Dew Tour Nike 6.0 BMX Open

Even though the Crosstown Classic at U.S. Cellular Field was taking place Friday afternoon, I chose to attend the Dew Tour’s Nike 6.0 BMX Open in Grant Park. The Dew Tour was established in 2005 and is considered the world’s premier action sports tour – whereas ESPN’s X Games is a single event. Also, with the Taste of Chicago taking place right across the street, I figured this was a good day to take in both events.

Obtaining Tickets
I bought a $15 ticket when I arrived at the event. Little did I know I could have entered the event for free. $15 gave me access to the bleachers in order to sit, but I could have stood for free. I stood most of the event anyway since the bleachers were in the sun and I could stand in the shade.

The Event
As with any Action Sport event there are plenty of activities going on besides the actual event and there are tons of giveaways. The main giveaways at this event were Wendy’s free single hamburgers and Ball Park Franks free hot dogs.

Josh Hult won the BMX Dirt Finals which was the only Finals scheduled for Friday. I also attended the Taste of Chicago during the 30 minutes between each event.

Winter X Games Day 2

Saturday was a day dedicated to the Winter X Games since it was the first day with Final events during the afternoon rather than just the evening.

Pre Game Dining
To start off the day, Nicole and I shopped in Aspen, followed by brunch at the Wienerstube - one of Aspen's only restaurants open before noon.

Winter X Games
We spent most of the day at Winter X Games. The afternoon events were Women’s Skiing Slopestyle Final, Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final, Men and Women’s SnowboarderX Final, and Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final. However, the only issue with these events is that you cannot watch the entire course. The event is mainly for television. Thus, we ended up watching most of the events on TV in the ski lodge, while watching some of the participants finish up their runs live.

The ski lodge at Buttermilk is the main place to warm up and get anything to eat at Winter X Games. If possible, be sure to eat before or after the event as the food is regular stadium fare.

The evening sessions were similar to Friday night’s events – Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe Elimination, SnoCross Final and Ski Big Air Final. We had hoped Ski Big Air Final would be similar to the Skateboard or BMX Freestyle Big Air, but it did not have the same effect. The most entertaining part of the evening was the snow ball fight that took place. The entire crowd was throwing snow balls at each other, the luxury boxes and the television cameras. In order to calm the crowd down the public address announcer threatened to call off the games.

Post Game Dining
After the events, we met our group at Social Restaurant – an upscale tapas restaurant – for some post X Games tapas.

Winter X Games in Aspen, CO

We made the drive to Aspen Thursday afternoon. However, rather than attend Winter X Games Thursday night, we had reservations at the Pine Creek Cookhouse Thursday evening. This restaurant was not only a 30-minute drive from Aspen, but was also a 30-minute sleigh ride from the restaurant's parking lot! Total cost for the evening $120 per person but was worth the wintery experience.

Friday was a different story. The Ultimate Sports Wife and I skied on Aspen Mountain Friday afternoon, which was followed by an evening at Winter X Games.

Winter X Games
Winter X Games was everything that ESPN has you believe that it is on television – only better. Although you have to stand on a bed of ice at the bottom of the half pipe in order to watch the event, the views from the bottom are great and if you need a quick replay of the run, all you need to do is watch the event on the closest television screen.

We watched the Ski SuperPipe Final, SnoCross Round 1 and Snowboard SuperPipe Final all from the same location. The last event of the evening was Snowmobile Next Trick Final in which Levi LaVallee was attempting to pull off the first double back-flip on a snowmobile - modeled after Travis Pastrana's double back-flip on a motorcycle at Summer X Games 2006. Although LaVallee completed the double back-flip, he fell off the machine on the landing, meaning he ended up losing the event.

Post Game Dining
After the double back flip, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I raced to the free buses that drove us back to Aspen for a late night dinner. We ate dinner at Lu Lu Wilson which was a great place for a post game meal after the X Games.