FRPA and USACK Development Topics assigned by Matt Taylor

The RACE

Will Grubb — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:13:43 GMT

Today is Friday, race day. I woke up pretty early this morning, took a shower and headed down for breakfast. Unfortunately, there was a wedding the night before, and that kept us up till around two o clock. The breakfast was great, as always, and I was looking for ward to a day of racing. At demos the previous night I felt confident about the course even though I had only been training there for a week. There was only one move I was concerned about but confident I could make it.

We got to the course, watched pre runners, and I got I my boat for my warm up and flat water paddle. I felt pretty good but when I heard the beeps in the start gate and saw my name on the jumbotron I was pretty nervous.

I was on the course, off to a good start the first three gates went great and I was confident just when the tip of my bow nicked the bottom of the gate. If it had been a clear tough or even a whack I would have been ok, but my bow just barely nicking the gate made me mad. I really started driving and I made the next few gates just fine.

There it was. The move I thought about and anticipated most, the hole move. You had to hit the hole left and have it lateral you right for a tight offset couple gates. I worried too much about getting on that lateral and making it through the hole that I forgot about the next couple gates. This is what Chris always tells me, Always think two gates ahead. I was thinking about only that one gate and that screwed me up. I missed one of the offset gates and had too loop for it. It was not the end of the world, but kind of a bummer.

From there on out wasnt great, but then again, considering my experience on artificial whitewater, wasnt bad. I had some trouble with broily water, and was really tired at the end from looping and fighting current, but I finished.

Now, for my second run the goal was, how to keep diving through everything and staying forward in my boat. My second run I was a lot less nervous and I did pretty well. I got all the gates, nailed the move I was having trouble with in the hole, and I started to connect things.

Ultimately, my race wasnt great but the goal was to get international experience and be able to paddle and learn from some of the best athletes in the world. I think I have achieved this goal and come away with a lot physically and mentally. I can match myself up to other athletes that I will be competing against if I make junior team, and I have seen what it takes to race at a really high level.

Forum: Canoe Slalom World Series- Germany

A brief Blog

Tyler Hinton — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:15:27 GMT

It was a Saturday morning and I woke up around 4 am or so I cannot recall how early it was but I grabbed my last few items and got my self into the car. I started out on a nice 45-minute drive to Denver airport. Where I spent an hour trying to get my boat on to the plane it was impressive how little money we had to pay to send our boats I only had to pay 120 USD. That is a whole lot less than I had to pay on the way to worlds where they charged me 380 USD. After I got through security I got on the train and went to my gate, where I sat there waiting for my plane to board.

I got on my plane to DC and was not looking forward to my 4-hour layover where I had nothing to do but schoolwork. But I was reluctant to remember that I had my fathers red carpet club card with me so I went into the red carpet club and then sat down got a nice diet coke and did my history and chemistry homework. It was load of fun.

Then I realized that it was time for me to get on my next plane to Frankfort Germany. I do not recall much of this flight dew to the fact I was asleep. But it was ok I like flying like that. When I woke up I found out that it was about 7 30 am in Germany I was excited. But I never have the best luck on travel I well kind of missed my connection flight. But to my defense it was a tight layover and well our flight was half an hour late. But after getting a pat down search and found out that the passport control man had a slight crush on me I made it and got on the next flight out to Berlin it was nice about a 2 hour layover. So I made my way to the closest coffee place and got my self a good European style cappuccino and then got my self on the next plane and sat patently on the short 30-minute flight to Berlin. Once we landed I just waited and waited to see weather my boats would come. Well. It did not show up next I went to try to find it and the nice German lady got it on to the next flight to Berlin. So I waited and waited and waited some more until it showed up and then I for once had all of my things with me and they were in one peace SCORE 1 FOR TYLER.

Only one step left and that was the drive to Leipzig it was not that bad I spent some time in traffic and drove past a bunch of really nice fast cars. But I arrived at my destination 25 hours later. I then walked down to take a peak at the course with out water it was big and had a 90-degree right had turn in it. I was worried about that dew to the fact that I am a left handed C1 witch meant that I would have to be on my cross a fair bit.

