IronOnline Bash 01
Henrik, The House's Bash Report

There's no other way to say this: those who were not at the Bomber Bash weekend missed out on something so great and unique that it's difficult to describe in words. It may be possible to describe the factual events, but it will never come close to actually being there. There was definitely magic in the air that weekend. For 2-3 days everyone was running around with big grins on their face, greeting and hugging left and right. I wonder if it was something they put in the food ....

So many great things happened I don't know where to begin or end. Instead of writing about everything I think I'll instead write about the moments that stands out from my point of view. (If I forget to mention someone please don't be offended. I simply can't remember all the names. Also when I met who is a little fuzzy)

Friday July 13th: Let's see now. I went to the gym two times that day to see if anyone had arrived. The second time some guy with a ponytail and tattoos was sitting at the juice bar with a cup of coffee trying to beat a 24 hour bus-ride from hell (long story). "You must be Doc. I'm Henrik". Big grins and a long talk followed.

About 3.30pm I had an appointment with Steve K (former IOL'er who's a personal trainer at the gym) to discuss training methods. As we are sitting outside, Dave Draper comes out and tells me that there's a reporter coming in 30 minutes to interview me for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Err - ok, that's good to know (stay cool, this is no time to panic!). Actually the interview went really well. It was mostly about why I had traveled all the way from Denmark to be there.

I also met Corey from Alaska who's a great guy. It's my guess that Corey is among the IOL'ers who's in best shape. Very inspiring.

At the movie theater that night I met Dr. Mike Nichols, Susan R., Og and Fay, Guy and his brother Dan and probably a lot more.

Seeing Dave on the big screen was really great. And hearing the chuckles that came from Dave when he saw himself in a 35 year younger version as "Dave Universe" was really neat. And when Dave was driving the bus with tears in his eyes after losing his girlfriend in "Don't make waves" everyone said "aaahhhh - poor Dave" followed by a lot of chuckles.

After the movies we stood in the lobby talking and Dave told some stories about his Hollywood days. The magic had begun.

Saturday July 14th: I think this day will forever be printed in the memory of everyone who was there. I arrived at about 10.30am shaking a lot of hands among those everyone from Friday night, Len and Jamie from Florida and of course Bill Keyes who I had already met a year before.

Lots of grins and talk and camera's clicking. Every IOL'er that I met are even greater people in real life. Og was running around with a long crack in his pants after going a little too low in the squat (he he).

Og, Dr. Ken and I were photographed for the newspaper - "smile, chin up please".

The seminar with Dave and Dr. Ken started at 11am. It was just awesome! Dr. Mike Nichols joined in and it became the best seminar I have ever attended.

Dr. Ken told a lot of stories from the old days which needless to say was some of my favorite parts of the seminar. All of a sudden Ed Corney arrived!! Dr. Ken pointed him out and Dave went over to give Ed a big hug. Big applause - one of those unforgettable moments.

The seminar was over way to fast. I have no idea where those 2½ hours went, too bad it had to end. After the seminar a lot of guys, myself included, wanted to shake hands with Ed Corney and get a picture.

Then we all went over to the park and the BBQ (Laree tells me there was over 200 peoples at the BBQ!). The food at the BBQ was delicious (a big thanks to everyone who helped prepare the food).

I started out sitting at a table with Bill2, Guy and his brother Dan, Susan R., Corey and his daughter and Ed Corney and his wife, Kristen. Later Dave came over, and Dave and Ed told stories from the old days. Man - it was great! I was a little awestruck by the whole thing.

Another great moment was when Bill2, Guy and I exchanged old training booklets from the 60s and 70s with Arnold, Franco, Zane, Larry Scott, Ed Corney and Robby Robinson. I had also brought the copies of Dave's original training journals from 1964-65. It was just an absolutely fantastic day that ended way to fast.

Sunday July15th: Today I'm working arms with big Guy. But first everyone(?) who was still in Santa Cruz, met for lunch at Rosa's on Santa Cruz Harbor. I think we were about 10 people there. Bill F., Len and Jamie, Guy and Dan, Og and Fay, Dave and Laree and myself and Doc.

Ordering food at Rosa's, you might as well close your eyes and point your finger. I don't think anyone knew exactly what they where ordering which made it kind of fun. I sure got a surprise when I got my plate as did Fay :o). Of course everyone was talking about how well it went the day before. Later we were all invited to dinner at Dave and Laree's house up in the redwoods.

Later that afternoon Guy and I worked arms together in the gym. It was just so cool having Guy standing next to me saying "one more rep Henrik" - "good set". We supersetted biceps, triceps and forearms and had time to discuss how each of us approach arm-training. It was just great. Guy called me the next Ralf Moeller, well, until I showed him my calves. Kind of like the scene in "Don't make waves" when Tony Curtis shows his calves to Dave.

The dinner that night at Dave and Laree's house was another magic time. Everyone from lunch was there plus Dr. Mike Nichols and his wife. Picture this: Guy and me sitting in Laree's office at their house going through all the pictures Laree has of Dave, many never shown before. It went like: "would you look at that back shot - wow"." Look at those arms - wow". Like Guy said, we were like two kids in a candy store.

During dinner Dr. Mike held a great speech in which he reminded us how fantastic it was that we were all gathered around the same table. And when you think about it, it WAS fantastic. There we were, friends of Dave and Laree from literally all over the world. I doubt that Dave and Laree had even considered that something like this could be the outcome of starting a discussion group 2 years ago.

One of the highlights was when Doc and Og was demonstrating weird old exercises (with a broomstick). Doc did the One-arm getup and Og did an exercise he learned from Doc called "Roll & jerk" (named so because you look like a complete jerk performing the exercise). Og had us rolling on the floor with laughter.

BTW, if anyone needs some good Chicago stories you should just ask Len (hi Len :o) No need to get into more details about the dinner, except that everyone who was there agreed that it had been something special (and probably never will be repeated).

Although this did not happen during the weekend I'd like to add that Og, Fay and I had an absolutely wonderful day together in San Francisco the following Thursday. Did you know that Og used to have his own brewery with his last name on the label. This guy is full of surprises.

Before I end I wanna send a big THANK YOU to Laree. Without you I don't think any of this would have happened.

Henrik "The House"

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