Cook: [Laughs] Not quite that far!
ESPN.com: Forgetting about the trick for a while -- your first real competition is going to be X Games, how did you feel when you realized you had been given that invitation? Cook: I’m not sure I fully have yet [laughs]. Two years ago I wanted to do this trick, but unfortunately it didn’t work out for doing it at last year’s X, but I have been thinking about it for two years. It has been beating on me big time. For me I am my own biggest competitor so when I get something in my head that I want to do, it’s going to get done. Having the invitation to X was kind of the goal and I have accomplished that so now it is all about “go and do it.” If I can pull it off clean and ride away then I will be content and happy. ESPN.com: Is there any special kind of preparation you are doing for X Games that is different from what you have done in the past? Cook: Obviously lots of foam pit, which is different because most tricks you are learning and just progress onto dirt at 75 feet. That and then for the first time I have a personal trainer. I showed him the trick and he definitely has been helping out with some of the different muscles that you don’t think about and helps on keeping yourself from getting too sore. This time has been a lot easier on my body because I have been going really hard these past two months. The goal of the workout is to help you survive the foam pit more than anything. It definitely helps so my body is feeling good. I’ve got the usual aches and pains, but I will go home and hit the gym for a while and get loosened up, lots of stretching and then we are headed to X. ESPN.com: Have you taken up yoga yet? Cook: Yep, with this gym and trainer you get free yoga so I have done that a few times. I don’t really like the “Woo-sah” kind of stuff [laughs], but this is more that you are here for a reason and you are stretching and you’ve got some good tunes on and you are there to loosen up and stretch and get more flexible. ESPN.com: Maybe you can get a sponsorship from Lululemon and get a Canadian yoga company behind you?
044
MX PERFORMANCE - MXPMAG.COM
ESPN.com: Have you actually been approached by any new sponsors once they found out you were in X? Cook: I have been building with my existing sponsors because I have excellent relationships with them and this is kind of a reward for them since they have been really good. I have been talking to a few people and a few different sports managers and they are saying “Who is Bruce Cook?” like no one really knows. There’s no offense taken because I have been doing my thing in Canada and have not really made a name for myself in the U.S. That has been my game plan from day one, to kind of come out of the blue and have this trick and just do my own thing. Everyone has been saying it’s kind of crazy down there, but for focus and my mental game it is probably best for me to go and do my thing and worry about the rest later. ESPN.com: X Games is a very different stage to everything you have done before and we have seen the pressure crush people in the past. What are you expecting that circus is going to be like? Cook: I have been getting pretty good preparation from Billy, Jolene and Travis. Travis’ trainer has been a big help actually. He has been
at the house most of the week helping me out big time with a lot of the mental game. I think I have prepared myself for what’s to come and I am usually pretty good with that kind of thing. I can turn a switch and focus on my own thing and once you are coming up that ramp you are only focused on one thing and that’s getting the trick done. I’m prepared for a little bit of a shock because, as you said, it is kind of a different stage, but I am prepared for that shock and it should not be too much of an issue. ESPN.com: Any concerns that you are going to be ready to jump out there and someone else is going to have a similar trick? Cook: That’s always possible, but I have been away from the Internet and not really looking at what the other guys are doing. Like I said, from day one this has been what I am doing and I am going to do it the best I can. Whatever anyone else has, that’s cool because I have huge respect for those guys and a couple of tricks that I have heard about are crazy. Everyone is out there doing their own thing and I think this year the tricks are going to be really big, really new, really crazy tricks. I’m just out there to land mine and whatever else happens, happens.