Jeremy Rodgers

Birthday...Step One....Become Lighter than Air.

2011-10-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Heather! Glider flight over the Rockies looking west from Boulder

Heather and I kicked off the official off season with a glider flight for Heather's birthday followed by a trail day with Mazzers on mountain bikes at Picture Rock. We were up for a sunrise flight after sharing ice cream and cake with her parents Marci and Buck last evening.

Elliot, our trusty pilot from the UK or South Africa ( I couldn't quite place the accent but we finally decided South Africa:), guided us around the biosphere. It gave new meaning to getting outside the bubble as Boulder is affectionately known. I knew we were in the right place when he made us wipe the morning dew moisture off the wings "because it compromises lamellar air flow". I like that in a pilot and I sure don't like compromising lamellar flow on my wing paddles either!

I just returned from the Russel Fork River Gorge in eastern Kentucky this weekend where I was competing in the US Wildwater Team trials. After a great classic race and ok sprint, it seems I'm back off to France next summer for perhaps my last hoorah. Waxing the backcountry skis as we speak....

SUP'er FLY Weekend....Chasing the Fall Colors

2011-09-25T21:10:00.001-07:00

And A Road Runs Through It...Never Summer Range on Colorado Wyoming border.

So we aren't about to let the summer wind down without a bang but a long season of packing, unpacking, booking flights, entering races, and juggling all things domestic are coming to an end. Perfect time Heather says for a weekend to sneak away to her favorite Colorado getaway...the Never Summer Range in northern Colorado where the aspens paint the landscape with a burning orange and yellow mosaic in the shadows of early season snow sprinkled 13,000 foot peaks.

Long off the beaten path, the Never Summer Range takes you back in time to what Colorado used to look like before the development of it central valleys into ski resorts and highways. The photo above is what we woke up to after arriving well after dark. The Sprinter van just seems to have an instinctual awareness to find the best views even absent of light and she hit a home run this morning.

We spent the weekend scouting by bike backcountry yurts for the upcoming ski season as well as paddling Michigan Lake. Heather continues to develop the best kept secret sport of SUPerFly fishing well into it's second year of development. SUP stands for Stand Up Paddleboard and you get the FLY part hey? The catching seems to be mastered but the release remains a bit tippy. Standby for the production version next spring.

Team Nuun Ripboard Wins Gravity Play Glenwood Springs 12 Hour Adventure Race

2011-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Team Ripboard Jeremy Rodgers, Heather Prentice, Mike Freeburn, and Ryan Ognibene (missing)

So we finally got the adventure racing Zen master Mike Freeburn out of semi retirement for the Glenwood Springs Adventure Extream 12 hour race and what a treat it was to race with Mike again. Heather, Ryan Ognibene, and I teamed up with Ripboard based out of Denver, Colorado with an all star cast. Mike was one of my original mentors and inspirations to begin downriver kayak racing in 2005 and was one of the best adventure racers in the US for many years. Even better, he's a principal of Durango High School so he knows how to keep the team in ship shape hence the nickname Zen Master.

So 50 teams began the 12 hour race with a 3000 foot ascent straight up on foot to the caving, rappel, and alpine slide. We jockeyed with Team Lifequest Adventure from gun fire to finish line. We discussed pre race that only the first 6 racers, solo or team to the alpine coaster got a carbohydrate free ride down the mountain. After a grueling vertical ascent, the alpine coaster had us all giggling with high G force turns. We came off of the first run leg 1 hour later in a lead with Team LifeQuest Adventure in a close second place.

We began the mountain bike leg with a brisk ascent of Lookout Mountain on our way to Boy Scout Trail which is a gem of a ride for single track lovers just outside of Glenwood Springs. This singletrack has amazing views and even more amazing exposure. Today had no shortage of carnage and just as Team Lifequest caught us on the bikes they crashed trying to keep their small lead.

After several hours of jockeying back and forth and steep descents back into Glenwood, we pulled some aces out of the hat. As team Lifequest rolled into the TA and check out, we traded in our mountain bikes and grabbed road bikes for the bike path ascent to the riverboarding/paddle section of the course on the Shoshone section of the Lower Colorado.

With 2 national kayak team members and all 4 of us being river saavy, we held our position in draft of Lifequest all the way to the river board start. Race director, Will Newcomer, met us at the river board put in to let us know our engineering marval "Ripboard Transport System", which was a fast hauling portage system to run the river boards 2 miles up the bike path, was a no go. With the Shoshone section running double it's normal volume at nearly 2500 cfs, he was concerned hauling the river board portage system down river with us wouldn't bode well as we agreed.

It was clear to us after 5 seconds in the class 3-4 river board section how Rip Boards got their namesake. Heather got a wild ride in one of the holes in Tombstone Rapid after having her Ripboard ripped out of her hands. She rallied back onto the Rip Board and we cruised into the paddle start neck and neck with Team Lifequest with Team OutdoorLife about 30 minutes back.

Heather diving for dollars on the river board section. Nice job hun!

Our strategy played out as the paddle leg was our bread and butter. Team Nuun Ripboard rolled into the finish line in 5 hours 28 some minutes a hard fought but smooth 10 minutes ahead of a solid all male second place Lifequest team. Adventure racing has always been a coed sport and we are hard headed like that and choose to stick with tradition but these all male teams really made us work hard to outwit and outlast the horsepower heavy all male teams that race in the same 4 person elite class.

Team Nuun Ripboard was first overall followed by Lifequest Adventure and Team Outdoor Life then soloist Spencer Lacy. Spencer and his paddling phenom brother Mason duke it out like 2 brothers 1 year apart should and their post race stories are the best in the business. We even got one racers report that he saw them both crash on Boy Scout Trail off the exposed trail only to hear "giggling in the bushes". Priceless!

Team Nuun Ripboard, 1st Overall, Mike Freeburn, Heather Prentice, Jeremy Rodgers, Ryan Ognibene, and of course Mazzers and a curious Labrador.

Hamburgers on our new grill and cool drinks after the race around the HybridVan punch lined the post race events for racers. Special thanks to Nuun, Ripboard, KEEN, and Garmin for their ongoing support of adventure and adventure racing in the US!

Next up, 2012 National Team Trials in Kentucky Oct 15th followed by ski season.

Labor Day Colorado Style....

2011-09-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Monarch Crest....Continental Divide. 32 Miles of Mind Blowing Singletrack at Over 12,000 Feet!

So Heather and loaded up the Hybridvan and rolled on down to the Arkansas River Valley for Labor Day. Top on the list was testing our new Party King grill for the van. This hitch mounted instant tailgater grill put the finishing touches onto the Ultimate Multisport Van.

You can see below even Mazzer's was stoked about her new magic brat grill'n wonder that in seconds converts from our hot water shower heater to instant filet mignon.You know we'd be crushed to come back after a long ride and see the grill missing so we had to add a security system and back up camera thanks to the installation crew at Car Toys in Boulder.Thanks Bobby, James, and Jesse for the advice on these improvements!

After 2 days of riverboarding on our new Ripboard's from Ripboard in Denver, CO and a Colorado classic Super Monarch Crest ride, we were ready for the grill for sure.

Weekend cap was a few good town runs in Buena Vista on our way back home. I just got my new Garmin 310XT to test out and Garmin continues to reinvent itself. Not only is the new 310XT 110% waterproof, it adds several functionalities that the performance kayaker, multisport athlete, or even beginning runner can self coach even better with. My favorite improvement over the Garmin 305 is that the 310XT is slimmer and even lighter however maintains the gold standard super large readouts and multiple data fields for on the fly viewing on even the most aggressive terrain conditions.

Next week...Gravity Play Glenwood Springs Adventure Race with our favorite Colorado racers Mike Freeburn from Durango, CO and Ryan Ognibene from Boulder.

DART Nuun SportMulti's New Promo Video is Out!

2011-08-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

Team DART-Nuun-SportMulti: Ultra Endurance Racing from 1iOpen Productions on Vimeo.

Shot of the Month! Father's Day Colorado Style

2011-07-31T16:20:00.000-07:00

Salida Colorado's Next Mayor and Kayaker Extraordinaire Mike Harvey on Brown's Canyon at 1800 cfs with son Miles Harvey in the driver's seat! Love this photo of Miles who is about 10 years old right now and well on his way to out doing his dad on the river.

