot drop that racers have to jump over and land on a downslope.  From there the track curves slightly to the right and halfway down there is a small kicker that racers ride over.  The course then enters the wall ride, which is a towering quarter pipe that will cause chaos during the races.  After a quick lunch we headed to the skier cross course with local skiing legend Henrik Windsteadt, who was the 2008 Free Ride World Champion.  He coached us on skiing technique as well as the racing mentality of spotting lines around the course.  He was a super cool guy, very down to Earth and eager to help us as well as learn more about the sport.  The next morning he surprised us by showing up on the track and riding down, even though in a conversation with me riding up the ski hill he told me that he didn’t know how to skate.  I knew he was a world class athlete because even though he was new to skating, he looked like a natural on the course.