Moving day

Apologies for slackness in posting- not much to report the last few days. The river has been quite high for the last few days, so I have kept off the upper part of the classic waiting for the level to drop to anticipated race levels. That was a mistake! It has got higher and higher as the dam has been releasing water to keep up with the snowmelt. I've done some runs down the middle of the course in the last couple of days, which is just as big but not as continuous as the upper bit. I've been protecting my shoulder but I now wished I'd completed more runs early on.

All Aussies are now in Europe, but Stew and Ben are still in Austria. We have moved from the canoe school to a hotel overlooking the sprint course- one of the pics shows the view from my bedroom window. The Brits, some Germans and Americans and the Kiwi team (Anne) are here so it's all starting to feel very close! Apparently there are 31 nations expected which is the best turnout for 10 years. It looks like there will be plenty of competition for me in the masters competition with Robert Knebel from the Czech Republic confirmed and some other fast old men rumoured. The town has many world champs banners and posters up and it feels like everyone is behind the event.

Chat soon,
Matt

Hiyawatha

We've had higher water the last couple of days- the result of several sunny days melting the vast amounts of snow the Pireneos has seen this year. I did a run showing Dan and Tom Wier (from the USA) where to go, but have backed off the classic course as it's very unlikely that we'll race at that level and it slaps you around an awful lot. I've included a clip of Mathew French on the same day. You get to see about a third of this rapid which is the longest on the course. He's loving it and throwing himself down again and again, but I'm being more conservative, doing other sections and basically protecting my tired old shoulders. There is dam which is responsible for about half or more of the river's flow- the rest is fed in by side tributaries. If there is a lot of snow melt they reduce the flow for us by turning off the dam...for a while. It's the opposite of Australia.

I'm sort of following the news- it seems as if global financial crisis mark II is on the way! I would not be at all surprised if we're heading for the second plunge of a double dip recession. At least I'm not going into debt for this trip unlike the bad old days.

It really is time I did a piece on this town and the region- I'll go get some piccies tomorrow and see if I can attempt to do justice to this lovely mountain town and its friendly people.

Random pics from day off

Limited stuff to report today. We had a day off. I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Did some minor repairs. Went to the tourist bureau to buy official race t- shirts and hoodies (I'm gonna get a hoody! I'm excited) but it was shut- at 11.30 in the morning. We got chased out the door and down the road by the cleaning lady.

We also found Dan, Susie and her folks who arrived later yesterday. We advised them to do the last bit- after the first bridge you come to- and that we'd walk the funner sections with them after lunch, but they somehow missed the fact that they'd crossed the river and put in at the NEXT bridge upstream, which is a full grade harder! Big points to them for getting down grade 3+/4 water unseen in race boats jetlagged with no mishaps.

We'll all train together in the morning. It's all starting to come together. Pics this time include lunch and a very special perfume for ladies who are into japanese style cartoon trading card games.

It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

This is an outdoorsy sort of town, what with mountains and rivers being pretty handy, so there is a range of outdoor shops. I wandered into one the other day and saw my face behind the counter- the old ultrasil drysack packaging pic. It's the little pic of a guy sitting in a tent rolling up a drybag. He had me sign it, so I guess that particular product has at least a 10% discount on it now.

On the Club Penguin front, I now have my ninja mask and can play in the fire dojo with Hamish. To get to this stage required considerable after hours work as Foo can testify. Some of those little buggers out there are very good players!

Getting to know the river now; ready to actually do some sections as intervals. As there are only 2 of us we end up paddling alone and driving for each other, so we learn by trial and error rather than following each other and comparing different lines. It'll be nice to have some company on the river when we catch up with Dan and Susie and we're both looking forward to Andrea getting here.

Sex, Lies and Videotape

Actually, no sex or lies, and a flash drive on a borrowed camera rather than tape, but it does make an arresting headline. The Spanish had their final selection race today, so I offered to video them and they put me on this rapid. After that I followed Estaban (he's the one on the vid) for a couple of runs and then did the lower third and back to the canoe school by myself. We are staying right next to the end of the sprint course, so you just get out and walk for a hundred metres to a shower and cooked lunch. I have never had a set-up this good while staying in Europe before. I have now worked out the difference between the 'Boulder of Death' (british name) and the 'Spanish 4'. They both have large boulders on the left as you approach with a kicking diagonal wave, and are followed by a large hole in the middle of the river. One big difference: you go right of one and left of the other!