Mike Harvey, Heather, myself, and Shane Sigle bought this Jackson Dynamic Duo on a boatshare agreement as a means to take our non-paddling friends down the meat and it sure does the trick.

For the naysayers, the rear paddler can roll the front paddler as long as he/she lays forward on the deck and weighs considerably less than the rear paddler. Their was a small army of safety kayakers working the river with them I'm sure.

Nice air Miles....you pick better lines than your dad ever did:)

Teva Games 2011....Leading the Coup d'état....Jeremy Rodgers Dart Nuun/KEEN Wildwater Paddler Wins the Teva Games Bud Light Downriver Race

2011-06-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

(Left to Right) Mike Dawson (New Zealand), Jeremy Rodgers (US), Issac Levinson (US). All stoked about the paycheck and Thule carry-ons!

"A coup d'état (English: /ˌkuːdeɪˈtɑː/, French: [ku deta]; plural: coups d'état)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government,^[1]^[2]^[3] usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either civil or military."

So my close paddling friends have long known my angst with any race that doesn't let the river decide what water craft is best suited for any given race. Teva Games, held annually in Vail, Colorado hosting over 40,000 spectators was such a race. Combine this with my roots as an Eco Challenge competitor, where wit and strategic treachery within the letter of the rules is not only allowed but simply held in sacred regard.

Get'n a little help from Teva Games race staff...Thanks guys. Notice rear end has been chopped off....previously known as a Wavehopper, now the Wavechopper!

Dagger Kayaks was a major sponsor of the Teva Games event in it's humble beginnings a decade ago so Dagger sponsored athletes, who hands down are some of the best creek boaters in the world, naturally lobbied the event to exclude downriver racers like myself who race in 15 foot carbon kevlar kayaks made for pure speed and grace on swift moving violent whitewater. The 2 simple rules remain the same today and kayaks 1) must be 12 foot or less in length 2) must be made of plastic. While I'm usually in Europe the month of June racing in wildwater events, this summer I chose to stay and race domestically opening up an opportunity for my coup d'etat at Teva Games against over 200 of the best whitewater paddlers in the US and abroad with an impressive prize purse big enough to justify the hassle factor.

So I called up my boys from Boulder Boatwerks and told them of my plan to take a 15 foot plastic Wavehopper (made for training but we race in carbon versions) wildwater kayak and have it cut down to 12 feet and rewelded. These good ole boys (Andy and Steve), who specialize in plastic dorry boat design/welding, went above in beyond to reconfigure this mutant wildwater kayak for no other reason than they agree...let the river decide what kayak a paddler can keep upright, not some sponsor who's athletes want everyone paddling the same boat they are contractually bound to paddle:)

So my mutant kayak was exactly race specifications and 100% legit, 12 foot long and same weight as the Dagger Green, the gold standard racing kayak for this race but more stable and wider than my tippy wildwater kayak. The difference is that wildwater kayaks are extremely narrow and tippy which most creek boaters find unpalatable over distance. Creek boats are made to make big 15 foot waterfall drops, not hammer at a supraanerobic intensity for 15+ minutes in class 3-4 whitewater.

Teva Games...pick your sport...gravity is your judge and jury in all of them! Nice photo Heather.

So Heather and I show up race morning trying to stay under the radar of all the world class creek boaters who are looking for a paycheck. Legendary extreme kayaker Tao Berman was particularly enthusiastic to hear about this mutant kayak which I particularly appreciated considering he knew what I was up to and it wasn't helping him pay his travel expenses:) I think he sincerely appreciated my message....LET THE RIVER AND PADDLER DECIDE WHAT KAYAK THEY CAN KEEP UPRIGHT.

So, with the rumbling in the creek boater camp underway, I pulled into the start eddy and waited for the laser eye and clock to give me the thumbs up followed by what was possibly my best technical race I've ever paddled. Downriver racing is embodied by the art of reading the swiftwater and with the help of standout US wildwater paddlers Andy Corra, Andrew McEwan, Gary Lacy, and Shane Sigle over the last year, this day I painted perhaps my masterpiece. Specifically, connecting the dots between the fastest moving water and avoiding every minute wave hit that translates to friction.The Colorado snow pack is almost 200% of normal in most river basins following a massive snow season so the rivers are raging out of their banks making wave hits and navigating rapids even more exciting this year. I set my Garmin 305 heart rate/pace monitor to it's usual screen, revved it up till the heart rate zone data field read "painful", then settled into a rhythm with my "forward focus" mantra chiming in my head.

With a brisk 17 minutes, 30 seconds registering as I pass the laser eye at the finish at Covered Bridge in Vail Village, the reality of what just happened set in. A coup d'etat had indeed taking place with my time besting the next paddlers, Kiwi Mike Dawson and Americans Issac Levinson and Tao Berman by nearly 20 seconds. Hats off to these guys who I've followed for years on the extreme kayaking scene...they simply rule the class 5 creeks.

Mazzy even gets serious in big races...a good day for me means new luggage handles to try to chew on all the way home! Not this one Mazzy....love the Thule Carry On!

Hotel au Hybridlife...pets allowed to offset the wet kayak gear odor.

We'll see what this outstanding outdoor mountain festival and arguably biggest whitewater race in the US does next year on this long going debate of should racers be forced by the rules to paddle a Dagger Green like boat or can they paddle any plastic boat they can keep upright. Either way, Teva Games remains the best organized world class event in the US whitewater paddling circuit and I respect their decision. I also respect the hard work and talent demonstrated by all the Dagger athletes and especially Tao Berman's congeniality pre-race which reminds me what this sport is all about...."let's go boat'n"!

Next up next weekend, Lyons Outdoor Games and US Wildwater Nationals.

Red = maximum area of wussitis

I still can't believe it but I may miss racing next weekend after a freak injury walking Mazzy, our rock star cattle dog on her new elastic leash back to the Ultimate Multisport Van. Mazzy, while perfect in so many ways, loves to chase cars and darted after an oncoming car in Vail Village. Not being used to the new elastic leash, I let her get too close and reacted by tugging her out of harms way. Even in my agile Keen flippety flops:) , I went over a landscaping wall and landed on a metal post right to the ribs and kidney. Seriously Tao, put away the vodoo doll as I was just kidding...you guys own Teva Games:) Xrays tomorrow morning and rib belt and shallow inspiration till then!

Shout out to past teammates Travis Macy and Gretchen Reeves who both found their way to the podium in the Ultimate Mountain Challenge where they not only paddled but mountain and road biked up Vail Pass followed by a 10k trail race! Junior US wildwater paddler from Durango, CO Cully Brown also represented well in the Downriver race with a 7th place finish in an outstanding 150 some senior paddler field. Look out for this "kid" in 2 years...I'm retiring to avoid him I think:)

"When long boats are outlawed, only outlaws will have long boats...." is what I say.

Signing out,
Jeremy

On a roll....Dart NUUN (aka Team Wildcats) Wins Buena Vista Adventure Exstream Race

2011-05-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

Race Clip Video

So I've long wondered what would happen if an experienced team took an absolute adventure racing newbie with a big engine from sea level and put him into a super competitive adventure race at 9,000 feet. The victim of my experiment was none other than my good high school friend from Ponca City, Oklahoma Brad (BJ) Rumph. BJ and I played soccer together from our teenage years through highschool and he went on as a stand out collegiate soccer player as well. BJ continued running marathons and mountain biking from his home in Dallas but had never touched a kayak paddle until the day before this race. I convinced Brad this was a good idea to do this race I believe over dinner and too many drinks at one of his many ski trips out to see Heather and I.

BJ in the front calling the lines!

So after a pre race skill session on how to paddle a kayak and swim in class 3 swift water the day before, BJ was clearly ready for what we had gotten him into! The race started with a 1,000 vertical foot climb on foot to CP1 as a means for the race director to space the racers before the class 3 kayak section down our beloved Arkansas River right in town aka "the Milk Run". Mayhem ensued as we entered the river in kayaks in second place behind a 2 person all male team. I steered the kayak from the rear while BJ set the cadence and watched for icebergs and other natural disasters ahead. Plenty of dumptrucks (where both paddlers get ejected) and bus stops (where only 1 paddler gets exits the kayak) were to be had all around us on this steady class 3 section but all racers were smiling at the takeout. We ran the kayak section smooth like butter with our teammates, Heather, my girlfriend, and Ryan Ognibene in a solid 1st place heading towards the 1st mountain bike leg.