Then I went to the hotel and found that it was really nice a lot nicer that what I was anticipating. Then I went up to my room and went to bed.

The next morning I went and wondered around Leipzig and got lost and had to get a cab to get to the white water o man that was a long adventure. I am just amazed that I made it back in time to paddle.
Later to come Times training people meet and then race day.

Forum: Canoe Slalom World Series- Germany

Germany blog

Tyler Hinton — Thur, 18 Sep 2008 20:11:23 GMT

Sorry its taking so long i am working on spelling and making a story flow it should be done by friday or so Sorry for the wait

Tyler

Forum: Canoe Slalom World Series- Germany

Quick Journal Entry

Will Grubb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:42:13 GMT

We woke at 4:30 am and I jumped right into my clothes. If you can imagine a scene from George Jetson waking up and being ferried from one machine to the next getting dressed, fed, showered. Only mine is less cool. We got in the car, picked up Chris and were on our way.

The flight from Denver to Washington Dulles was not bad and I got a lot of my homework done, which I had a lot of due to missing over a week of school days for this trip. We had a huge layover in Dulles (4 hours) but Tyler and I managed to squeeze into the red carpet club with his dads pass. At about 530 that evening we boarded the plane and I woke up the next day in Frankfurt, Germany.

Upon arriving in Frankfurt, late, we thought we could run to the flight to make it in time. To our surprise, we had to go through two security checkpoints, pat downs and extra personal attention for Tyler and Chris by the lovely German TSA folks (Chris thought he was at the beginning of a long uncomfortable relationship with TSA guy) and long lines in passport control.

We figured out that we had long missed our flight and hobbled to the Lufthansa customer service line two terminals away and three flights of stairs away. Chris muddled out some bad German and took care of changing our fights to the next available, which was only one hour later.

Once we got to the gate for our flight to Berlin, we went through check in and boarded a cool bus that took us to the airplane on the runway. Everyone boarded the plane and put their seatbelts on waiting for their short flight to Berlin. 1 hour later after sitting on the runway with all the other planes passing by us, they turned us around and decided to fix some sort of piece of the plane. One hour later, all was better and we were sky bound for Berlin.

After a bumpy flight whereas the plane jumped around often loosing what felt like 1000 ft at a time, we finally bounced, literally, down on the runway in Berlin. I had seen so many videos of the whitewater course on YouTube and other websites and was so anxious to set down on it in my own kayak with the best canoeists and kayakers in the world. When arriving to baggage claim we happily received our bags, but our boats were not there.

Off we all went through the airport in Berlin looking for the baggage control to report our missing kayaks. With a lot of Chriss German later we found the luggage people, hidden in the back of an airport that was more like a mall on 5th avenue. These German people really like their fancy clothes and handmade silk ties, much like Tyler likes his too tight white pants.

Chris talked to the baggage people and after a short wait, they were able to get the kayaks to Berlin from Frankfurt and although they didnt speak much English we managed to get our boats at about 3:00, which was only a few hours later. So we grabbed a great lunch and killed some time looking around the mall while waiting for the boats.

The drive to Markkleeberg (240 kilometers) was long and painful one due to the non-stop traffic jams. After several play lists later on the Ipod we pulled into our pension and went to bed pretty quickly thereafter. We did briefly stop in at the course to check it out hewever it was not running at the time. The course is on limited water releases and costs roughly 400 euros per hour to use it. We were placed into groups of approx 6 other Nations and 25 athletes per one-hour session, twice daily. It will certainly be crowed, cant wait!

The next day we had the morning off, so we decided to go into Leipzig (a pretty good sized town 10 miles away). After lunch we had a problem, we had no idea how to get back to the pension. So after about 2 hours of Chriss wandering the streets of scenic Leipzig we finally had to hire a taxi (Tight white pant Boy, AKA Tylers idea) and have him lead Chris back to the course. We got there just in time for our afternoon session.

