Hut, Hut!

December snow storms bring on winter cross training...backcountry ski touring and hut trips. This weekend Heather and I joined Brett Landin and Jenny Mac for our 2nd hut trip of the season up to 11,200 foot Eiseman Hut north of Vail Colorado in the pristine backcountry. Colorado's 10th Mountain Division Hut system was created during WWII to train the US Army's elite alpine soldiers to survive the harsh and unpredictable winters of the Italian Alps. What remains of this system is a legacy that all backcountry skiers cherish as a staple of our winter weekends.


Conditions were at a premium following a Christmas Eve storm system that left over 1 foot of fresh powder on top of an outstanding base. Avalanche risk was considerable so we had to keep our glade skiing to sub 30 degree slopes. At the end of the day, it was time for vino and the best sunsets known to man overlooking Mt. Holy Cross Wilderness above Vail Resorts on the horizon. (see video link below). That's Brett and I sitting on the front deck clearly debating whether 10 or 11 powder runs complete with faceshots by simply standin up and hucking the cornice out the front door for the day will suffice.

We shared the hut with 8 hardy college students from Mexico City on our 2nd night which was a treat. They were in the US for a reunion of sorts. We had a great discussion on socialized health care, capitalism and socialism, and illegal immigration which gave us all a better perspective of views of Mexico's government and social programs.

Good times, good friends, and a little espanol!

Hang Kayak, Grab Skis...

You know it's time to hang the kayak and bikes up and grab the skis when your car looks like this eating dinner after a paddle...

Season ender on Shoshone at 38 degrees F with Nelson Oldham...

Colorado River Race 09

Well over 30 kayaks and canoes attended the 2009 Colorado River Race put on by Canoe Colorado from Dotsero, CO to Hanging Lakes just upstream of Glenwood Springs. This year, race organizers started the unlimited class (basically anything super long, skinny, made of paper thin composite, and that you can keep upright goes) in the last wave so we got to spend the whole race chatting it up with the plastic kayaks and fiberglass open canoes as we cruised downstream in our feather weight composite racing kayaks. Special thanks to Jan Kees of Jan Kees Kayaks in New Zealand who express shipped me a rudder pedal replacement from around the globe after Heather and I damaged one paddling on Lake Dillon several weeks ago.

http://www.vimeo.com/6288384

Several wildwater kayaks were placed, by default, into the unlimited category which is hardly fair to them considering they are 15ft long versus my longtime favorite choice for any race up to class 4 of a JKK Supernova (http://race.fit2paddle.com/C1159474119/E20070822215917/index.html) at 22 ft. long and no wider than my buttocks plus 10 millimeters.

Mike Harvey, fellow US Wildwater team member, was present in rare form as always. My favorite memory of this race was about 30 seconds into the race you'll see him in a blue/white kayak on my left wearing his Nascar style Colorado Kayak Supply ball cap that just speaks for itself in this paddler's quiver...where is the porch rocking chair, PBR, and spitoon I say but clearly a classic move for Mike from Salida, Colorado. Mike finished a solid 3rd behind several faster boat designs and only seconds out of 2nd.

This stretch is a class 2- swift but flatwater hammerfest where I kept reminding myself of the less than famous words of my east coast mentor, Chris Hipgrave, who says all you need to know about winning races is simple..."1) Keep it the middle 2) paddle like hell.... and 3) the fastest time wins". I made a poor choice of skirts in that I kept having to lift the skirt after every rapid to keep the skirt full of water from filling the cockpit so 3 seconds to empty it was worth the drag I'd get if the cockpit fills with water but you see me messing with it a bit much and some great one handed balancing thru rapid wave trains.

For any paddlers looking for tips on paddling a 22 ft kayak thru tight class 3-4 rapids in other races, start with flying a Boeing 747 down a one lane bridge and keep it steady I say! Seriously, the key is:

1) stay on the inside edge of flow (you can't make moves against the current, ie from the outside back to the inside, as easy as inside to outside!)
2) time every stroke in just past the wave apex so you're balanced on top of, not on either side of, each wave so the boat tracks straight and you don't flip
3) keep a high angle on your stroke again so long boat doesn't explode left or right as you balance on the wave apex. A low angle stroke makes you zig zag off of every wave followed by a swim!