After a short climb on bikes to the ropes course, BJ's resolve came to shine. The ropes course was a 400 foot Tyrolean traverse (zip line). Most zip lines are a time for fun and laughs in most races but with the last 100 feet a near vertical hand over fist suffer fest, BJ visited the pain cave in a big way. Something about hanging upside down for 20 minutes at 9000 feet of elevation zaps the human spirit and for the first time I could sense a bit of hesitation in BJ's facial expression. He rallied back onto the mountain bike as we sped out of the ropes course heading to the orienteering course 2 hours away on bike.

Heather and I eddying out at paddle finish...no you're not crazy, we switched paddlers after rapids!

So this ain't my first ro'deo when it comes to putting together a rock star adventure racing team so I felt inclined to seal the deal with bringing in up and coming orienteer extraordinaire Ryan Ognibene also from Boulder, Colorado. This 22 something year old engineering student adventure racer just graduated from University of Colorado and has been smoking the orienteering scene this year and making old racers like me vomit just to try to beat him.. This day he was on fire and I witnessed some flawless navigation over the 2 hour orienteering course. BJ held steady with the help of Nuun tablets, gummy bears, and Heather's moral support as he tried to figure out why would anyone run up and down in the mountains for 2-4 hours looking for orange orienteering flags using a map that looks like a bowl of spaghetti. Ryan set a course record on the orienteering course in just under 2 hours with us in tow and really sealed the deal in this race.

My predictions that the o course above was the deal breaker in this race held true as we remounted our mountain bikes heading to the finish line still holding our lead on the world class singletrack Midland trail back to Buena Vista. Other teams had their own solid lineups as well and we fought off a solid Team LifeQuest Elite from Colorado Springs who's past military soliders work with returning soldiers trying to find their center again after returning to the US.

So Team Wildcats (our highschool mascot!) aka Dart Nuun Sport Multi brought home the gold in a long 6 hours 40 something minutes just like the good old days at Ponca High. BJ didn't puke and actually really impressed us that a flatlander could not just survive but excel at what we just put him through. Look at that big smile at the finish line above!

Special thanks to Nuun Active Hydration tablets and Hydrapak hydration systems for standing by just in case! At the cost of a typical water bottle minus the mess of handling gel wrappers, the new Hydrapak Gel Bot is simply genius!

Next up....4 weekends of wildwater kayak racing leading up to USA Wildwater Nationals so I'll be back in the boat for the next month!

Post race gear shuffle in the garage...enough to make you stop adventure racing! Dirty piles and less dirty piles merge into one!

Peace out,
Jeremy

The Bifecta Weekend....Western National Team Trials and the Pole Pedal Paddle!

2011-04-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

Athletes Meeting....my advice...keep it in the middle, paddle like hell, fastest time wins gang:)

Load the dog, throw in a couple of kayaks, Heather grabs the peanut butter and jelly, and we're off to Glenwood Springs for the Western National Team Trials on the class 3 Shoshone section of the Colorado River.Western Junior Trials were held in conjunction with the Glenwood Whitewater Jubilee put on by race director Denny Adams and company. I still can't believe it but we showed up to see 45 juniors registered for western wildwater team trials hosted in Colorado this year...so much for rodeo and SUP taking over paddlesports!

Durango standout nordic skier Cully Brown set the gold standard with a smoking fast 14 minute classic course time for the K1 junior men. I'll be honest that I've watched this kid grow under the tutelage of American wildwater perennial powerhouses Mike Freeburn and Andy Corra and I was seriously watching over my shoulder for this junior to make me vomit to stay ahead of him and several other seniors that showed up in force. I hung on for the overall classic win and Cully won the K1 junior class just some 15 seconds behind me in 3rd place overall. Something tells me I'm going down next year if this 17 year old gets one more tip from these guys:) Coached by Olympian Scott Shipley, slalom standout from Lyons, Colorado Spencer Huff was hot on Cully's heels in 2nd place just seconds ahead of JP Griffith. Dawson School put Sarah Neimeyer on the women's K1 podium who went on Sunday to match the men's K1 sprint time which is very impressive.

Clinic time...back to the books with my own version of Mr. Rodgers neighborhood and 45 juniors.
When's recess I say?

I put on a 1.5 hour wildwater clinic for the juniors focusing on outfitting of a racing kayak, forward stroke technique, river reading skills, and pacing with a GPS based heart rate monitor. Special thanks to KEEN and Nuun for providing raffle prizes for all junior attendees.

Heather and I loaded up the Hybridvan and headed to Salida, Colorado for the Annual Pole, Pedal, Paddle to race with 107 other teams. Our ringer teammate Shane Sigle got deathly ill days before the race so we were short our skier until Salida local and Monarch Ski Patroller Eric Ramsey surfaced after a late request at the race meeting. Our kharma was solid gold as this guy smoked the rando ski leg that begins on Monarch Pass descending into Fooses Creek to pass off to our cyclist...none other than my girlfriend Heather who battled near hurricane force winds to keep us right in the game as she descended into the Arkansas River to pass off to me . With super low water conditions, I nit picked my way down the river in a brisk 45 minutes reeling in the 2nd place team putting some solid time on the next team paddler. So Team 2 Hounds and a Fox won the team race with our last minute savior Eric Ramsey who was eating pizza/brew next to the race meeting when his friends rallied him to jump on our team....does it get any better than this?

Team 2 Hounds and a Fox Win the 2011 Colorado Pole Pedal Paddle. Jeremy Rodgers, Gwen Ramsey (representing our skier and her dad Eric Ramsey, and Heather Prentice. Powered by Nuun!

Saving Face in Moab....Season Opener

2011-03-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Gunshot! Did I tell you Michael Jackson's glove's make me feel fast?

Countdown to 2011 Moab Gravity Play Race:

Replace carbon bike frame after cracking the headset and finding peace nothing worse could happen?: Check
New chain: Check
Renew Cipro script for lingering Costa Rica GI bug: Check
Replace old non-Schwalbe tires with new bombproof Schwalbe tires. Negative

Over 400 adventure racers and teams descended upon Moab, Utah for the US adventure racing season opener in the Rocky Mountains, the Gravity Play 12 hour race. Young and not as young, family teams, elite teams, just for fun teams all come together for this season kickoff in the mountain biking and 4 x 4 mecca town of Moab. As usual, I do a few early spring adventure races before the kayaking season ramps up just to get my overall cardio fitness base up to where it needs to be before spend the next 4 months exclusively in a downriver racing kayak focusing on supra anaerobic 5 minute intervals. With 7 podium finishes in this race, I've had my share of successes making this is one of my favorite courses. That being said, this years race quickly became a test of one’s resolve.

Great on course shot by Heather. La Sal Mountains in distance.

The race begins with a 35 mile mountain bike ride with a 6 mile massive peloton road ride to the mouth of Longhorn Canyon where the jeep roads become paradoxically vertical. Not 3 minutes after the gun went off (pictured), I hear the most dreaded sound known to cycling….ssssssssssss followed by yells from all around me FLAAAATT and zigzagging to get out of my way. With my tires being setup tubeless, there is a milky liquid inside of them to address such a misfortune. That milky goo fills small punctures like a thorn or glass shard but not so much with a nail. If it will plug it, the tire won’t take on much pressure and has to be ridden low. I speed up and zig zag hoping to fill the puncture under way. No luck, my rear tire is hemorrhaging air rapidly and I can see the serpent’s head, a small roofing nail, with every revolution of my tire. Any adventure racer, while perhaps in disbelief this could happen in the first 3 minutes of a race, looks forward to the solution options in a sick way when such a debacle presents itself.

My options:

1) Stop/lose the peloton and pull the nail out and hope it self seals (30 seconds)
2) Stop/lose the peloton and use my only C02 to fill a real tube and place it inside my tire (3.5 minutes)

3) Walk 100 yards back to the starting line and grab my fishing pole followed by Frisbee with our new puppy Mazzy (end of day)

Rear tire at 20 psi at end of bike leg #2...no good:)

I chose option 1 (remove nail and hope it seals) with the intent I could bring my tire pressure back up with my only C02 at the top of the climb when it turns to pavement. As any mountain biker would agree, having my tire pressure drop to 30 psi on sandy jeep roads is quite a desirable occurrence but with 40% of the bike course on paved roads, I want my tire pressure closer to 50 psi the entire race. I made a break from the peloton hoping to get far enough ahead to pull the nail and rejoin them just like the Tour De France. Wrong answer. When I made my break, race favorites Mike Dawson, Spencer Lacy, and company jumped onto my wheel thinking I was making a break and all nearly rear ended me as I came to a screeching stop on the opposite side of the road which made for some good post race laughs. Nail removed and tire still hissing as it tries to seal, I watch the peloton move off into the horizon as find myself in dead last place.