This course was a rough one for me. As I have never been on artificial whitewater; I got thrown around, but ultimately, I had a great time. The whitewater is amazing and it is a great training facility and only wish we had something like this in Denver. There are two channels, but one is hardly ever on. The second day, I was still having trouble with the whitewater, by the third day I felt a lot more comfortable.

In addition to the amazing whitewater, it is unbelievable to have someone like Peter Kauzer (Many time world cup race champion and two time Olympian) pull up into the eddy next to you and say hi.
Tyler got a chance to paddle and train for a session with Jan Benzian (German Olympian), a friend of Chriss. I believe Tyler is the president of Jans Fan Club, perhaps even the only member.

There are a ton of great athletes and I have had the pleasure of meeting some of them. So far it has been a great experience and I am looking forward to the race on Saturday. The race is a qualification and advancement process. Saturday will start off with two runs down the course set the day before. If I make the top 15, I qualify for semi finals on Sunday and if for some reason everyone gets ill, actually only 5, I qualify for finals on Sunday.

I am off to bed... We just returned from eating dinner wiht the British Team and had a bunch of laughs and heard great stories over a good Italian dinner.

More later

Upcoming Epic Journal Entries
* Trip to Monument as an American Tourist
* The Mall wanderings

Forum: Canoe Slalom World Series- Germany

The Jr World Experience clip from blog

Tyler H — Thur, 07 Aug 2008 23:21:07 GMT

There is so much to say about my first world championships. Hum, where can I start ...

I left Chicago on the 15 of July to go to Munich and meet up the the USA Jr. National team. At the Munich airport, we met our coaches. We had three coaches, Rafal, our head coach; Aaron Mann, the assistant coach and like a team brother, and Orsha, the 2006 Jr. World champion and also a team sister.

After clearing customs, the team piled in the van and drove 6 hours to Roudnice. When we arrived in Roudnice, we hopped in our boats and paddled for an hour or so. It was fun. Afterwards, we headed to our hotel, unpacked and went to dinner.

The next day we started 2 a day sessions. It took me a little while

to get back into the boating groove. We had a slow first week, with a morning session, followed by lunch and then night session and then dinner.

On the first Sunday, we headed to Prague and paddled the course there and adventured through the city. It was so much fun and I got my sister the coolest gift. While I was in Prague, I spent my time with Caroline Queen and we talked a lot about what it is like to be a member of the Sr. team. It just sounded so cool and I have made making the Sr. team a goal for 2008-2009. It will be really hard but I really want to

be part of that team.

The next week we focused on training and getting ready for the race.

Friday, July 25, was the C1 qualifier. It was the most nerve racking experience of my life. Everything that I had worked for my whole life was sitting in front of me. All my hard work and all of my success and failures did not matter. The qualifier was what was important. Before I left Colorado I set one goal for myself and that was to make the semi-final round. The moment of truth was here.

While in the start, I had an adrenaline rush (and fear) but when I heard the word go, I just paddled and did the best I could. I hit 4 gates on my first run and on my second run, I went past a gate and had to go back for it. That cost me some time and although my runs were not great, I made the semi-finals.

I had the next day off and watched the kayaks race in their qualifier. They all did a solid job but only Michal made the semi-finals.

The semi-final race was Sunday morning but I was not as petrified as before. At the start I knew that I just had to go all out. I put together a good run which was faster and cleaner than my previous two runs. Although it wasnt fast enough to make the finals, I was okay with the end results (I finished 27th overall) and I did my best.