Watch how my cadence changes up or down depending on the frequency of wave hits in the rapids. The key to going fast thru rapids is avoiding as many wave hits/friction as possible by micronavigating (hence the only reason you see me turn the boat on it's side in the first rapid to avoid a small wave hit) and timing your progress thru the rapid..."keep your skirt dry we say".

The calm home stretch of this canyon this year and Neil Young's song Old Man made me think of my older brother Josh who passed when I was a young 24 just like you hear in the lyrics. I always envision someday he'll be an old man reflecting how similiar our lives were so I added it to the final calm flatwater portion at the end this year for kicks. Hope life is good for you to Josh!

I had a great race in spite of slower flows and a final headwind combined with a bit of fatigue from pacing my patient Joy Robertson in the Leadville 100 Trail run yesterday. While I won this race for the 3rd year, I was unable to improve the course record time of 1:05:08 I set last year finishing in 1:06 but enjoyed seeing the well attended race; especially the recreational canoeist that cheered all on from their wide bottomed craft.

Next up, Cataract Canyon in my wildwater boat Labor Day Weekend!

Little Brothers Need Big Rapids

So my not so little brother Mitch Ford, from my days in Big Brothers Big Sisters outside of Chicago, Illinois, and his 7 family members came out to vacation in Colorado last week. I couldn't have been happier to meet up with this action seeking family of 8 brothers, sisters, parents, and grandparents. I remember the days when Mitch was a spunky 11 year old who could turn a soccer ball on a dime. Mitch has been working up in the Great Lakes last year and is looking forward to potentially starting college next year.
He indirectly taught me alot about growing up that I had forgotten. Number one, even with a solid family, I reflected that growing up is tough between the pressures of being a good student, being a good athlete, and still being a teenager. There is pressure in our young lives from every direction....pressure to go to college, pressure to be popular, pressure to be a good citizen, pressure to become independent, pressure to be a good son....endless pressure buffered by lots of unconditional love from our parents. Just maybe all that pressure works out and we all turn out just right. Mitch sure has and I'm very proud of him even with my short time knowing him as an 11 year old. Let's all take the time with our own siblings to be a good big and little brother to each other hey?

He's grown to over 6 foot tall...so tall I couldn't fit him into the front of my new Jackson Kayak Dynamic Duo tandem whitewater kayak so he jumped in with his brothers and sisters in the mega raft for a run down one of Colorado's classic late summer class 3 runs...Lower Gore Canyon near the headwaters of the legendary Colorado River. This section was packed with late season rafters, duckier's, fly fisherman, drift boats, and my favorite part of this stretch...bald eagles waiting patiently for their next meal.

There is something very human about the lure of rafting and kayaking that sucks us all in. As you see in the video link below, rapids are a metaphor of life...all good things start with a very calm peace with tranquil surroundings in the standing pool above every rapid, your thoughts then rush together as you eye the point of conflict as the pressure converges to one critical point, your pulse quickens and teeth grind. It is then that that peace returns in the crux move of the rapid as you eye your escape. The violent bouncing up and down and side to side lessens and you accelerate choosing each stroke placement (aka word choice) carefully and, if you respect the power of that point of conflict, the rapid rewards you and returns you to the ensuing calm with a sense of accomplishment that is yours and yours alone. The more conflicts we survive, the more unstoppable we all become. In life, it is our choice of words that equate to our choice of each stroke. Even the right stroke at the wrong time proves to be catastrophic.

As my teammate once said it best, gravity and moving water...otherwise known as your judge and jury. This run was all smiles at medium water levels and the Fords/Cuervos and their trusty 1970's throwback guide Mike ran this run like champs.