There was a time in my life that I was purely focused on adventure racing results but today, with adventure racing being my secondary sport, I found myself focusing on just living what the race throws out knowing that certain realities are a given, specifically that 1^st -5^th place will be decided by less than 10 minutes and I just gave that time away. Self talk is a crippling, yet with a shift in focus, empowering thing and I certainly found myself initially focusing on what was wrong with my tire losing air. As I climbed 2000 feet to the top of the mesa without my usual draft with the lead pack, I went back to some of my old race mantras of “forward focus” and “stuff happens to every team today”, then put my head down, pedals forward, and did my best with the situation. I remember chatting pre-race with “Team Environmental Hazard”, a 2 person women’s team whose goal was to loose 50 more lbs above the 50 lbs they had already each lost. I remember a conversation I had this week at the clinic with a patient who just wanted “to walk 5% better” after an ankle fracture. How about all the parents on the course that juggle every second to find that hour to get in a ride or run? My self talk turned back to “OK, now my bike is 10% slower until I can seal the slow leak but my kayak is 10% faster, so now I’m simply even with every other racer”.

Finish line shot. Feeling surprisingly good for just blowing a gasket on paddle leg.

After spending the next 3 hours chasing my way through the pack on the run/orienteering course, rappel off of Gemini Arches, and 2^nd bike leg, I clawed and crawled my way back through the entire field to 6th place at the final paddle put in. After a hour descent on 2nd bike leg and lots of praying my rim doesn't cave from a rock hit, I jumped off my bike and did a 20 second transition into my kayak. It is here something special happened and I just felt outstanding (thanks nuun active hydration tablets!) getting into the kayak followed by some vengeful paddling bringing me to within 15 minutes of the 1^st and 2^nd place leaders. I beat my best all time paddle split on that section of the Colorado River for any year ever and finished in just over 5 hours in 3^rd place overall and 15-20 minutes behind fellow national team paddler/CU Nordic skier Spencer Lacy and minutes behind last years winner Mike Dawson from Park City, Utah.

This is what happens without Nuun in the Moab Canyonlands! How many Kid Rock songs would it take to get you through a day like this?

In reflection of the day, 20 year-old Spencer Lacy has become a force to dealt with. He ran a clean race and took 10 minutes off of his 2009 time where he finished 3^rd behind Travis Macy and myself. He’s had a rough CU Nordic season and it brought a smile to my face to see him notch a win.

3rd Jeremy Rodgers (Boulder), 1st Spencer Lacy (Boulder), 2nd Mike Dawson (Park City, Utah)

More important than the podium today, I was reminded that in an adventure race of any length, 1000 things have to go right to have a clean race which is simply impossible. We just forget what happened last race and something new happens every year that you can't prepare for. You stack your hand pre-race with planning, training, the right gear, and experience and hope it's enough to offset Murphy's Law. Today, I got what I deserved all things considered and felt good about gaining back the 30 some minutes I lost dealing with an endlessly leaking tire. We’d all like to get in front and stay in front in life but it felt just as good to start in dead last and try to catch these guys and visit with other racers on the course at the same time. Additionally, every team out there had it challenges that no one ever hears about. It’s how we deal with those challenges that defines a team and individual’s resolve and spirit.

Special congrats to Danelle Ballengee who won the woman’s solo 5 years after her fateful fall and subsequent challenges after fracturing her pelvis and also to Team Environmental Hazard who won the race before they even started after having lost 50 lbs each training for their first adventure race.

And...have you met our new Cattle Dog/Hybridliving partner Mazzy? This was her first road trip in the Ultimate Multisport Van! Next up, San Luis Obispo Adventure Racing Camp with Team Dart nuun and Ian Adamson followed by the start of kayak racing season.

Forward focus!

Jeremy
Team DART nuun SportMulti

Pura Vida in Costa Rica...

2011-02-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

After 10 years of spending every “vacation” multisport racing internationally, Heather deserved a casual vacation that didn’t involve pre-race meetings, bike boxes, and oversize luggage charges for kayaks. We chose the eastern Costa Rica seaboard as our multisport destination complete with whitewater kayaking, jungle lodges, canopy tours, mountain biking, and beaches.

Pacaure River (Mario in lead, Jeremy 2nd, Heather in raft 3rd)

Day 1-2…We hit the water running with our 3 day whitewater river trip on the world famous Pacuare River. The Pacuare River is a 60 mile stretch of continuous class 4-5 big whitewater which runs from the continental divide in the west due east to drain into the Caribbean. Marcos, from www.ecoaventuras.com.cr in Turrialba , was our lead guide on the Upper Pacuare which I kayaked and Heather rafted with 6 others from the UK, Holland, Germany, and Costa Rica requiring Diego, her raft guide, to call out commands in 3 languages to avoid certain doom. Most class 4 rivers in the US are typically class 3 primarily with 5-10 class 4 rapids along the way. The Pacuare is a consistent class 4 rating (ie the whole river is a class 4 rapid) with over 30 class 4+/5- drops as the river rages through the tropical rain forest with waterfalls abound as the monkeys, red frogs, and toucan’s find humor in why these humans are descending this river in such poorly thought out means of transportation.

Heather’s raft guide Diego was excellent and always on line. Even with his multinational commands and mixed experience levels in the raft, they cleared the canyon with only one near flip that Heather insists Diego tried for to spice up the descent. Mario was my compadre in a second kayak and I simply mirrored his kayak angles as we weaved our way through the minefield of bus-sized holes, some more gracefully than others. I was actually impressed with the quality of the guides most when one rafter from Texas took a swim in the gut of the canyon followed by a super swift rescue by Mario. I certainly had my hands full with a wing paddle (trying to limit # of paddles I brought!) and no time to recover between rapids as well as essentially paddling the river blind with my guide in front setting the line as the only thing I could use to foreshadow the trouble ahead.

Our friend Shane Sigle from Boulder lived in Turrialba for a year and certainly warned us this river was a handful but you’ll see from the photos, it was worth every minute including getting worked by El Sugundie rapid which I front endo’ed into the main hole followed by a beat down equal to the spin cycle of your favorite Maytag washing machine. My favorite adventure racing teammate Bill Dean put it best years ago: “gravity and moving water, otherwise known as your judge and jury.”

Day 3-4…Mountain biking off road in Costa Rica typically means lots of mud and we certainly got our shoes full. Carlos, from www.lava-tours.com, was our always enthusiastic and quite fit guide. Heather found him from another American’s blog entry describing his 6 hour “March of Death” ride with Carlos. This ride option obviously intrigued us more than a “March of Roses” ride so Carlos was happy to oblige us for the second time he has done this ride as a guided tour. We began in the rafting epicenter city of Turriablba and made 2 ascents/descents of the continental divide on jeep trails including a 1 hour mud slog in knee deep mud descending into the River Reventazon valley (see video). We were super stoked with these 2 days of riding which allowed us to slow down while ascending volcanic rims and see some great wildlife, sample coffee beans from their host fruit, and suffer some sweltering heat with our solid guide Carlos. Check Lava Tours out if you’re looking for a high end hard core single or multi day bike tour with zero down time. Many of the tour companies we contacted catered to casual rides with lots of down time. Carlos knows what’s up and is a solid mountain biker in his own right and multi year competitor in the Leaville Trail 100 Bike Race. He speaks great English and even stuck around to have dinner with Heather and I.

Day 5-7 was spent on the Caribbean Coast in Puerto Viejo following a simple transfer shuttle via the national shuttle system Interbus. We were quick to decide renting beach cruisers sooner than later was the best way to get around the coastal destinations for snorkeling, kayaking surfing (see video), and wildlife tours. The monkeys and sloths were particularly densely populated on the coast compared to the elusive species on the River Pacuare. Bring lots of KinEsys sunblock and plenty of Nuun electrolyte replacement for those tough days where your GI system isn't feeling as gung ho as your legs. We also wished we had brought more clothes for a rain forest trip as by the end of a week we had 2 piles of clothes, those that stink and those that stink less. Something about nothing dries when the humidity is pushing 90%!