Forum: Tyler Hinton Blog from Czech Republic

FRPA Summer 08

Henry Heyman — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:36:06 GMT

My name Henry Heyman, and I am 13 years old. I have been slalom racing for one year with FRPA, and I have come a long way. Last Year I started training with the team last year right before the Junior Olympics. I remember watching all of the good athletes and thinking wow, I wish i could do that. I then decide to start training as much as i could, and made my goal to make the cadet national. So in the fall I started coming to FRPA after school practices. By the winter I was training almost every day. the main reason i liked paddling so much was because how laid back and fun it was. My coach, Chris Wiegand made everything fun, but also worked us really hard. He taught me so many things, and helped me improve so much. I loved kayaking. So when I heard about the FRPA summer camp I was very excited, and signed up right away. The first thing we did was go to the FIBArk race in Salida. We arrived a week before the race, and trained every day. First we would go for a run and then we would do a slalom session. The race was a good way to start out because it was just a fun laid back race. Then went to Durango for the Animas River days. This was a fun race, and it was fun to train on some big water. finally the Junior Olympics were coming up. This time i felt prepared, over the summer i had gotten race experience, lots of practice, and in shape. We arrived at Wausau a week before the race, and started training. This was one of my highlights, training on the course in Wausau was extremely fun. On the race day, I was a little nervous, but i felt that i had what it takes to make the cadet team. My first run felt very good, However my second wasn't too good. Luckily they only took the time from your first run. I ended placing third, and making the cadet national team. I was very proud of this, because I had gone from just being a joke at the Junior Olympics and getting last, to being a top competitor and getting third.

A highlight of this summer was, all the fun river runs we did. Such as Shoshone, The Numbers, Elephant Rock, and Browns Canyon. I also really enjoyed all the training I did and watching myself get better. Overall it was a great summer, and I owe it all to my two amazing coaches Chris Wiegand and Nic Borst

Forum: 2008 Summer in Review...

FRPA summer 2008

Will Grubb — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:46:48 GMT

Hi, I'm Will. I have been paddling for one year, but as far as i am concerned I've come a long way. Last summer i had just gotten started boating and was introduced to the Front Range Paddle Association in time for the Junior Olympics. I observed last year and realized how much i wanted to start slalom racing. I started last fall, and have pretty much been training full time since. So, last fall, when i knew that i was serious about the sport, i set some goals for myself. My number one goal was to make the Cadet Team. I had no idea what the competition would be like but i knew that i would have to train hard because this was my first year. As of last summer, Cadet Team was kind of a fantasy but throughout the year it came reality. One of the great things about training this year, was that i had the privilege of training full time with Tyler Hinton. He is a great training partner and has taught me and pushed me a lot. Another thing i am extremely grateful for is my coach Chris Wiegand. Whether it is freezing cold, or one hundred degrees, he always takes us boating, every day we show up to practice. He is totally committed and none of the athletes would be where we are today without him. I went to Durango, CO in the fall for a camp and then later in early spring went to Texas to compete. So, going into the summer, i was extremely excited however i was lacking one important thing, experience. We started off the summer with FIB ARK and that for me was a great way to start off. It was a low key race, not too much pressure, and i was just trying to get experience racing. FIB ARK was great, whether it be the river runs, amazing freestyle hole, grueling 26 mile race, or the campfire. After FIB ARK we returned to Golden for some good solid training before the Animas River Days. We worked hard, had fun and then set off for Durango, CO. The water in Durango was huge and we had a lot of fun training. One of the factors that made this race even more exciting than the rest was the 500 $ cash prize to the athlete that guessed there finishing slalom time. One of my favorite parts of the Durango trip was the amazing lemon poppy seed cake that the Samuelson's made for Keir's birthday party. They were great hosts and it was awesome staying with them. Next, we headed back to golden for about a week of training before we headed off to Wausau, Wisconsin. Wausau was a great course to train on. The white water was great, and everyone on the team was so happy the week before the race. We trained hard and had a lot of fun. Going into the race i knew that the Cadet Team would be decided but i tried not to let the pressure hit me. I spent a lot of time thinking about my line on the course, and when it came down to race day, i felt great. For the first time in my boating career, i had two solid runs. Two runs which i was happy with and didn't make any big mistakes. I came out on top and was first in the Cadet Kayaks. And although to some it might not have been a big deal, i was very pleased with my results and happy that i accomplished my goal. Looking into the future i have already set a new goal for myself, to make the Junior National Team next year. It will be tough and I am prepared to train extremely hard this year. In the fall, i will be traveling to Germany for a World Series race with my coach Chris and Junior National Team member Tyler Hinton and i am looking forward to that a lot. I understand that i am only at the beginning of my challenges as a paddler and i am fully prepared to do what ever it takes to reach my goals.