On the course for real

Another gorgeous day in Sort. I have found a cafe that opens before 11AM, so I duck out about 7ish for a short black otherwise I'll have to wait until 8.30 when breakfast is served, and that simply won't do. Thus caffeinated, I hope that Gen and Hamish are home and that the internet connection here is working. This morning everything was great and before I knew it I'd racked up an hour talking on skype and playing on club penguin with Hamish.

I'd planned to run the classic course in the race boat. I followed Estaban from Spain- we were great rivals in last year's world cup masters race and we will probably be so again this year. Estaban's a great sport and host, and was very generous in showing me the clearest lines and saving me a few hard knocks and subsequent boat repairs.

I'm going to do a couple more tomorrow. The Spaniards have their selection event, so I'll offer to take splits or video, then fit in with them for a run or two, but as I can feel the strain on the shoulders on this powerful water, I'll back off whenever necessary.

Card Jitsu and Andorra

We decided to have a rest day today- even though we've only been here 2 full days. I bought an 8 euro headset yesterday and this seemed to clear up the skype issues, with the result being a nice chat with Gen and a 45 minute chat and play with Hamish. You can see the results in the pics- I got Hamish with a snowball or two, but he toasted me with his fire cards and he got the better of me. I am now a blue belt and half way to becoming a full blown ninja.

Andorra is like a big airport shopping mall in the mountains- tax free electronics and designer gear but with hills instead of travellators. I have noticed that most airports don't sell assault rifles either. I bought myself the kickbottomest swiss army knife I have ever seen, but the real highlight was a classic Euro style lunch- bread, cheese and cured mystery meat, hacked up with my new knife gobbled down by a shady torrente.

Tomorrow we'll be back on the course- this time in race boats and doing it for real. It looks great, I feel like I know where I'm going and it's going to be a wild wet rollercoaster of a ride, but that's what we're here for!

Escola de Piraguisme

That's the canoe school- for about $45 per day we get a bed, 3 great meals a day and friendly advice. Today they let me borrow a placcy boat, paddle and spraydeck for my first run down the fun bit of the classic course. It was nice to see where to go without finding the best way by feel. It was really cold as I didn't have a paddle jacket (I do for my raceboat) and I had major defrosting pains in the fingertips afterwards. The second run (after sitting out for an hour) was much better- by this stage it was 24 degrees and very nice.

I reckon it would cost about $15 a night for a camping site, so a proper bed where they don't mind if you fire up the angle grinder and feed you and lend you gear for $45 is sensational- and it's walking distance from the finish line of the sprint course and the lovely town of Sort.

We drove downstream to do a flat session this afternoon. I'm not sure what 'suspencion de navigacion' means but it was a good place to put in and there are times when a complete absence of knowledge of the local language is a good thing...Tomorrow we're planning a trip to Andorra and a day off the water.

Foo classic course finish line

Hamish's igloo

club penguin and whitewater

Sleep till 7 or whenever, breakfast, chat to Gen and Hamish (not really with Gen as she can't fit a word in) then some card jitsu and surfing on club penguin with Roaaarer (penguin avatar). That's how today started and how I imagine a few more will begin!

We completed some runs down the easy last third of the classic course this morning before a cooked lunch. The water is fast with rolling and slappy waves, but it's deep and the lines are clean. I'm using the Wish which I bought from Stew, I think I'm going to get used to its stability and manoeuvrability pretty quickly here! Might head up for full classics this arvo, but I might also borrow a playboat for the job.

Read and relax time now, might pop some pics of the town and escola de piraguisme (canoe school) and chat about that tomorrow .

Finally Sorted

big weekend

We're here! Foo and I made it in one piece with boats and all gear after a 40 hour journey from Hobart to Sort, venue of the 2010 Wildwater World Championships. We're a bit tired and a bit hungry, and we've had a run down the sprint course in low water, which was a nice way to ease into it. The river looks fantastic and it'll be nice to spend some time on the longer and trickier classic course tomorrow. I might just ease into it with the final half rather than launch myself into the exciting first bit.



Tomorrow I'll try skyping Hamish to see if my cunning plan for not alienating my son by going off racing for a month works out. We'll also be on Club Penguin- look for Bovril8 if you're out there.