Pura Vida

Jeremy and Heather

Unleashing the Sprinter...Season 2 Unplugged

2011-01-19T14:23:00.000-08:00

Just when we all thought Heather and I's "Ultimate Multisport Van" couldn't be improved, we found a way just in time for UMV Season 2 with the addition of a self sustaining solar power system that allows for perpetual Hybridliving. We all ask ourselves how we can give more back the earth than we take? How can we tread lighter yet live life to the fullest? How much electricity do we actually consume per hour? If I can pay for electricity by burning coal cheaper than other energy sources, why does it matter?

For about $500 for a 135 watt PV (photo voltaic) panel and an additional $400 for charge controller and installation, $300 for 2 440amp/hour deep cycle batteries, $1000 for a Xantrex AC inverter/DC converter, and $200 for Hell Roaring battery isolater, we have perpetual power to operate our minimalist design multisport van's refrigerator, lighting, TV/DVD, water pumps, and heater for up to 7 days without starting the engine. Our system including the panel, charge controller, batteries, inverters, and installation was approximately $2500. This setup on a larger scale would absolutely work for your home however your average consumption per hour is closer to 800 watts at any given moment. A typical solar panel has a 12-15% efficiency rate providing 100% return on investment in 10 years and a lifespan of 15-20 years (except $300 batteries have a 5 year life span). Once solar panels hit 20% efficiency this year, ROI will be accomplished in 3 years!

As you may know, solar panels require an amperage charge controller device to keep the batteries from being overcharged and they are also only as good as the ability to store DC power. Going back to physics 101, a 100 watt appliance uses 100 watts or 11 amperes per hour on a 10-12 volt system .(Power = Amperes x Voltage). This would exhaust a 440 ampHour battery in 40 hours without replenishment. It takes about a 150 watt solar panel (producing 10-11 amps) to offset this 100 watt consumption due to inefficiencies in conversion of solar energy to electrical energy/less than perfect sunlight/limited number of hours of sunlight exposure, etc. Additionally, it takes a reservoir aka batteries to store energy when possible because it's impossible to match electrical needs with sunlight availability.

Overkill perhaps but most importantly it's symbolic of our commitment to treading lightly in our surroundings and detaching ourselves from the traditional life of decadence "living on the grid". The Sprinter is just the earliest phases of living a simpler life off the grid as the cards play out. Until then, we look forward to spending time on the grid plugged into our favorite travel destinations.

We also added a wireless Roku modem to the van this year to stream Netflix movies to less remote locations.No more repeats of the movie 300... just name your request and we can stream it!

For a complete summary of the Sprinter's unleashing.... Season 1

See you all on the trails and rivers!

Heather and Jeremy

Right to Float Law: Battleground Colorado.

2011-01-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

American Whitewater and The Right To Float from Amongst It on Vimeo.

Right to Float: Statutory and Case Law in Colorado
I'm sometimes asked by new kayakers "is it true a river is a public resource and may be floated across private land" as long as I don't touch the ground ? Yes, the actual case law is "People versus Emmert, 1979" that was actually lost then overturned on certain points. It's accepted that public waters are not to be obstructed but it's not clear what happens if a floater come across an obstruction.

What if a dangerous water level fence, bridge, or rapid affects my ability to make passage safely? Grey area. It's generally acceptable from case law the paddler may safely walk around the obstruction incidentally without trespassing.

How can I help? Be a respectful paddler and citizen when crossing contested lands in a kayak. Try to pass fly fisherman wide and avoid impacting their fishing experience as much as possible. Plan ahead...don't use the restroom or plan lunch on private land. Join the AWA above. Additionally, contact your state legislature when interest groups need your help. Be informed by watching the video above from the AWA!

Opening Day...Colorado Ski Season 2010

2010-11-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Need I say more? Opening at Keystone Resort. Heather and I getting the cobwebs out. 36 inch base before Thanksgiving....keep it coming o holy white snow santa. Yes, those are teleturns for sure and the new HD GoPro Chest Cam. Bring on the hut trips, nordic skate days, hot chocolate, and winter friends. We even scoured the mountain for some bumps that were hidden in the backside.

Little Grand Canyon...Westwater Utah

2010-10-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

As fall weather slumbers into the Rocky Mountains, all the usual suspects loaded up the KEENmobile and rolled into Westwater Canyon Utah for a 4 day paddling and mountain biking bonanza. Fresh off of my last trip to Seattle to adventure race with the DART gang, it was great to be back on the mountain bike yet again away from endless time in the kayak. Heather and I started the weekend by hitting all the classic mountain bike rides (and a few we made up as we went!) in Moab. What is better in life than to wake up in the morning from our camping vista overlooking Slickrock followed by frumpy oatmeal and chocolate milk watching the sun rise in my KEEN flippity flops?

ROCK'N VIDEO LINK HERE
PADDLER'S PERSPECTIVE (Same Stretch Looking Downstream)
SIDE PERSPECTIVE (Same as photo)

Skull Rapid, Left Line vs. Right Line

After some epic mountain biking in Moab, we rolled upstream to Westwater Canyon to meet up with Andy Corra and family along with Nelson Oldham/fam for some big water boat'n on one of every wildwater paddlers' favorite stretches of river. Westwater Canyon, sometimes called Little Grand Canyon, is rich in outlaw history, caves, and bald eagles. It is even richer in the quality of big volume pool drop rapids. The exitless inner gorge is 40 minutes of world class continuous big water rapids. Each drop leads to a guaranteed chest hit at the bottom of the explosive wave trains leading to the crux rapid in the series known as The Skull. To the right you see a photo from 2 years ago on another Westwater river trip with me taking the left line and The Boz taking his raft on the rowdier right line barely squeezing by the munchy massive hole that gives the rapid its namesake. Hitting the swimming pool sized hole almost guarantees a beat down followed by a story worthy dance with The Rock of Shock and then an unpalatable dessert in The Room of Doom. It's actually not such a Room of Doom for kayakers but it can hold a raft for hours if one unlucky soul gets sucked into the recirculating eddy inside the alcove unless they dump truck or bus stop (same as a dump truck but only the guide stays in the raft:) in the Skull Hole. .

Andy Corra and I prepaddled the same 20 mile run the day before in a brisk sub 2 hours on a training run (aka paddle as hard as you can to not lose Andy) but the run you see here is the family run with his talented paddling wife Janet and son Wiley as well as Nelson Oldham and daughter Kate both in kayaks and a support dory. Not blasting down the river in a paper thin 24 lb carbon kelar boat has its own challenges and you see me several times mis time my dory passes in the rapids resulting in a side hit on my stern and a double look to ensure I'm still sea worthy:)

I try to add a swiftwater racing tip on every blog entry and I think a great paddling tip from today's video is to "reach past every wave apex for your next stroke". Doing so centers your balance perfectly on each mega wave hit and boofs/drives the kayak forward trying to reach the next wave before my bow drops into the trough of the wave set (which would slow my speed like a speed bump). Notice the frequency of my paddle strokes matches the frequency of the swell surges...the slower the surges lift me the slower my stroke frequency. I hear the advice "paddle like hell when a rapid approaches" which I disagree with from a technical perspective as the paddler flails with poor timing. "Never stop paddling and time each stroke to hit each wave apex" is a better paraphrase of that same advice. Notice my paddle is never out of the water except for a millisecond between strokes. That millisecond is the only instant I could get flipped like you see just before the slo mo in Skull Rapid but a few brace strokes prevented a roll. I may slow down my stroke by extending the stroke beyond my hip waiting for the next wave but my paddle is ALWAYS in the water for leverage. In the notorious words of my favorite movie of all time: TOP GUN..."Maverick, that was some of the best (paddling) I've seen yet right up to the point you got (flipped)...you NEVER EVER leave your (paddle in the air:)

Heather got plenty of flat water time on the SUP paddle board and little 8 year old Wiley Corra really impressed me paddling rowdy class 3 wavetrains with a smile on his face. The US paddling scene will recognize this name in about 10 years as he'll surely go on to match his dad's world record paddling acumen.

As with life, the compression of every canyon brings a lot of rowdiness and uncertainly. Peace finally returns and that same rowdiness passes us by on its way to the next tumultuous canyon. In the early hours of morning on the same day as this video filming I saw the most magnificent shooting star go overhead seen from horizon to horizon with a glorious trail of green. Later that evening, I got a voicemail from my long time hometown friend letting me know the mother of my high school class Linda Griffin had passed. Now I know what it meant.