Forum: 2008 Summer in Review...

Kenya Updates!!!

Sarah Dodge — Thur, 24 Jul 2008 15:58:09 GMT

I have been living in Kenya for two weeks now and I couldn't be loving it more. I had so many troubles coming over here, but I am so glad I stuck with it and finally made it. At the begining of my trip I started out working with the Savage Wilderness Safaris at their office base in Nairobi with another kid my age, Shaun, who is related to the Savages. I later began doing a lot of rafting and staying in Sagana for a couple days. Being in Sagana again was great, I loved seeing everyone from before and watching them paddle. The Kenya Club has improved by tons sense we were last here. I have gone paddling with them a lot and we now attain all the way up the river to the course which is much nicer than the walk that I remember. Unfortunately many of the gates had to be taken down because of water levels, but I have been speaking with Titus and we are working on getting a couple more gates put back up so that we can have a more diverse area to train in. The lanuage barrier between the Kenyans and I has been a large issue, but I have been learning some Swahili and Liz, who is a Kenyan athlete and mostly fluent in English, has been helping me. We are working on having a training schedule for the team because there is an opportunity for them to travel to France for a race and we want to make sure that they are well prepared. To get to France there is also a money issue they have to over come so to help raise money I helped coach some day visiters that we interested in kayaking at the camp. Working with the team has been great. I also have been doing a lot of work with the Savages in their buisness and have done quite a few raft trips now...I only guide the Calm sections though. Today I went out with Marcus and Shaun and did some weeding which was fun because it was serious jungle weeding, with snakes and wading in the river. The trip has been amazing and I am really enjoying every aspect of it, I can't believe I am already half way through it.
Sarah

Forum: Sarah Dodge- Kenya Leadership Program

Week one Jr Worlds

Tyler H — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:55:03 GMT

I arived in munich around 9 am or so and waited for my boat to come off the plane to my suprize it was in one piece i was really happy to see and have a boat that was ready to float. at that point in time i meet up with the rest of the team who arived a few hours before me. We then jumped into our slovien team van that one of our coach oursha got for us to drive around europe. Then we were intorduced to our coaches our first ad head coach was Rafle Smolen he is a coach out of Poland and an X polish team member and then we meet Aaron Mann. He is an x Jr. team member for the USA and he is as much as a kid as any of us but he can drive. Last I was intorduced to oursha she is a member of the Slovian team and did not make the olympic team but was really close. She also is the raining Jr. world champion until this year.

We drove strait to roundnice and go on the cource it is one of the funnest cources i have been on thus far. its so much fun. we did a solo sesion and then went to dinner. then went to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning we had been assigned the 9 am so we sat down for a nice euro breakfast and then went and did brokens I had a bad session then we went to lunch and then to go back paddling. we broke up with different coaches and then at that point the Kayaks went with aaron and the woman went with oursha and then C1s went with Rafel. it was really sick.

after a few days of this we were in for a change we went to prague for a day and got to paddle on the cource that they held a world cup on a few weeks ago. it is one of my favoriete cource so far. and then we spent the rest of the day wondering around Prague and shopping.

Forum: Tyler Hinton Blog from Czech Republic

Days 5-7 in brief and Tyler qualifies

Chris W — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:12:21 GMT

So .. it is Sunday and we are preparing for Tyler's first International Semi-Final race. With 8 Nations represented here (Nigeria, Germany, GB, Scotland, Sweden, Canada, Ireland and Tyler) it is certainly a decent size crowd. 148 racers hit the start line yesterday with 28 being C1's and Tyler managed to scrape out the Semi-Final Cut and being one of 8 Junior Level C1's here (three of which were british Jr Team and one Jr World Medalist) He is preparing for a go at qualifying for the one of 10 Finals Spot.
It is raining hard and mild temps make it a true English day.