Adventure runs deep in this family as even Mitch's grandpa was egging for some more big wave hits at the takeout. Next year, they are sure to come back earlier in the summer to take on Brown's Canyon near Salida although that stretch was too low for an August 1 launch. See the action for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4uYO4yMEh4&feature=channel_page !

All Fibarked Up!

Well, after 5 days of racing, demos, booths, paddlecross, Hooligans, boat thieves, cops and testosterone, I'm grateful to be back in my office this week helping patients.

Fibark in Salida, CO was host to US team trials for the Tasmania World Cups. Over 100 wildwater paddlers descended upon the Arkansas River Valley for the megaevent.

Congrats to Andy Corra and Mike Freeburn from Durango, CO for showing us young pups how experience beats testosterone. These two prolific paddlers, combined with junior phenom Peter Lutter from Bethesda, MD, really set the bar smok'n high in all events. Andy Corra narrowly edged Mike Freeburn for the combined title after both sprint and classic events to become the 2009 national champion. Tierney Osullivan returned to her former dominance as regained the women's national K1 title and we're all happy to see her back in a wildwater boat as a lifetime paddler as she attends college at Georgia University. Mike Harvey, my partner in crime training this spring, won the senior class sprint and really raised some eyebrows that a top level playboater could convert to wildwater and get it done!

My sprint skills are developing but never fast enough now in my second year in a wildwater boat. I had a great first run, running the left side of class 4 Cottonwood Rapid which the field equally split runs on the left line and right line (see warmup video below from helmet cam). Cottonwood is a quirky rapid in that the fastest line requires one to setup left, let the left sided reactionary waves push your left aiming bow to the center while the first hole goes perfectly just under my right armpit followed by trying to skirt to either side of the final hole to avoid stopping my momentum. For those wanting to understand the minutia of paddling a long racing boat thru class 4 rapids, timing is everything as if you hit these holes with your paddle perpendicular and not parallel to your boat you're gonna loose arms followed by a beat down in the hole my friend. You see me pause for 2 seconds in the middle of the rapid when the paddler barely visible in front of me flips combined with not being able to see for 2 seconds from the immersion...not a good place to be upside down buddy but he rolled back up in the calm eddy downstream. My second run resulted in a minor eddy out on the left but all in all a major improvement over my first team trials sprint last year.





After a mediocre sprint race, the classic race was a "day of reconciliation" for me as I joked with Gary Lacy before the race during warm up. I felt really good from warm up to crossing the finish line and hard work paid off in 2009...I moved up from my 6th place finish last year on the senior team to a super solid 2nd place finish just behind multi year national champion Geoff Calhoun and the Corra/Freeburn/Lutter trifecta. Corra, Freeburn, and Lutter won the masters and juniors class as Corra was a man on fire I say with Lutter right on his tail. I was very happy with the heel blocks Chris Hipgrave let me in on 2 weeks ago as they really helped me drive the boat in the constant chop of the class 3 rapids. The top 6 US boats qualify for the national team so we'll see what I decide about heading to the World Cups this year in Tasmania.

The Head to Head Sprint on Saturday was an unexpected good time for all. Wildwater racing is a time trial race historically but we lined up 6 boats at a time for this testosterone heavy noon crowd pleaser and a crowd pleaser it was. I made it to the finals with Peter Lutter and Geoff Calhoun. Just as we hit the first drop, Geoff and Peter got typewriter'ed then tboned into each other by the river wide curler wave followed by Norbury and I bumper car'ing each other into the bridge abutment flipping us both. The combination of Peter and Geoff on top of each others boats and Chris and I having to roll ourselves back upright as we crossed the finish line had the crowd just howling in laughter. Below is a prelim. heat with Peter Lutter winning the heat and myself 2nd followed by Evan Ross and one of the Popp boys neck and neck.