Next up....nordic and hot chocolate hut season is upon us! Special thanks to the ever creative Heather for the video editing above!!!

How Not to Take Heather Kayaking...

2010-10-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

OK, so only kayakers will appreciate how funny this video truly is. I personally will never take Heather on something she's not comfortable paddling herself but the conversation going on here is just classic among husband and wife/boyfriend girlfriend when paddling a tandem together. Every time we paddle our tandem, we joke with onlookers telling them we're filming a reality tv show called "How to Get Divorced in 2 Weeks or Less".....

This is on a class 6 section of the White Nile in Uganda and I just can't believe a kayaker would take a non kayaker through this without full disclosure but the drama is just priceless...

World's Worst Kayaking Experience

Chasing DART...

2010-09-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Team Dart Nuun Sport Multi: Jeremy Rodgers, Sean Clancy, Mari Chandler, Matt Hayes; 1st Place Trioba Adventure Race

So I've learned from this blogging thing to defer when you've been outblogged and Sean Clancy from Team DART is the blogger of all bloggers. Every photo and detail he captures like a modern day Mark Twain.

Glissading in the rocks...

Even though we won this very challenging race in 25 hours 50 minutes by a several hour margin ahead of second place Team Verve, I came to the realization that being in a kayak for the past 2 years really takes it's toll on leg and hip strength on super long races when a majority of the course is off trail on super steeps. My feet just hadn't seen that type of stimulus for several years and the first 7 hour orienteering section in the Cascade Mountains trashed my feet. Luckily, I had super professional teammates Matt Hayes (on the compass) , Mari Chandler (Ms. Efficiency herself), and Sean Clancy (The Hulk) and we all kept our heads down, made zero mistakes, and focused on the finish line. DART and their entire stable of racers are as good as they get.

Night falls on the Cascades.

Read Sean Clancy's blog summary at http://www.dartadventure.com/index.php/teamnews/95-team-wins-trioba-24-hours-

Make that a Large Pizza...No Make that Supersize.....Leadville...Colorado River Trifecta

2010-08-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

View South from 12,200 ft. Hope Pass of Collegiate Peaks Range

Who Throws Motor Oil Bottles Out OfTheir Window?

What a stunning Colorado weekend! Heather and I loaded up the Sprinter and headed up to the Leadville Trail 100 to pace a few patients and friends of ours. We snuck a quick ride from Leadville up Independence Pass first thing in the morning followed by getting Joy Robertson and John Hill up and over the 12,000 foot Hope Pass.

All was smooth sailing for both of them. Joy arrived into Winfield looking the best she's looked in 4 years of pacing for her. She was celebrating the possible last time she'd complete Leadville for nearly the 6th time after realizing this year she was in need of a hip resurfacing procedure. She started the race with a not so perfect pain in her hip but seemed to have been in control of it. We made it to the top of Hope Pass, mile 60, right on schedule and began the descent. It was quite clear within the first 200 vertical feet of descent that Joy could go uphill all day long but the descent simply caused the cartilage problem in her hip to occur with every step. By the time we'd descended to 11,000 feet she was literally unable to take another step. With night fall upon us and 2,000 feet of descent and 4 miles left back to Twin Lakes, we made a plan to have her piggy back and ride on my shoulders 5 minutes followed by 2 minutes of her walking. Luckily she's only 115 lbs dripping wet and I never thought in million years I'd be carrying someone on my back scrambling down a drainage ditch but our system worked albeit time consuming. I think we scared other racers more than ourselves with Joy and I combining to be a 10 foot tall hiker:) and the humor in it just offset the misery factor of being at such an altitude unable to ambulate. We made it back to the Twin Lakes aid station in 5 hours instead of the normal 3 and I just felt horrible for this long time ultra runner who just lives and breathes trail running in the Colorado mountains. She's always lands on her feet and I look forward to hearing where she diverts her energy until hip resurfacing technology is at a point that runners can return to running. Currently, the hardware interface fails with the load of running and technology doesn't exist for such an application.

Avoiding wave friction just on the seam...the secret art of swift water racing!

Heather Riding The Wave Train...a little bouncier just left of the seam!

So at 10:30 PM, Heather and repacked the Sprinter and drove over Independence Pass into Aspen just in time to grab a few hours of sleep before the 25th Annual Colorado River Race put on by Jerry Nyre www.canoecolorado.com. In hindsight, I think we were both more bummed we'd missed a thick crust supreme at Leadville Pizza Hut than were about starting a race with 4 hours sleep. Heather really impressed me as she was approx. 5th overall and ran some good rapids in an Epic 18 (ft) that really tests one's ability to line up the boat in tight wave trains that want to push you into the eddies and bridge abutments. I felt surprisingly recovered from the Leadville saga and went on to win the race for the 5th consecutive year. I chose to paddle a "short boat" WakaTwo wildwater racing kayak in the "long boat" unlimited class this year and at 15ft I was very surprised to see me just beat the previous course record of 1 hour 4 minutes I set 3 years ago in my 22 foot JKK Supernova. It just goes to show that hull speed doesn't always win if one considers bow wave resistance (greater in longer boats) when paddling in shallow water ways. Additionally, I'm a mass start racer by nature and the other long boats kept me focused on forward progress for sure.

For those wanting some advice on pacing on longer paddling efforts like 1 hour, I simply break the race into 15 minute intervals and each 15 minute interval into 5 minute sub intervals of increasing intensity ie hard, harder, hardest rising from just below anerobic threshold to just at threshold at the end of the final 5 minute sub interval. I monitor this as well as average pace on my Garmin 305 GPS odo/speedometer. The art of this pacing control I owe to Andy Corra's mentoring last year and it has been the single reason I finished top 5 nationally last year and beating my long boat record that had previously stood for 15 years originally set by a tandem K2 kayak in 1993.

Next week, off to Seattle to adventure race with Team Dart-NUUN-MultiSport who I've respected for years for their consistency in national and international races. They have a stable of swift talented multisporters that gave BPN a run for their money 2 years ago so really looking forward to seeing the Cascades with Sean Clancy, Mari Chandler, and Matt Hayes.

World Championships...Big Water and a Little Cash for the Road

2010-07-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

Reeeaaaching for that next catch!

http://www.usawildwater.com/news/2010/100725_Performance_Funding.html

Unleash the new Waka Two from ZBS Sports in Czech Republic custom painted by Tomas Slovak...transparent Signal Blue:) By th e look on my face, I'd say I was 2 heartbeats away from blowing a gasket. Ah...the art of wildwater paddling...go so hard on the flats you almost blow a gasket then survive the rapids! Getting more confident at this balance but I have alot to learn:)

Another year of flooding every June 1st in Europe. This is the sprint course run out in Sort, Spain. The upper course got high enough that the whole river was off limits for 3 days. Flashbacks of Ivrea, Italy in 2008.

Just another day at the office...just when you ask for big you get too big:)

On break between heats...

Play time for Heather and I...off to find another bakery for a E'Clair! Maybe I already had one in my mouth.

US Wildwater Paddler Andy Corra Sets New World Record On Yukon River!

2010-07-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

Excerpts From Story on USA Wildwater.com

Only days after returning to Boulder from World Championships in Sort, Spain, I found myself sitting at Denver International airport yet again waiting for my flight to the Yukon Territory Canada busily checking flow gauges and gathering last minute information on the wilderness that waits.

Just when one thinks you have been dealt an average hand, all variables go in your favor and the impossible happens as the human spirit triumphs against all odds. Not 24 hours after I sent an email out to family and friends on my blog acknowledging the lack of adequate flows for a world record attempt on the 24 distance record, American wildwater paddler Andy Corra, from Durango, Colorado, overtook the current world record of 261 miles on June 28th by paddling 273.5 miles (awaiting certification by Guinness World Records) in 24 hours. The current official record is held by Aussie American adventure racing legend Ian Adamson . While flows were average at best compared to previous record attempts by others, Andy’s paddling and river reading skills, as well as tolerance of sitting in a kayak for 24 hours, were matched with eerily calm skies and the sheer hunger for what was one man’s first chance to attempt this life long goal.