It has been a long past few days winding up to this morning. Long days of training, driving, sight seeing and hangin' with our friends. I must say it is a great , classy group of folks here and look forward to many more days in the future training and racing with them.

Tyler has certainly been committed to figuring out these new techniques we have been working so hard at developing and it is paying off. His 20 meter test has decreased from 9.1 down to 7.9 seconds from a standing start, which has been remarkable. He has learned that it is all about the catch and jump while reaching max hull speed ideally in as little as 5 strokes or thereabouts, certainly by 10 meters. He will certainly be shot with close to 5 hours each day training at a high level whether it be on or off the water reviewing every piece of each day to running drills or visualization work.

What a trip it has been for Tyler, at least what I see of it.

Thank you everyone for the kind, supportive and fun emails that you have sent as it makes Tyler feel well supported as he puts so much aside to reach for his future Olympic Dreams.

Results, photos, video and blog reports in more detail coming at a later time.

Forum: Tyler and Chris Journey to the UK and Beyond

Day Five Nottingham

Tyler Honton — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 00:13:36 GMT

Today started out around 0900 with stiff backs and for me, my legs. I ate a quick tasty muffin and took a hot shower. I then hung out and watched some T.V. before we headed down to the river to do a half course simulated race work out.

In this work out there were some complex moves like a dive gate on river left coming off of a 6 foot high drop (As a left C1 that meant a Huge cross bow stroke). There were also very difficult in fast water offsets which forced me to think light and change directions of my boat quickly in difficult sections of whitewater. I did 5 repeated runs on this before getting off 2 hours later. This session started with the typical 15-20 minute warm-up that included stroke drills (wiggles, spinning, gliding and pelvis awareness drills ending with 4x 30 meter sprints which help me loosen up and get my balance in check.

I got changed and saw Collin and another the top British Junior C1, Greg Pitts about to get on. So we watched them paddle for about an hour while Chris and Colin worked on some coaching pieces.
I did not think that someone needed a bigger boat than the Loco by Galasport but Collin need to design a boat called the barge, for people weighing over 80 kilos. He is one big boy and not fat.. just tall and lumberjack like. After this we got in the car and went to find some food for a late lunch. With no problems we found a McDonalds.

We sat down in this fine restaurant, ate some lunch and we were on our way back to our course. Not without some sort of confusion. While trying to get out of the McDonalds, Chris tried to get in to a car 2 cars away then after he noticed that wasnt our car he went to the next one over. Once again it was another wrong car. As ye old saying goes, the third time is the charm, Mr Flake, my coach, made it in to our car where I was standing trying to get in, much to Chris's delight... on the wrong side of the car. I am amazed at how we have even made it this far along with the stupidity between our combined 9 brain cells. I am sure Chris would claim 8.5 were his own, but we all know him better than that. Only 6 are his and I am least have two.

My second session was with the retired Head British Olympic coach John Mac. To describe John Mac he is like Santa Clause with his plump stature gray beard and cherry red cheeks. With him I did a ' breakout' broken workout where the focus on getting out of an upstream and up to max speed again before the next gate, which Chris and I have been working on intensely for the last couple weeks. We did 2 full lengths, broken into about 5- 25 second sections. It was around 830 when we got off and we were all cold as the lights over the course were not heating the 39 degree air. So we went to the locker rooms and took a hot shower started to talk to this guy by the name of Jeremy, who was on the 2007 British Junior Team and was a funny guy and a decent training partner.

After about an hour warming up, we were on our way back to Colin's house for dinner (Chris made a pesto tortellini meal) a quick writing session and right to bed while Chris sat cursing at his video camera trying to link it to the web. Good luck to him for the night while I crash. Oh by the way.... looks like we will be going to Kenya in January to race in the African Continental Olympic Qualifier as guests and to train with athletes from all over Africa, including our new friend Johnny here at our house from Nigeria. I can't wait to paddle in Kenya.

