Nervous...

.... NOT
Our team selections start this weekend here in Charlotte. I just took a look at the course map for Friday and it suddenly hit me. All the preparation, countless hours spent training, and to think about being on the start line tomorrow morning causes an unbelievable surge of adrenaline. My heart rate quickens, muscles tighten, and my mind becomes incredibly clear. The image of the first rapid from the start pool is vivid to the last detail. I've been there a hundred times by now, and tomorrow it all becomes real. The excitement and passion within will be unleashed on the word go. I think about all the people who have supported and believed in my efforts, and I give you all a sincere thank-you. I will not be alone on the start line. Your well wishes and good thoughts will be with me as a power over the start line and all the way through to the finish.

Don't Need a Pool When You Get Entertainment Like This!

I haven't done much blogging lately, but every so often something inspirational happens. We're back in Charlotte and there seems to be an endless stream of inspiration here. (If you look back in the archives to about this time last year you'll see what I mean.)

I was sitting in the courtyard of the Studio 6 chatting on the phone with my girl back home. The courtyard is surrounded on three sides by hotel and the open side leads into the parkinglot. I was minding my own business and a cop with his gun drawn crosses the open sid eof the courtyard then disappears to the right. Seconds later to african-american gentlemen walk out from behind that same side. They were coming into the courtyard and with my usual exit blocked I felt like a cornered wildcat. My flight instincts kicked in (cause everyone knows I'm no hero) and I made my way into the hotel through the back doors.

Once inside I looked through some windows to see if I could figure out what was going on. I could see a couple cop cars, one parked on top of a small tree, a lot of cops and a lot of guns.

As we left for our workout at 10:30 there was about 20 cop cars, a police helicopter, and SWAT was just arriving. We learned later that an armed robbery suspect was hiding in our hotel and Police had chased him here. You can check out the whole story and watch a video at http://news14.com/content/top_stories/594786/standoff-ends-with-suspect-in-custody/Default.aspx

HOOTERS BIKINI CONTEST

Hanging out at the course all day is great, but sometime guys just need a little mindless entertainment. Enter the Hooters girls. It was the regional selections to see which girl from the Charlotte area would go on to Vagas to compete in the National Hooters Bikini Contest. We rolled up and the crowd was filled with dudes, but I was suprised to see a fair number of ladies there to. No doubt keeping an eye on their guy, or possibly supporting a friend in the contest. The contest itself was nothing more than a parade of hot girls and some cranked up club music. What else do you need?

It wasn't all trashy... They were auctioning off Budwieser memorablia for Cancer research. With lots of guys bidding way to much for cheap junk. Who would have thought old creepy men would be so charitable?

Overall it was well worth the experience. I didn't spend any money and was entertained for atleast 2 hours.

Been Gone so Long it's Hard to Remember

Dust has begun to settle on my memoir here, and if you look close enough, you can actually see cobwebs forming in the corners. Things have been happening since I last wrote here. Biggest news is that I made the national development team, and receive government support for my paddling. Also, I grew a beard, I went to Australia, and I am currently in Charlotte NC. Oh... and Craig is going to be having a baby.
With team trials approaching fast there is always a sense of urgency in the workouts. It's all about trying to make every run the best and not wasting any time on the water. The frustration builds quickly if things aren't going well and patience runs thin even on good days.
My summer plans hinge on the results from the last weekend of April. If all goes perfectly, and God herself reaches give me a push, then I'll be racing Olympics in August. If things go really well, I'll be racing World Cups in June/July on the National Team, and if things go realistically I will race the world series races as a member of the development team in late August/Sept.
Thats about it. Other than thoughts of team trials sitting in the backseat of my mind constantly screaming "Are we there yet?", life is great!

Venice Italy and Defying Death.

Leaving Tacen yesterday the plan was unclear and all we knew was that we would get into the car and head into Italy eventually making it to Merano for the next race. The trip was slow starting because of some bad communication mostly. We stopped at the Mecator, which is just a big grocery store, to pick up some snacks and then we would drive for a while before stopping for dinner. The stop at the Mecator took 50min just to buy snacks! Then Thomas Purcell comes out of the store with 3 energy drinks and some cookies and says "Lets go get some food now." We all just laughed at him and told him to get in the car. We would stop for dinner after we left Ljubljana.