Andy’s attempt was supported by 2 local guides in a flat skiff motor boat and myself alternating in a 2nd surf ski and time spent on the motor boat handling logistics. His attempt started with a simple touch of the reset button on the 2 GPS tracking devices at 12 noon as he pushed away from the flat bottomed guide boat and pointed the bow of his Epic V12 surf ski downriver. Needless to say, he chose against a long warm-up. What ensued in the next 24 hours was simply poetry in motion. Andy kept his signature form throughout the entire 24 hours and his cadence only slowed in the final 2 hours as fatigue and the intolerance of sitting took its toll on his back and shoulders. The river was swift and approximately 5-16 feet deep. The endless braids were challenging to find primary channels and we as a support crew were busy looking ahead with various means, then relying on Andy’s on the fly water reading skills. With moderate flows this year, Andy simply overcame moderate flows with both his paddling skill combined with excellent weather minus several heavy gale force squalls. The difference in Andy’s attempt and previous attempts by other paddlers seemed to be Andy’s dissection of each channels flow to gain maximum current speed advantage obtained from his years of wildwater racing.

We began below Lake Labarge around noon on Saturday and descended Five Fingers and Rink Rapids earlier than expected. In the wee hours of the arctic dusk around 2am, Andy negotiated the cross currents and exploding waves between the immersed rock towers of Five Fingers Rapids with the cautious focus you’d expect from a 6 time wildwater national champion paddling a 21 foot surf ski through short but worthy class 2-3 rapids. Andy had little to say the entire attempt but did muster the defining phrase, “that was anti climactic”, as he passed through the final rapid.

The rest of the night he remained on task only stopping long enough to urinate and exchange food and hydration systems. He did ultimately hit an expected low in the early hours of the next morning, hours 18-21, with only a slight change in cadence but no change in average speed even with dropping current speed. By hour 21, following a quick layer change, he regained his color and signature cadence for the final leg of this enormous human feat.

The entire US paddling community is excited about Andy’s accomplishment. Andy can be reached at corras@riversports.com to offer him congratulations.

Unleash the Yukon....

2010-06-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Just days after the jetlag wore off and the Euros were converted back into USD’s, I find myself sitting again at Denver International airport again waiting for my flight bound for Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. I’m heading to the Yukon to crew/pace for prolific American paddler Andy Corra’s solo attempt on the Guinness 24 Hour Distance Record of 264.2 miles held by my fellow Coloradan and adventure racing legend Ian Adamson. The Yukon River has some attractive qualities that are no secret to the record setter, specifically, its massive flows nearing 110,000 cfs (cubic feet/second) through near arctic northern latitudes which provide 22 hours of daylight during summer solstice and virtually untamed undammed river flows. The river is deep enough that its massive flow produces little turbulence above class 2 rapids compared to what Andy and I are used to in the sport of wildwater racing. In contrast, its massive lower elevation river braids one half mile wide create significant navigational challenges to find the deepest current or simply not run aground in a backwater channel.

The 4 key ingredients in challenging this record are lucid: 1) having the fastest flows/snowpack runoff 2) having favorable winds/weather 3) being the technically best paddler 4) body management i.e. tolerating sitting, eating, urinating, etc in a kayak for 24 hours straight, and finally 5) having solid logistical planning (in order of importance). Flows when the record was reset in 2004 on this same river were 107,000 cfs. This week's flows are 70,000 cfs. Andy and I have no illusion about the challenges this presents and we are staying focused on laying down as many miles as the final 4 of 5 ingredients allow. Many paddlers look at this record and simply salivate on the simple premise it’s simply paddling more efficiently and faster than the next great paddler. In contrast, it’s a chess game of skill, luck, and wit to out jockey those things fitness and paddling skill cannot control.

We have 2 days of logistical jockeying on the ground evaluating flow gauges, weather, and mundane things as simple as battery life of tracking, signaling, and communication devices. Up North Adventures is our local guiding outfit and will provide motorboat support for Andy’s effort as well as assist me finding the fastest current ahead of Andy using stealthy techniques such as steering away from the bears in shallow water.

As I near the age of 35, I’m still not sure how I am magnetically drawn into these outings (no pun intended) nor why my girlfriend Heather still supports these misadventures far from home but, lucky for me, she still does enthusiastically; especially if she’s not the one in the front of our 2 person whitewater kayak otherwise known as the Jackson Dynamic Duo. This trip guarantees an experience of a lifetime with hopeful DISTANT grizzly sightings, endless UP CLOSE mosquitoes, and all the usual “I can’t believe that happened” ingredients that make one appreciate the simpler things in life.

Every adventure locale has its indigenous social, wildlife, and environmental hazards. Patagonia’s poison was instantaneous gale force windstorms and arctic water temperatures (pictured above circa 2005). New Zealand had endless glacial azure rivers, alpine rock fall from the mountain ledges above combined with the prickliest Spanish grass my butt has ever come to know. Nepal had its ruthless leeches in all the wrong places and Maoist extremists lurking in the trees just waiting to take my Nutter Butters. France brought weird accents who spoke at us Americans as if always mad and I’ll never forget the endless shocking by electric fences for cows that could jump houses. Spain introduced amazing rivers and how not to serve dinner until 10pm. My home state of Oklahoma yields tornados and bull riding cowboys. The Yukon Territory brings _________________________ to my Hybrid KEEN life.

Beginning this Saturday or Sunday, I’ll be sending several of you position updates by email via my satellite beacon transmitter so look for the start as the first one, a few updates signals, and 3 in immediate sequence as the end of the 24 hour mark.

My favorite adventure quote resurfaces for this occasion....
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." Sir Ernest Shackleton, Endurance Antarctic Expedition circa 1908 London News classifieds

Adopt A Highway...Fight Back Against the Litterbugs!

2010-05-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

So every time I clean my beloved adopted 2 mile highway section on Left Hand Canyon on one of Boulder's premiere cycling routes I feel the need to play a little game. The game is come up with a new way to break my course record cleaning it using any means available. I've cleaned it running only, using my scooter and a jousting pickerupper, rollerblades, jumping out of the back of a truck, one bike ride at a time...you name it, I've tried it. The new Sprinter van is paying off at every turn as this time Heather drove it while I hung out the side door like a hawk looking for it's recyclable prey...just salivating at the sight of every neglected piece of aluminum or glass beverage container anchored needlessly in the riparian tundra otherwise known as Left Hand Canyon.

Here are a few pics of the mornings work, 3 mega bags, 2 tires, 1 construction sign, and 1 box of jelly beans. I will say Bud Light cans are the usual instrument for those that are too lazy to throw away trash in a responsible manner but whiskey is clearly out of favor this tough recession. Imports were also no where to be found although a few high class litterbugs still lurk in the shadows.

Jesse...A+ on the Immersion Research Gertler shorts for functionality while trash collecting. They perform flawlessly in the low crouching positions jumping over trees, treacherous buried glass, and guard rails!

Special thanks to Clif Bar who is hosting a mega highway cleanup this week in Boulder County to do it's

part in promoting responsible trash disposal on Colorado's beloved roadways!

Annual Return to the Roots....Buena Vista Gravity Play Race

2010-05-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

So I try to return to adventure racing at least once a year and this year it worked out to do Gravity Play's Buena Vista Adventure Exstream race. Heather is fired up to qualify for the Checkpoint Tracker national series race held in Colorado this year so I tagged along for a race on some top notch wildwater training on the Arkansas from town to Fisherman's Bridge aka Town Run to Milk Run.

The race started on foot with a 10K trail run/orienteering section to the paddle start. I shared the run with 2 military guys named Ryan and John. Ryan was active Army just back from Iraq and just from the cauliflower ear in his right ear called him out as an ex wrestler who shot his single leg with his right leg...sure enough he was an grappler from North Dakota. John was an active Air Force Academy cadet in his last year. Both of them were great company on the brisk run and we had a hoot scrambling down the cliffed out route we chose to descend into the river bed and having a fun time chatting about my Vietnam era Marine Corp dad Super Dave and the trials and tribulations of the career soldier. Army Ryan and I were simply getting punished by fleet footed Air Force John so I called an audible after CP2 and Army Ryan and I vanished into the slot canyons on a strategic evade and elude move after letting Air Force John get 30 seconds ahead of us. If you two guys read my blog this week... I forgot to thank you and all past veterans for your service to our country and the freedoms that service brings. These guys are solid and I wish them the best in the sport of adventure racing.