USA Wildwater had a booth right at the main hole where we handed out wildwater technique CD's, Zastera catalogues, spread the KEEN love, and sampled over 300 Clif Mojo Bars. The USA Wildwater Team Demo took place15 minutes before the Hooligan race in front of a maximum capacity crowd of approx 8,000. Geoff Calhoun had the announcer howling as he attacked the main hole pulling off a flat spin in a wildwater boat like Tarzan in the trees. We sampled over 200 Clif Mojo Bars during the demo tossing them from our boats into the crowd from the eddys.




If all that excitement weren't enough, my good friend Shane Sigle's kayaks got stolen by some locals after being hidden roadside. After calling no joy and calling off the search, Shane and Gretchen headed back to their hotel. Heather and I decided to look some more. You won't believe it but the kayak thieves turned right in front of me heading thru downtown with the boats hanging out of the back of their Blazer.

After some sly Dukes of Hazard moves, the thieves were apprehended by the cops in their front yard and Shane got his beloved slalom boat while the thieves got 10 years of bad kharma. In the mean time, Heather and I dialed in our roof rack "Salida Security Package" seen at top of page for our next roadtrip to our favorite paddling town! We've got everything but the Ginsu knives to take on these bad apples!


So July looks to be a month of firstly, a haircut and secondly, reconciliation at the office and personal life (ie remind my friends and Heather I still exist) so the blogs will be more about fun paddling than testosterone so check back soon! O yeah....and 1 month off deserves a beer with Heather riverside!

Teva Games Goes Wild (WATER)!

Thanks to a last minute deal with Nick Rader at Teva Games (http://www.tevagames.com/), USA Wildwater sent a hungry group of 9 wildwater paddlers to do a exhibition race as part of the Bud Light Downriver Race in Vail, Colorado alongside some of the best kayakers in the US including Tao Berman, Pat Keller, Andrew Holcombe, and 100 other fun-having sprint entrants. We were super impressed with the huge number of participants, spectators, and even more impressed with the spot on laser timing system. Perennial wildwater powerhouse Chris Hipgrave (seen below hanging out with Heather and I) of Bryson City, NC won the overall with a solid 15:03 with most of the remaining wildwater field within a tight 20 seconds.

Gore Creek, no wider than a cow's broad side, rages right into Vail Village and was busy with lots of boogie water and channelized drops. Our 14 foot carbon kevlar boats don't exactly turn on a dime so our hearts were pumping harder than ever in what seemed like an alpine luge at 50 mph more than a downriver kayak race. Trees, low bridges, and spectators were coming at us like asteroids as we ducked, dodged, and boofed for our way down the course (see video clip below) in just over 15 minutes. The short boat division winners finished in an impressive 17.50 minutes with the Dagger Green Boat holding it's throne as king of the plastic boat class. Post-race chumming followed with stories of dry heaving in the bushes, low bridge collisions overhead, and lots of eddy outs on the squirrely course. I even caught an eddy overtaking another paddler and gave myself a 30 second/10 point turnabout detour but all is fun on a race like this leading up to team trials.

See the great video footage from the starting line from the HeroCam mounted on kayak bow...crazy perspective and you can see why we love our sport! Yes, we really were having to duck and time our strokes to clear the bridges overhead and get the boat back up to speed immediately past. Great high water this year!

Below, nothing better than a few warmup attainments upstream to get the heart pumping! Can't say enough about how perfect the Immersion Research layers perform in Colorado's freezing spring runoff!



Special thanks to Nick Rader with Teva Games for his special accomodation hosting the wildwater paddlers in Colorado for national team trials in 2 weeks. Teva Games remains king of the whitewater mountain festivals and we look forward to returning formally for a US Wildwater team trials event on the same course in future years!

Buena Vista...Spring Runoff Commences!

Buena Vista Road Trip

Spent this whole weekend in my favorite place in Colorado when the spring runoff has begun! Heather was racing in the Gravity Play Buena Vista race (http://www.gravityplay.com/) where she pulled off a solid 3 place overall while I paddled water safety on behalf of KEEN and Clif Bar for the race thru the class 2-3 rapids south of town. I spent several hours chumming it up with racers as they came thru the rapids and enjoyed the enthusiasm they shared for this great section of the Arkansas River. A few racers were less enthusiastic about the water temperatures and their kayak selection as the section is rowdier than most adventure races offer but all were safe and proud of their accomplishment.