After looking at the map, and choosing a route that took us to Venice, so we could stop there to see what it's like we took off on just another leg of a great trip. Arriving in Venice without knowing anything about it, other than the fat that some of the streets are canals and people drive boats instead of cars, was quite the experience. We drove through and around the ferry terminal 3 times before we finally figured out that we had to park and then we could walk down town. The town was very nice. It was just after dusk and the town was lit up. We grabbed some icecream and spent an hour walking around. ( Derek Paul and Adam just went to get something to eat at 12:47) We left Venice with a dream and hope of getting to Merano at a decent hour.

The road from Venice to Merano on the map appeared to give two simple possibilities. You could either go the long way to Verona then up to Merano, or you could take a sweet short cut around Verona then up to Merano. The only thing was that the short cut on the map was represented by a type of line that was not defined in the legend of the map. We called it the ghost road because it simply was the same line as a highway but not coloured in the usual yellow colour.It turned out that this ghost road was impossible to translate accurately onto a map. It was a mountain pass which involved numerous hairpin turns and blind corners.

The only saving grace that we had was that it was one in the morning. This gave us several advantages over someone driving it in the day. First of all if there was no other cars on the road, and secondly if there had been cars we would see their headlights around the corner before we would ever see the car giving us more time to slow down. The road was constantly twisting back and forth, but you could tell that the cliff to the left would make for an awesome view of the vista in the background. The advantage to driving at night is that that Derek and Jamie who were driving were free from the distraction of this beautiful panorama and could focus wholly on the road ahead. I was very impressed by how these guys handled the road and was glad to be one of the passengers passively sitting in the backseat trying to ignore the fact that this was the second time this trip that we have taken the narrow mountain pass to get to the next destination. WE made it safely to Merano and spent the night sleeping on the deck outside of the club house, but thats another story all together.

Tacen Race

The race is Tacen was exciting just as Tacen always is. The drop at the top of the course is one of the trickiest fastest sections on any course that I have ever raced on, and the rest of the course is usually unpredictable and complicated. My race was unspectacular and for once I won't even write about it. There was some good stuff and bad stuff, and as Chris would say it had its ups and downs. For full results go too http://www.timing-mojstrana.com/

Moving Up And Getting Away from this Place

We went out for dinner last night and the sky was suddenly overcast with the darkest clouds I have ever seen. Derek ran to roll up the car windows, and got caught in a torrential downpour half way back to the restruant. Jokingly we talked about buying Derek dinner if he stood out in the rain/hail until our food came. We got interupted though when the awning started to resemble a water balloon about to burst. Everyone grabbed a chair to push the water off. Anyway I'm rambling and the only point is that the river reacted to this downpour that continued all night.

The river was up a little bit when we showed up for the race in the morning. First runs went by and I was in 26th with a clean run. I was happy considering this was only one of two clean runs I have had out of 18. My second run I think 18 out of 20 gates were in the water. I got to the bottom and a few more racers come then the race stops. They had started raising the poles. I was choked that the next boaters would have a much easier time with high poles. I got up to the top when the announcer announced.... that everyone from bib 80 to 101 would get another run. I was bib 100 so I would get a rerun. The river continued to rise. By the time my second run came around it was another river. The poles were back in the water and the river was raging. I touched 6 gates and had a crappy run. I ended up in 24th which was an improvement from 26th but only because the river was relentless with all the paddlers. Paul once again pimped me after first runs. Dammit!

Racing in Bovec

It's not the best river in Europe but it reminds me of home is a way. It's natural and surrounded by towering mountains. The only way across is the suspended bridge that sways with every step, yet they drive cars across which give me a feeling that it must be safe.

The race is tomorrow and we are all fired up. Derek and Paul have a side bet that the loser will drink a raw egg. We'll do just about anything for wholesome entertainment at this point. I'll try to post how the race went but I can't promise anything soon because I don't have internet back at the homestead.