That was the last I saw of my running mates and I zoned out to let it rip on the paddle and bike to the finish. With really low spring water levels, I really had to stay on top of my line through the constant boulder fields. Sorry Bruce over at Coal Creek Collision Center in Boulder...I finally did some real damage to the bottom of the awesome new paint job you did for me this year.

I forget how much fun adventure racing is when the pressure isn't on for all the hoopla and I just enjoyed being out there with the other racers taking in all the great vistas and roller coaster single track in Buena Vista. The cyclocross setup on the my Gary Fisher Superfly from http://www.universitybikes.com/ in Boulder is just bomber on adventure races with gnarly single track minus big rock hits at 40 mph. You just point the Superfly in the direction of the finish and just her do her magic in the twisty turns. Gary Lacy was on my tail on the water and that guy just is ageless. I guess that's what happens when you race your sons every weekend!

Team KEEN slid in first overall in a smooth 2 hours 37 minutes. Heather won the solo female and is on track to meet her goals. Is it a problem if my own girlfriend may beats me one day? I think it's in the near future. Results at http://www.gravityplay.com/adventureracing/Results/BV10.pdf Adventure racing continues to thrive as does the Gravity Play series with over 250 racers at each race. Maybe next year Team KEEN will expand from 1 soloist to a team of 4;) Keep your eyes peeled racers!

Release…The Sprinter!

2010-04-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

In support of our free spirit tendencies, Heather and I teamed up to buy and build the ultimate multisport van this winter. We were looking for a diamond in the rough and we found her in Golden in the form of a 2005 Dodge Sprinter. These Mercedes Turbodiesel driven wonders get 23+mpg at 8500 lbs and 22 feet long. Need I say more? We spent 2 weeks removing the vinyl branding aka burning our finger tips with heat guns on 32 degree nights after work until we had her as white as a baby’s bottom. Her dad, Buck, spent an afternoon laying the tile laminate floating floor as we anticipated some dripping kayak gear and muddy bike tires. We threw 18” alloy wheels from a Mercedes G500 SUV on for bling bling value so we don’t get the cops called on us when bandit camping in high end neighborhoods who mistake it for a passenger Eurovan!

Next stop was a visit to the boys at Vanworks,http://www.vanworks.com/, in Fort Collins, CO who specialize in custom van conversions. In short, these talented craftsmen can make anything out of anything. Dale and crew did the whole customization from the power system to cabinets and everything between. They added a shore line so the vehicle could be plugged in to our trusty friends all over Colorado. When plugged in the heater, home theater system, fridge, microwave, and other high consumption electronics can run directly from shore power. We added a 2 amp solar system to keep the batteries topped off while we’re out frolicking in the mountains. As any vegabond camper knows, a hot shower was first on our list of must haves for our home away from home. Vanworks put a water output from our sink to a external shower system that heats the water before sending it to the shower head mounted to the back door. (photo) This system doubles as our muddy bike washing station and stinky paddle clothing diffuser.

Another key component the promising van camper can’t skimp on is the ceiling vent and mood lights. Colorado, being the high mountain climate it is, made us pass on A/C. The ceiling vent keeps the humidity from building up and temperature down. We went with movie theater style LED mood lights along the perimeter of the ceiling courtesy of Barry from Jersey at Vanworks who gave mood lights two thumbs up. The finishing touch was the fold down toy hauler bed that converts into a dinette and table when necessary. Jim from Vanworks recovered the vintage fabric on the bed and seats with bling bling black neoprene compliments of Prijon Wildwasser kayaks in Boulder.

My high school days clearly resurfaced when it came to the audio system and I didn't want to let my high school friend BJ Rumph down when he came to town. We went with a single 10” sub under the passenger seat but heavy on everything else with around 600 watts pushing the 6 mid and high drivers. With movies like Top Gun and 300 in the DVD collection, Mike from Vanworks couldn’t pass on having the DVD integrate into the audio system or doubling down on the wall insulation to keep the neighbors from calling our cover when we’re camping across the street! http://www.kustomkaraudio.com/ did the front door panel speakers custom for Sprinters.

The finishing touches were some of our favorites. To the left, Vanworks custom made sweet ceiling cabinets to house the microwave and my endless collection of KEEN's!

We just got the crown jewel.... personalized license plates. As many of my childhood friends will remember, my brother Josh was the king of van travel even as a young 20 year old in Oklahoma with several VW Eurovan restorations going on at one time. Because we just upsized the size of our van compared to his daily driver (photo shown on the right circa 1999...the first adventure race I ever did with some college

friends..silly Team Radical), JOSHUA2 seemed fitting for the tags. One distinct memory I carry forward from his nature is to be passionate about living life and pack it all in to one day as you never know how the next page reads. Even though I never liked to fish as much as he did, I paid attention and reeled when he said reel. (see below)! His spirit lives on one road trip at a time. Heather picked up where he left off and fishes the same Arkansas River from it's headwaters in our beloved Buena Vista, Colorado.

Shot of the Week...Where's the Airport? Shoshone 3000 cfs and rising....

2010-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Chicagoland Adventure Racing Camp...and the 6 Lb. Burrito Brothers!

2010-04-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

So I spent last weekend near Chicago, Illinois at Gerry Voelliger's Team High Profile Adventure Racing Camp http://thethunderrolls.org/camp.html with 180 adventure racers from 10 states and support staff. It's very real that adventure racing on a grassroots level continues to flourish in the Midwest and Gerry Voelliger is a big part of that success. I tell you this event director and his staff put on an outstanding camp. Gerry's enthusiasm for all things adventure is contagious and this camps stands alone for providing high quality instruction and will jump start any budding adventure racer's knowledge base 100fold in 3 days at a great price. World champion adventure racer Robyn Bennicasa was on staff last year. None of us are sure how Gerry gets his instructors but I'd say it's because if you knew Gerry you just can't turn down a request. He's the fire chief in Bettendorf, Iowa and just has a big brother vibe about him.

I was on staff to provide paddling instruction and all support all other programs related to adventure racing ie navigation, fixed ropes, foot care, in race tactics, etc. KEEN, Clif Bar, and Immersion Research came through for camp participants with the most schwag I've ever seen at an event and the campers loved it all. After 5-6 capsizes in the Mississippi during the field paddling session I'm certain campers found a new appreciation for proper clothing layers. My favorite camp memory was looking on shore and seeing 3 shall I say Rugby'esque campers recently removed from the frigid water (see below) huddled around each other buck naked still pointing fingers at who really tipped the canoe. They came to enjoy the namesake "The 6 LB Burrito Brothers" given to them by Gerry V. These guys traveled all the way from Nebraska and just reminded me of all the human experiences one amasses in the sport of adventure racing. Every second is a screenplay in the making. I enjoyed the racing spirit of these 3 guys, Casey especially, and I look forward to hearing stories of their future success .

Here is a photo of some paddling technique demonstrating how to get maximum power transfer from your body to the kayak/canoe using releasable foot and thigh straps. Note...never do this with straps that don't release instantaneously or you'll have a longer upside down experience than necessary!

Here's a photo of the Wakarusa River that racers honed their paddling skills on. Who knew a class 2 whitewater river runs through these fields surrounding Camp Benson? The river pulses through an otherwise agricultural backdrop and simply carves out some magnificent scenery with surrounding bat caves and high bluffs.

Special thanks to Active Endeavors owner Matt Ostrum who continues to foster the sport of adventure racing in the Chicago market and was an early supporter in my development when I was just a spunky 22 year old who was just learning to paddle on this very stretch of river. Repaying my debt to him working this camp was the least I could do and Gerry V and staff are just simply outstanding. Special thanks also to professional photographer Greg Boll who took all of these action photos. All photos can be viewed online at http://highprofileadventureracing.myphotoalbum.com/myphotoalbum.html?set_albumName=album16

Photos by Greg Boll. Mississippi Pallisades State Park.

Next Up...
1. June 5-13th Wildwater World Championships in Sort, Spain
2. June 23-27th Paddling Solo Support/Navigation for Prolific American paddler Andy Corra's Attempt to Break Ian Adamson's Guiness 24 Hour World Kayak Distance Record on the Yukon River in Yukon Territory (yep, this will be one the story of all stories race fans!)

Hut, Hut!

2009-12-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-10-26T20:09:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T10:55:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-06-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-15T22:26:00.001-07:00

Teva Games Goes Wild (WATER)!

2009-06-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-04-22T19:14:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-03-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

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

RETURN TO YOUR ROOTS...

2009-03-29T18:55:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

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/