Well it didnt take long before the last race came round, a fairly chilly and windy day at the Leeside club the last race was over 8 miles with no portages,
I was fortunate to have a chance meet up with another club member for a Sunday training session, turned out to be a brilliant training session for me, Richard has been canoeing for a number of years with plenty of race experience and a keen UK sea racer.
Richard was very helpful with what I was doing wrong on technique and what I should be doing, his explanations all made sense and by experimentation the end of the session showed a real difference and improved technique with a notable speed increase,
just felt like everything had started to click into place and I really could feel a difference.
At least it wasnt raining but another dull English winter day with a chill and fairly windy, the Leeside event marking the last race of the Essex winter series was well attended, was also pleased to learn that I was running 9th overall in the series,
no portages today so no repeat of the last race lol, all I had to do was keep me ass firmly planted in the seat and keep it there,
it was quite chilly and for once I decided on a decent warm up and rattled of a mile jog down the toe path before the start, god Im not used to running :( but it blew the cob webs out and had at least warmed me up quite nicely for the start.
I was told the race may be a little choppy as the banks are concrete lined and susceptible to wave bounce, shouldn't be too bad for me in the stable boat but we did have a strong/gusty head wind on the start line, could see that one racer had bailed before the start line and later found out 2 had bailed from my class from the start line with the help of the wind.
Got squeezed in on the start line and decided to tuck in behind Dean, not enough time to get a better position, off the start I could see Richard to my far left go like a rocket with 2 more from my right as fast, had the usual sufferings with my boat trying to keep it in a straight line which a constant play with the steering, one of the faster guys just in front that had beaten me before was struggling with the wash and balance, so a quick push to get past him, was expecting him to take me a little further on but no sign, the wind was a killer in some paces, the better stability on my boat was paying dividends over some of the others but hindering me in other areas, really hard to get the leg power down when youre fighting with the steering.
Had some of the faster Juniors go past, seemingly totally oblivious to the choppy conditions and the wind, inc the faster guys in my group those who have the natural stability were stomping ahead in these conditions.
Could feel the paddle technique improvement paying off for me after Richards help, a bit out of shape sometimes but it was a definite improvement, was keeping Dean and Richard in sight and was passing quite a few boats that had started earlier, wasnt going to take a chance of looking behind as the I wasnt trusting the gusting wind, Ill have to wait for the turn to see where I stand.
Seemed very quick for the first turn 3 miles out, the long straight leading up to the turn psychically did look like it was going up hill, this turn being right by the newly built Olympic stadium, well at least I know how to get to it by river, the run back down from the turn still looked like it was running up hill but at least the wind was from behind now, Dean and Richard weren't that far ahead on the turn so perhaps something was possibly was working a little better,
The run back to the Leeside club house was uneventful, could see I was loosing some ground to Dean and Richard, out past for another mile to the final turn point, could see Mo in the distance, cant miss her couloured top lol, started to hit a bit more traffic from some of the shorter course class's, I was keeping an eye on the leaders of our class returning the other side from the turn, missed them all except Richard and I seemed to be nearer, well I thought I had gained some ground but found out afterwards he had taken a dunking by the club house, but it spured me on for the last mile and pushed as hard as I could into the wind to gain more ground, I still struggle so much with the boat cockpit being too small for my lanky legs and the chaffing on my back from the cockpit is getting to be un-bearable sometimes, but putting that to one side when the legs start to work I really can see a difference in speed from the wash coming of the bow.
Finished 2 minutes behind Richard and 5 minutes behind Dean, giving me a 6th place, and earn't me a final position of 8th overall in the series, got to be honest I was pleased with it, especially as I only started last September, smoke 20 fags a day and according to my kids "ancient" and beyond it,
I have thourally enjoyed the winter series and thanks to my club and help from club members I am definably hooked and loving the sport and really looking forward to the start of the summer Hasler series where I can start competing against others of my own ability and hopefully take my self to the limits of my ability and get to move up the divisions fairly quickly, especially now that I have stopped smoking,
and very much to looking ahead for the start of the next winter series, cant let Dean take the trophy 2 years in a row lol :)
Congratulation to Dean for taking the overall win of Class 3 :) and team Chelmsford for taking the overall club win
Ill do a post shortly covering a summery about my flat water K1 racing, mainly aimed at the newcomer and how I get on with the C1 high kneeler including moving up to the more wobbly boats, and hopefully a crack at one of the UK sea races this year.