Heather did a great job keeping her kayak upright and I'm super proud of her just learning to kayak. My new Immersion Research long sleeve Thermoskin layers arrived just in time for the spring runoff...perfect combination of warmth and performance...armpits were totally uninhibited and the perfect choice for the cold mountain melt seen above.

I spent the rest weekend scouting the upper half of the FIBARK course with local wildwater paddler Mike Harvey, play park designer extraordinaire. His wildwater paddling is looking solid and we snuck every sneak he knows on the upper course. We'll spend the next 4 weeks dissecting the FIBARK course at rising water levels until she's given us all of her secrets.

What Can You Do for EARTH toDAY?

We'll it's officially Earth Day and we are pretty fired up about it here in Colorado! I saw Pearl Izumi's staff outside picking up an adjacent lot and got emails from my friends at Clif Bar asking me how was I spending Earth Day which happens to coincide with my Wednesday off day otherwise known as Multisport Wednesdays. So after a triple decker high batch of pancakes, I was off to make my Earth Day a hit.

1. Picked up my Adopt a Highway section of Left Hand Canyon. Done!

2. Paddled at Confluence Whitewater Park in Denver AND filled 1 bag of trash from shoreline. Done!

3. Sold my SUV/FJ Cruiser and bought an Audi wagon! Not really but did last month in anticipation of Earth DAy!

4. I called my sports medicine suppliers and insisted they ship product to my clinic with USED CARDBOARD BOXES. Who cares if the outer box looks ghetto? Immersion Research put me onto this after I received a product order from them that the box had clearly been around! Save your shipping boxes in your business and pass it on! Sometimes I feel like I do more damage to the environment running boxes around town to recycler than if I just passed them forward when I ship something. I found a friend that owns an ebay business and he was all smiles to become the new recipient of my boxes weekly.

5. Sent emails to my friends reminding them to attend the 2009 Platte River Cleanup this weekend... www.southplattecleanup.com/ sponsored by KEEN.

That's all for now Earth fans. Pass it forward.

Spring USA Wildwater Camp, Glenwood Springs, CO

Colorado wildwater legends Mike Freeburn (below) , Andy Corra (seen on left), and Nelson Oldham came out of the wood work for the 2009 USA Wildwater Spring Camp held in Glenwood Canyon on the Shoshone stretch of Colorado River. Unfortunately, 3 foot of snow came out of the clouds the same day shutting down I70 for 24 hours.

USA Wildwater is making a development priority in 2010 to emphasize domestic camps with hopes of an annual camp on east coast, Rockies, and west coast with current and previous senior and junior team members serving as instructors as part of their committment to USA Wildwater for funding their racing abroad.

Day 1 was a flatwater stroke while Day 2 was dedicated to swiftwater content. The camp was wrapped up with several trial runs on the national junior trials course to be held next weekend April 25-26. Special thanks to Clif Bar for providing lunch time snacks to fuel the day!

Team KEEN 2nd Overall in Jackson Hole Pole Pedal Paddle

Just back from Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the 35th annual Pole Pedal Paddle (http://www.polepedalpaddle.com/) where 150 relay and solo teams of alpine skiers do a giant slalom course from top of the tram to a 1 hour nordic course to 1 hour bike to 1 hour paddle to the finish. My team consisted of Jackson locals George Putnam who won the fastest alpine leg leg, Boulderite Adam St. Pierre (seen here with me at paddle finish line) who finished a very very close 2nd place overall on the nordic leg, Jacksonite Brian Schilling on the bike, and myself finishing 3 seconds off the fastest paddle leg behind Jackson Hole extreme kayaker Aaron Pruzan (1st) of Rendevous River Sports. Note to self...don't chase your race bib floating down the river when every second counts. These teams were out to keep the out of towners off the podium at any cost! His local team showed us how the locals do it just edging us from the overall title with their local insight and blazing speed. We'll be back next year as this was a great mountain event, great organization, and lots of local talent to race with. Next year we should make time to pre run the nordic and paddle course at least once and the locals will see Boulderites rally!

