Extreme Exposure: Carmichael wins Hawaiian Pro, MTB rider Peat retires
In this week’s edition of Extreme Exposure, a weekly column covering the best news and photography from the world of action and outdoor sports, Triple Crown success does not guarantee pro tour prowess in surfing, mountain biker Steve Peat announces his retirement and more.
The Quest to Be the Best
The first event of the Triple Crown is in the books and for now, a relative “dark horse,” as he’s being tagged by surf media, is leading the points series of Hawaii’s most iconic event (the Sunset Pro gets started this week and the Triple Crown wraps with the Pipe Pro in December). Australia’s Wade Carmichael matched classic power surfing with Haleiwa’s shredable walls, outlasting new schooler Filipe Toledo (No. 2), fellow power surfer Ezekiel Lau (No. 3) and last year’s Hawaiian Pro winner Dusty Payne.
The win catapulted Carmichael from No. 59 to No. 13 in the Qualifying Series Rankings and he can make the 2016 World Tour if he continues his streak. “I don’t even know what to say. I feel like with this win, I’ll get a little roll with Sunset,” he said of his win after a rough year of results.
The Top 22 finishers on the Championship Tour qualify for 2016 as well as the Top 10 from the QS. Many top pros already on tour will attend QS events to insure their requalification if they find themselves on the bubble.
While Carmichael may be in position to qualify for the Championship Tour, Triple Crown success doesn’t always equate to success at the top of the professional ranks. Payne, who finished strong at the Triple Crown last year after his win at Haleiwa, is fighting to requalify for the World Tour and sits at No. 35 in the 2015 ratings (his finish at the Hawaiian Pro definitely helped). John John Florence, who won the Triple Crown in 2011 and 2013, won the Quiksilver Pro France in 2014 but struggled with injury in 2015. And 2012-winner Sebastian Zeitz has yet to win on tour and is currently ranked No. 24.
Bikes over Baghdad
Since 2009, a group of BMX riders have regularly visited troops stationed in the Middle East, entertaining at bases across the region. Bikes Over Baghdad was formed by brothers Christian and Zach Schauf as well Nate Wessel, a renowned craftsman who builds ramps for all types of action sports events like X Games and the Nitro Circus. Christian Schauf directed a documentary about the group in 2013.
Here, Anthony Napolitan sends it during a show this week at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait:
A Sweet Way to Say Goodbye
Steve Peat is one of the winningest downhill mountain bike riders of all time. An absolute icon in the sport. And he recently announced his retirement in the most classy way possible: with a video of him shredding in Norway (see a snippet, below and the full video here.)
Peat, 41, a native of Sheffield, England, has helped define the sport of downhill for the past two decades, winning the World Cup three times, Portugal’s ruggedly famous Lizboa Downhill eight times and a World Championship in 2009. He has 17 World Cup wins.
“Competing at the highest level has given me everything,” said the father of two. “But it also takes everything. My priorities may change but the fun and adventure that two wheels gives me will continue forever.”
And the winner Is…
Ski towns are generally tight knit communities, always ready to come together to support their own. Even if “their own,” is a public restroom. Earlier this month, townspeople from Minturn, Colo.—a small village between Vail and Beaver Creek—rocked the vote in Cintra’s “America’s Best Restroom Award” (yes, that’s seriously a thing).
The public outhouses, constructed by the city of Minturn, are works of art with wood walls designed to look like mine entrances, a nod to the town’s mining history. The city went all out, creating a public Facebook page and printing posters to encourage locals to vote in the contest. “Usually we’re just little Minturn near Beaver Creek,” Town Planning Director Janet Hawkinson told the Denver Post. “But we’re trying to build bigger interest.”
Behold, the power of the loo as a promotional device.