Weathers going to get warmer soon so perhaps a great opportunity to start having a look at what canoeing is all about and how diverse it is, something to suit everyones tastes, one of the best ways to get fit too
happy paddling
Darren
I was fortunate to have a chance meet up with another club member for a Sunday training session, turned out to be a brilliant training session for me, Richard has been canoeing for a number of years with plenty of race experience and a keen UK sea racer.
Richard was very helpful with what I was doing wrong on technique and what I should be doing, his explanations all made sense and by experimentation the end of the session showed a real difference and improved technique with a notable speed increase,
just felt like everything had started to click into place and I really could feel a difference.
At least it wasnt raining but another dull English winter day with a chill and fairly windy, the Leeside event marking the last race of the Essex winter series was well attended, was also pleased to learn that I was running 9th overall in the series,
no portages today so no repeat of the last race lol, all I had to do was keep me ass firmly planted in the seat and keep it there,
it was quite chilly and for once I decided on a decent warm up and rattled of a mile jog down the toe path before the start, god Im not used to running :( but it blew the cob webs out and had at least warmed me up quite nicely for the start.
I was told the race may be a little choppy as the banks are concrete lined and susceptible to wave bounce, shouldn't be too bad for me in the stable boat but we did have a strong/gusty head wind on the start line, could see that one racer had bailed before the start line and later found out 2 had bailed from my class from the start line with the help of the wind.
Got squeezed in on the start line and decided to tuck in behind Dean, not enough time to get a better position, off the start I could see Richard to my far left go like a rocket with 2 more from my right as fast, had the usual sufferings with my boat trying to keep it in a straight line which a constant play with the steering, one of the faster guys just in front that had beaten me before was struggling with the wash and balance, so a quick push to get past him, was expecting him to take me a little further on but no sign, the wind was a killer in some paces, the better stability on my boat was paying dividends over some of the others but hindering me in other areas, really hard to get the leg power down when youre fighting with the steering.
Had some of the faster Juniors go past, seemingly totally oblivious to the choppy conditions and the wind, inc the faster guys in my group those who have the natural stability were stomping ahead in these conditions.
Could feel the paddle technique improvement paying off for me after Richards help, a bit out of shape sometimes but it was a definite improvement, was keeping Dean and Richard in sight and was passing quite a few boats that had started earlier, wasnt going to take a chance of looking behind as the I wasnt trusting the gusting wind, Ill have to wait for the turn to see where I stand.
Seemed very quick for the first turn 3 miles out, the long straight leading up to the turn psychically did look like it was going up hill, this turn being right by the newly built Olympic stadium, well at least I know how to get to it by river, the run back down from the turn still looked like it was running up hill but at least the wind was from behind now, Dean and Richard weren't that far ahead on the turn so perhaps something was possibly was working a little better,
The run back to the Leeside club house was uneventful, could see I was loosing some ground to Dean and Richard, out past for another mile to the final turn point, could see Mo in the distance, cant miss her couloured top lol, started to hit a bit more traffic from some of the shorter course class's, I was keeping an eye on the leaders of our class returning the other side from the turn, missed them all except Richard and I seemed to be nearer, well I thought I had gained some ground but found out afterwards he had taken a dunking by the club house, but it spured me on for the last mile and pushed as hard as I could into the wind to gain more ground, I still struggle so much with the boat cockpit being too small for my lanky legs and the chaffing on my back from the cockpit is getting to be un-bearable sometimes, but putting that to one side when the legs start to work I really can see a difference in speed from the wash coming of the bow.
Finished 2 minutes behind Richard and 5 minutes behind Dean, giving me a 6th place, and earn't me a final position of 8th overall in the series, got to be honest I was pleased with it, especially as I only started last September, smoke 20 fags a day and according to my kids "ancient" and beyond it,
I have thourally enjoyed the winter series and thanks to my club and help from club members I am definably hooked and loving the sport and really looking forward to the start of the summer Hasler series where I can start competing against others of my own ability and hopefully take my self to the limits of my ability and get to move up the divisions fairly quickly, especially now that I have stopped smoking,
and very much to looking ahead for the start of the next winter series, cant let Dean take the trophy 2 years in a row lol :)
Congratulation to Dean for taking the overall win of Class 3 :) and team Chelmsford for taking the overall club win
Ill do a post shortly covering a summery about my flat water K1 racing, mainly aimed at the newcomer and how I get on with the C1 high kneeler including moving up to the more wobbly boats, and hopefully a crack at one of the UK sea races this year.
Weathers going to get warmer soon so perhaps a great opportunity to start having a look at what canoeing is all about and how diverse it is, something to suit everyones tastes, one of the best ways to get fit too
happy paddling
Darren
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