The fun class defined the legendary spirit of this race as sumo wrestlers, bannanas, and several Elvis impersonators wreaked havoc particularly on the downhill section of the nordic course where they were clearly in control of this race for about 10 seconds.

Fellow Boulderites and our road tripping pals Gary Lacy won the masters division and son Spencer won the youth division. We also won the "How Many Skis, Bikes, and Kayaks Can you Load Onto Your Vehicle" division seen below leaving my house in Boulder County. Note the ninja-like prowess of this crack squad balancing on sheer millimeters of sheet metal!

Play time is closing for me...time to focus on wildwater team trials coming up in June!

Tubing Is Not a Crime...Need I Say More?

Love this guy. May I never cross his path in race...

RETURN TO YOUR ROOTS...

Gravity Play Adventure Extreme Series- Moab, Utah 2009


350 smiling adventure racers descended upon Moab, Utah for a 12 hour multisport race that always seems to be the season kicker off'er for the US adventure racing scene. Teams came from all over the Rocky Mountain region and as far as Washington state to race this great multisport course. My old team Boulder Performance Network is on hold for this year with sponsorship woes and I continue to focus on wildwater kayak racing. But with a later start to the international wildwater scene, I couldn't pass on my favorite place in the US to race so I entered as a soloist.



The race began on mountain bikes allowing for a fun peloton of sorts for all racers to chum it up and catch up with my old pals. The chum'ing ended rather abruptly as the course turned vertical for a 2,000 ft climb from the Colorado River basin up Longhorn Canyon on near 18% sandy rocky Jeep trails. The course flattened out before the rappel on classic Moab slickrock and I was very impressed with the new Gary Fisher Superfly hardtail 29er that University Bikes/Gary Fisher in Boulder set me up on for the 2009 season. At just under 24 lbs for a 29er, I'm certain it is my ultimate dream adventure racing bike.


My old teammate Travis Macy (Salomon), myself (BPN Clif Bar), James Kovacs (Golite), and 18-year old (wow!) Spencer Lacy split off the front of the pack to make the 350 foot rappel as getting hung up in queue behind other racers is the end of your day in this race. On the mountain run leg, Kovacs and I exchanged our best imitations from my favorite movie Top Gun as Travis was showing us both without mercy "there are no points for second place"!

I spent the rest of the day chasing Travis down on foot and bike by map and compass only to arrive at the final paddle leg to the finish about 20 minutes behind. In years past, my only hope was to make up time on the paddle on Travis but his paddling skills and boat selection have really impressed me this year. Water levels were super low this year and paddle hits were a bit problematic combined with me mixing my "big gulp" energy drink way too concentrated (note to self: add electrolytes after you know how long paddle leg will be:) which triggered some projectile vomiting followed by some fierce paddling as I felt like a new man afterwards.

I couldn't close the gap; finishing 2nd overall and almost 10ish minutes behind the son of adventure racing legend Mark Macy. I'm sure his dad is quite proud as I don't see anyone in the US short of the Nike's Mike Kloser and company and the still formidable Mike Freeburn beating Travis in a multisport run/ride/paddle/compass race. Spencer Lacy, son of longtime wildwater kayaker Gary Lacy, finished 15 minutes behind in 3rd then finally the 1st team arrived 30 minutes later. Spencer Lacy is another upcoming youth phenom as his bike and paddling skills are impressive and he's isn't even out of highschool yet! I think he actually may have been doing homework during the prize giving but Travis and I have his medal to deliver next weekend as we head up to Jackson Hole Pole Pedal Paddle. I think Spencer will really raise some eyebrows as he's an even better nordic skier placing top 10 in the nation as a junior.

Special thanks to my sponsors KEEN, Clif Bar, Boulder Performance Network, and Immersion Research for another great opportunity to represent your brands!