Good night once again and thank you for reading.

Forum: Tyler and Chris Journey to the UK and Beyond

Day Four Nottingham

Tyler Hinton — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:52:40 GMT

We planed to wake up around 730 this morning but dew to a faulty alarm error (thank you Chris watch) we started to move at 830. We got in the car around 9ish and headed for our first day of training in Nottingham. When we got to the course I walked to the Whitewater Park and walked down the side to see what the river was like. It looked like a great place to train and I am so glad to have this opportunity to be here.

About 30 minutes later, Chris came back with my golden ticket (daily pass to paddle) and I got on the river ready to paddle. I did a nice flat-water warm-up and then paddled under the walkway into the whitewater channel.

On my first 3 runs down, I was asked by Chris to just use the green water (used to learn how the main fast current flows and how to stay on the fastest 12 inch ribbon of water snaking down the course) and glide with good hip movement and aggression. I found that the water liked to fold on top of you if you are not aggressive, kinda like whipped butter in a mixer. Following the green water runs down the course I was told to actually paddle hard (race pace like) and do quick sprints between pre-determined gates. When I was doing those sprints I felt REALLY good. After that I went back to the top to do some quick technical sprints on three or four gate courses and learn what the water was doing in each section over a series of difficult fast moves making me think and act fast.
I think the best part of that session was my final up stream gate I was doing it was in a part of an eddy that if you put your draw in it just shoots you out really fast.

Once I finished paddling Chris and I went over to the athletes cafeteria and had lunch. This consisted of pasta, fresh bread, lemon water and I will say a tomato and basil soup. In the States tomato basil doesnt have pumpkin like stuff in it. Confused Brits!

After lunch we sat down in a common room and used the Internet and listened in to the GB Crew Team the funniest conversations they were having while shooting a good game of billiards. It went something like this:
Person A: Where did u go to college?
Person B: Ooo, me, I went to Cambridge
Person A: Did u take any classes
Person b: Yea I took general sport studies and well general
Person A: What the hell is general studies
Person b: Well it like general stuff and grade 9 math
Person a: What did you get in the classes
Person b: Well I got a U in general sports and another u in general. But I rowed the piss out of the shell.

Everyone laughed, while Chris may have even blown boogers out of his nose trying to hold in his laugh.

Person A: How do u manage to only get a U in general sports? Did you say that in football you hit the ball with a stick?
Person C: You are a retard

It was one of the funniest and most random things I could have ever heard in my life from a group of elite athletes.
After that whole thing we went back to do our session, this was another technical session but more intense. In this session we perfected everything we worked on before. Near the end of my session I started to talk to the 4th British boat, Charles.

After that we went back to Collins and hung out with the Nigerian team member by the name of Johnny.

We went back to the store to get some more food and then we all sat around and talked about everything ranging from training to why the heck British Police cars are camouflaged in bright green and blue squares. So stealthy.

Well time for bed and thanks again for reading my very brief parts of my day.

Thank you again everyone for supporting me.

Forum: Tyler and Chris Journey to the UK and Beyond

New photos up... video coming soon

chris w — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:48:24 GMT

Tyler Race and Training in Nottingham in the FRPA Photo Gallery

Race and training video coming soon.

Forum: Tyler and Chris Journey to the UK and Beyond

Day Three

Tyler — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:25:05 GMT

We woke up at 8 am today to find ourselves in the deep fog of this valley and still tired. Chris and I walked over to see if there had been any changes to the river from yesterdays premier race to only find the only change was to an upstream gate that now is a down.
Once we saw the change and talked to a few other racers we started back to the hotel to find out that we forgot the key inside and we were locked out of the hotel until the 9:00 restaurant opening.
So what to do with 30 minutes? We went back to the river and told the London coach our story and he started to make fun of us, in typical British crude humor.

