Nitro Circus Blog: Pura Vida!

Photos & Entry By Jolene Van Vugt, AKA "Nitro Girl"

Last week the Nitro Crew was down South to Costa Rica and got the treatment of a life time from Hayes Wheelless, his right hand man Rashid Sauma and his Red Bull crew, all an amazing group of people that took great care of us and showed us an awesome time. 7 days in paradise, topped off with adventure, fun, celebration, achievements, entertainment and of course carnage!

We went from San Jose to Arenal, lago coter to Playa Hermosa by Jaco, from the city to a volcano to the beautiful black sanded beaches that reach into the ocean. We spent the first two days in San Jose and the first event was the Supercross in which Travis was going to race. TP doesn't do a lot of racing now a days as everyone knows but the was pumped to give it his all and ride for his heritage of Puerto Rico with his strong supporter Red Bull in this event. The NC crew all arrived the day before but Travis had another obligation and was to arrive the day of the race. So we got a little worried when relaxing by the pool we got word that he was stuck in Georgia grounded at the airport. Things all managed to work out and he made it just in the nick of time to get geared up and hit one practice lap, blasting all the jumps of course with just one glance at the track, just minutes before his qualifier. With a little bit of a battle he won his quali and headed to the main, but not before we the NC crew became the intermission entertainment.

We had four teams, three dirt bikes and one rhino, Jim and Palmer called dibs on that and no one argued it, racing a rhino on a Supercross track, no thank-you! Then it was Tenacious J and I, Ronnie Renner and Cowboy Kenny, Andy Bell and Gregg Godfrey. Four laps, riding tandem, switch drivers each lap, first over the finish line wins, Nitro rules, gate drops and just giver! The footage for this is priceless, people were gettin' taken out left, right and center. We of course didn't know the meaning of a fair race, the track was cut, run backwards, kill switches were hit, keys were taken, tough block were thrown and the rhino got rolled, not once but twice! Needles to say we put on a great show and the crowd loved it! Sorry no photos unless someone sends them to us, so if you were there and have any send them our way please. Back to the race Travis took 3rd in the main and the crowd loved his showmanship busting out a few tricks for them. Then we all headed to the super fun Red Bull after party to cut a rug and get our groove on!

Then it was over to the Arenal, lago coter where a Red Bull Autocross event was set-up for the day for Travis to race against the locals and then the Nitro Crew to give it a go against each other. Travis held his own against the drivers and did really well for his first time ever driving one. Kenny, Andy and I also gave it a go and they are so much fun to drive, not so easy, but super fun.

The next day was the Hydrojump, this is a FMX ramp that floats in the water 110 feet off shore and you are to hydroplane to it, then it's all you and all ramp! Jim was designated to this one with Travis and he was super excited about it! You could see it on his face, or maybe it was fear, either way he wasn't going to back down from it, he was going no matter what. We where having some bad weather issues with rain and winds for the hydrojump so we headed over to the slip n' bleed that they had created for us waiting for the badness to blow over. The crew got sudded up and started giving it a whirl, then we managed to get two of the Red Bull Sampler girls into it, Maria Jose and Nina. They were such good sports and had a great time joining in on the wreckage that is created by the slip n' slide Nitro style! After that we got geared up and ripped around the Autocross course from the day before, having ourselves a little race, I won the first moto, Kenny won the second and Travis was our 30 second board girl! Ha Ha. We also tried having a backwards race on our dirt bikes, the only one to shine in this race was Cowboy Kenny, he made it around the track twice, the rest of us made it about 110 to 150 feet and then gave up, now I think by the time most of us made it to that 150 feet Kenny was already around the track once! When you crash ever 10 feet you don't go far fast!

By late afternoon we headed back to the Hydrojump and Jim was ready to get this one over with. He geared up and let 'er rip! The tricky part on this one was the run up, there was a 90 degree turn at the top of the hill you came down then you had to line up with not a lot of time to hit the water after the 90, also having to keep your momentum for a great amount of speed to reach the ramp, not to mention it had been rain off and on all day and it was slick as heck! A lot to think about as your coming up to a 110 foot long hydroplane off a 4 foot wide freestyle ramp. Just thread the needle boys!

Jim gave it a good go but was a little short on the speed and wasn't able to make it to the ramp with the bike, he made the ramp but the bike sank before it. Mad props though it took a lot of guts to commit to that and we are all proud of his efforts. Next up, TP who had no problem with the speed but his feet staying on the bike was another thing! He managed to save it and just gets the right side of the ramp launching off the ramp and into the lake! Success! We were all pumped that the stunt was a success and everyone was walking away. Next up for that one I believe is throwing a trick, but we'll have to wait till next time for that. They are still trying to find Travis's bike a the bottom of the lake! Ha Ha.

Next and final stop Playa Hermosa, lets go to the beach! So we headed over, which was a good haul from where we were, stopping on the way to play with the not so friendly, not so small, 30 foot salt water crock! Along the way experiencing the crazy driving habits down there that even frighten Travis at times. We got over to the beach and settled into our sweet hotel Marea Brava. Then we all went and played in the ocean, boogie boards, big waves and surfers. Marty our extremely talented camera man killed it on the surf and the big waves owned most of us at one point. We all settled down by the pool for dinner and were joined by Red Bull Nascar driver Brian Vickers taking some R&R in beautiful Costa Rica.

The next day, the day we had all been waiting for, freeriding, track riding and a trip through the sweet jungle trails! Riding away straight from our hotel and off on our adventure to the tracks and trails following Jamie the owner of the hotel and our tour leader. Travis of course while we were at the motocross track busted out a backflip for all the spectators and wowed the locals. I had an awesome time in the trails, I'd never ridden anything like that before and I was determined to keep up with TP, it was a sweet challenge. We all had a blast tearin' it up. Travis and Andy lead most of the time with our tour leader Jamie. We then took a spin on the beach by the hotel before putting the bikes away, but not all the sun bathers were too amp'ed on us doing that so we cut it short!

Our last day was to start with jumping out of a helicopter and landing on the beach to our hotel, it started off good but two jumps in we got shut down and had to rent another heli later in the day 'cause the first guy took off. We also had to wait for one of the chutes to dry as Travis decided that he want to be different and land in the ocean then swim in! There were many shenanigans that went on, on the beach with all the NC crew members while filming these jumps, pure entertainment creating quite a crowed. With these jumps we were trying to land on the back of ATV's and dirt bikes, we even involved and our new friend Brian Vickers to be one of the drivers. Kenny and I got very close to landing on the back, feet away, but no target hit. The one that got nailed perfect was Plamer swooping in so low (almost taking out our other extremely talented camera man Donnie who was getting the shot) and playing bowling with the Jim, Tenacious J, Andy Bell, Cowboy Kenny and Gregg Godfrey as his pins. He was spot on and clobbered 3 of the 5! Good shot Plamer! After everyone cleaned off the sand, we were then whisked away to a dinner pool party at Mike Cigatto's house by the Red Bull sampler girls. Where Red Bull mountain biker Alberto Mata, who was also along on the trip, wowed us again for the fourth time that week his freeride skills and balancing perfection, one of the sampler girls was brave enough to lay down while he bunny hopped and trick with percussion over her head and body. But what day would be complete without some good old alligator wrestling to finish it up!

We left with sad goodbyes but warm memories in our hearts, we all had an awesome time or to quote Tenacious J "An epic trip."

Mucho Gracias Red Bull!

So checkout my the behind the scenes photos from the week, check in regularly for more Nitro circus updates and photos!

More pictures to come, so please come back to view a full album of the week a little later.