Travis Macy wins the overall...and the nicest guy in adventure racing award...

Westwater Canyon Meets Wildwater Kayak Nov 2008

Westwater Nov 2008

So Heather and I joined 30 of our newly met friends on a Meetup.com paddling trip organized by Bob Cooke from Denver REI. Westwater Canyon is a classic big water class 3-4 run from the Utah Colorado State Line almost to Westwater. We joined 10 kayakers and 3 rafts for this overnight camping trip.

It all started innocently enough, with smiles from ear to ear. Day 2 made up for a casual first day of great slot canyon waterfalls and slickrock slides in one of America's true paddling treasures. We had one raft puncture so had to consolidate the rafters onto one raft seen here with "Boz" at the helm running the uncommon line right through the Skull at Skull Rapid. I'm too old for the hero line so here I am taking the weak sister line with Bob on the camera waiting for carnage to unfold without fruition in this saavy, crack squad of motivated paddlers. We had our share of carnage and had to work through a shoulder dislocation in the belly of the canyon but all worked out and what a great www.meetup.com/frontrangepaddlesports group. Our rescue raft was so overloaded we had a little fun towing it out of the canyon here right near the takeout.

Kayak to Work Week! March 23-30th

We'll it's official race fans. No better way to get your kayak to your local waterway than in tow behind the townie bike! Special thanks to Ian Adamson from Boulder for his engineering expertise in designing this marvel of geometry and mathematics. I sure do get alot of honks and rubbernecking when hauling a load but it sure beats gas prices these days. I'm even offering neighboorhood kids a ride if they're under 4o lbs and they don't mind it's a little top heavy design so no BMX moves when sidecar occupied. Truth be known, it's actually my stealth mode of paddling on Boulder Reservoir afterhours at night as the park rangers can't find my bike hidden in the fields nor can I after a brisk spring paddle with ice on my http://www.immersionresearch.com/ drytop!

Pass it forward...save some gas and make someone chuckle.

March 11, 2009 Back to School!

So I found myself back in highschool last week helping out Dawson School's Kayak Academy students interested in downriver racing. We spent 2 hours working on forward stroke, stroke timing, start from stop, heeling the boat while sprinting, and shallow water paddling skills. No capsizes to report and what a great bunch of young adults to work with! Special thanks to their coach Mr. Nate Lord for inviting me as a guest instructor. I'll work with their wildwater team a few days per month through the spring.

2009 Schedule and Kickoff Video

2009 Schedule (Tentative)

Jan. 17-18th USA Canoe and Kayak National Team Camp (Juniors and Seniorrs) Atlanta, Georgia http://www.usawildwater.com/


March 28th Adventure Extream Race Moab, Utah
http://www.gravityplay.com/


April 4th Pole, Pedal, Paddle Jackson Hole, Wyoming
http://www.polepedalpaddle.com/

April 18-19th USA Wildwater National Team Camp Glenwood Springs, CO

April 25th US Junior Team Trials Western Qualifier and Junior Team
Camp Staffed by Senior Team Members Glenwood Canyon, CO

May 30th Wyoming Outback Challenge 100K Saratoga, Wyoming
http://www.fit2paddle.com/

June 6th Teva Games Vail, Colorado
http://www.tevagames.com/

June 14th Lyons Outdoor Games Lyons, Colorado
www.lyons-colorado.com/whitewater

June18-20 FIBARK Festival/USA Wildwater National Team Trials Salida, Colorado
http://www.fibark.net/ (will include USA Wildwater Team Demo)


August 19 Glenwood Canyon Challenge Glenwood Springs, Colo.
http://race.fit2paddle.com/2008-colorado-river-kayak-and-canoe-race-in-glenwood-canyon/

Oct. 24 – Nov. 7 World Cup Races 1-4 * usually in Europe annually Tasmania, Australia

Nov. 3rd The Legendary Green River Race Easley, SC
http://www.lvmvideo.com/2008/11/02/green-race-quick-review/