The hotel bar opened at 9 and we got back in through the main lobby grabbed some money and started for breakfast. We went to the Internet caf because they served a fast good breakfast, which of course included 'chips' or as I know them, french fries. We finished eating around 9 30 and I had to hurry to make my 11:00 start time. My first run was a 126 and CLEAN it was the fastest D1 time of the day. Then I went back to the hotel in full gear and got changed. I went out to lunch and got an Ogi ( pronounced OGGHY.. as in Oggie Oggie Oi Oi Oi for those who watch Rugby) which is a Welsh calzone filled with everything such as bacon, potato and other veggies. They are really good.

After my lunch it was time to get back on the water for my second run. I ended with a 1:23 (top C1 time was 1:17, by the British Junior C1 Champion) on my second run but I had a touch which I thought I did not have but there was no use in protesting since I am racing as a guest. As a final result I ended up as the Second C1 in the race, which included racers from the Premier Division (top 30 ranks in all UK). That is my best finish in a big race.

After the race we got in the Car and drove to Nottingham... well... we tried to. GB has WAY too many roundabouts and driving 90 into a roundabout can be confusing (everyone drives like that here yet still pass us), road signs into the country can also be confusing since some of them show the town name in a place we are trying to go but for bike routes and take us through very narrow bush lined country lanes. It was great to see the local bikers jump up into the corn rows as our car is about 1 foot narrower than the one lane road. Chris did a great job today. I think he must have found his English drivers license in his cereal this morning and managed quite well. Shifting like a mad Formula One racer and drifting around the 100 roundabouts between Llangollen and Nottingham we made it unscathed with no getting lost. Must have been my solid map reading skills!

Once we found the city like we were hunting for Sir Robin Hood himself (yes there is a true Robin Hoods Castle and Robin Hood Museum.... and only a few blocks from our house here) for Collins home, it was a hassle to find the place we were staying in. (Assad you would be proud of Chris' driving abilities... He would have made a great Bombay Taxi Driver) After about an hour or so and knocking on a wrong door in a bad part of town (really bad part of town). We arrived at Collins Radmore's home, (British C1 team member) only to find Ben Hayward (Canada Jr World Medalist) Conner Curson (Team Canada), and a few other big names in the slalom world from the UK and Nigeria.

After we all exchanged names and talked a bit we went on our last adventure of the night, to find a Spar (grocery store) so we could get food to last us the week.
Nearly an hour later we found one in a shady part of the city (Chris educated me quickly on the do's and dont's of inner city life to live another day- Since Chris has spent much of his life in the City and growing up). We ended up getting some muffins, Cheese, ham, noodles and Sunny D and headed back to Collins house........ Not to brag, but we made it back with out calling Collin or showing up at the wrong house.

Off to bed and enjoy a long nights rest before tomorrow's sessions on the famed Nottingham Whitewater Slalom Course.

Thank you again for reading of my adventures. Many more to come.

Forum: Tyler and Chris Journey to the UK and Beyond

Day 2 racing partial report...

Chris W — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:47:38 GMT

Day 2 morning runs are complete. Tyler is the top Cboat in the Division 1 race today, which is their Non National Team Division. Much faster than yesterday and seems to have figured out his stroke much better to find a rythym glide that drives from his hips\knee and not shoulders.
The sun is driving from behind the clouds and turning out to be a fabulous afternoon.

Thomas the Tank Engine keeps sounding his whistle at every departure and arrival with new guests making the slalom race atmosphere fun and light.

Once again, our British and Welsch hosts have been wonderful and continue to accomodate us very well, including a special party for the English and South African Rugby World Cup last night. I ahve been to many American Football Games and watched from many bars those games, but have never seen such a party around the die hard ruggers in Wales. AMAZING!

After run two this afternoon we are off to Nottingham to take part in a C1 camp hosted by two ex-polish athletes now coaches and with members of the British Team. Should be great to be back on difficult and quality whitewater once again in a fun city.

Good Bye til next weekend Wales where we hope to hear lots more cookie packin' beer drinking chatter.

Thank you everyone for your kind emails and support for Tyler on this Journey. Hopefully a more complete report will come this evening.

Chris

Forum: Tyler and Chris Journey to the UK and Beyond