{"id":9330,"date":"2016-11-18T17:17:04","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T17:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=9330"},"modified":"2016-11-18T17:17:04","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T17:17:04","slug":"jacob-bulotti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/18\/jacob-bulotti\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Bulotti"},"content":{"rendered":"

Student competes as uphill racer<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

By Jonathan Kane<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jacob
Jacob Bulotti gets ready to ride the backcountry. Photo by Kendall Nelson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

J<\/span>acob Bulotti, a senior at Wood River High School, loves adventure and trying new things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I see something that I\u2019m interested in, I want to go and try it out,\u201d he said. In particular, this applies to working with horses and racing snowmobiles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI got into ranching a few years ago. I was really inspired by the movie \u2018Buck,\u2019 to work with and train horses. So I shadowed a horse trainer and used the techniques featured in the movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s building a relationship with the animal that Jacob finds special. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real trust and a bond there, especially in the way that horses can sense you. It\u2019s so satisfying to get over an obstacle with a horse, even if it takes all day. Like teaching it to walk backwards by just shaking the lead rope.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His own horse, Cheyenne, was one of his first projects. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s tame now, but when I first got her, we nicknamed her \u2018crazy eyes,\u2019\u201d Jacob said with a laugh. \u201cShe didn\u2019t like being bossed around, so her eyes would get really big when you worked with her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacob\u2019s new passion is racing snowmobiles in what is called hillclimb racing. Instead of going down the hill, like skiing, the competitors race up it. Last year was his first competing as an uphill racer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI race in the Rocky Mountain Hill Climbing Association,\u201d he said. \u201cI was inspired because the circuit came here last year at the Minnie Moore Mine [in Bellevue]. It\u2019s Klim the Mine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In his first race he finished 12th out of 25 entrants. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t make it to the highest mark on the hill,\u201d Jacob said. \u201cBasically, you are doing a slalom up a hill on a sled and you are judged by your time and how far up you can go. You get two runs and you take your best time and distance. It all depends on how tall the mountain is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are four classes of competitors \u2013 juniors, semi-pro, pro and women.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI raced in the juniors and in my first year I qualified to go to the world championships in Jackson Hole, Wyo.,\u201d said Jacob. \u201cIt was really fun and a very cool experience. I was so surprised that I made it and I was really stoked. It inspired me and made me want to do better in the sport.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To Jacob, the sport is extremely technical. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"StudentSpotlightFooter\"\u201cYou have to get the sled on an even plane and keep it level. You are not really using the handlebars, so it\u2019s all about weight positioning. The whole thing is super-technical. It\u2019s pretty scary but a real adrenaline rush.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jacob\u2019s first time on a sled was when he was 5 years old, in the Baker Creek parking lot on his father\u2019s 900 Polaris Dragon. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was deep snow and I ended up getting stuck and building a deep trench,\u201d he said. \u201cMy dad thought it was pretty funny, except that he had to wade into the snow and come get me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really love backcountry skiing where you can travel 20 to 30 miles into the wilderness. Being in beautiful country with the excitement and the adrenaline rush \u2013 every day gets better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/b> Anyone who would like to recommend a Blaine County School District student for The Weekly Sun\u2019s \u201cStudent Spotlight\u201d feature should contact Jonathan Kane at jkjonkane@gmail.com.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student competes as uphill racer By Jonathan Kane Jacob Bulotti, a senior at Wood River High School, loves adventure and trying new things. \u201cIf I see something that I\u2019m interested in, I want to go and try it out,\u201d he said. In particular, this applies to working with horses and racing snowmobiles. \u201cI got into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-schools","8":"category-sponsored","9":"category-student-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}