Homestake Creek Race- Teva Mtn Games

Day One of the Teva Mountain Games is always on Homestake Creek. Drive west of Vail and get off at the Minturn exit on I-70. Drive ten miles, and you get this view..... Though it is a short race it drops 400 feet per mile in one small section, full of fun spots to pin and get spun out.Tanya Faux and I went up on wednesday to train and she did a good job showin me the fast lines and how not to get pinned. Thanks for the support from you Tanya and your bad assness is sweet!!! This is a picture of the Worlds Perfect Boof, midway through the corse.Photos by: my mom. She is a wonderful woman. The goal posts, line one is good, line two is not so good..... rock is not fast, neither is backwards :-)Mom gets nervous when I race so she only took like two pictures during my physical race but I still love her. The race is nerveracking for sure, no flipping allowed, I want to keep all my teeth and my face and shoulders intact. Almost petoning at the first vertical drop of four at the end of the corse.Comming through eyeing the Worlds Greatest Boof, lining it up right to get the big one!!!Heading into the last rapid which is the hardest of all the drops with a hole at the bottom that will surf you for a bit, and then you get to battle with rocks to roll up...
My first race went really well, I was the first competitor of the Teva Mountain Games and I like to think that I set the bar high. After the first run Nikki Kelly, Tanya Faux, and myself were all less than 1.5 seconds apart from eachother. Nikki had a fantastic second run and came back to win it beating Tanya by 0.12 seconds.... you read that right...0.12 seconds. All the competitors, in third; Myself and Pat Keller both from Asheville NC, second; Tanya Faux from Australia and Tao Berman from Hood River OR, first; Nikki Kelly and Mike Dawson both from New Zealand. Everyone was way fired up to start off the Mtn Games with a bang, literally bouncing off of rocks.
The third placers commin out of the Southeast and representin well!!! Good job Pat

See you all on the flip side!!! Happy summer paddling

Adriene

2009 Worlds Team Trials- Glenwood CO

In the end of May I packed up my 2004 Subaru Forester with my Red Biscuit and my Ice blue Jefe and drove to Colorado for a trip of epic proportions. It all began in Glenwood. I spent two weeks in Glenwood Colorado to train for the US Worlds Team that will be traveling to Thun Switzerland in August to compete against 30 different countries. It was a hard two weeks for me, without a coach or anyone to tell this "creekboater" how to do an air blunt. Luckily kayakers are very helpful and I found lots of people to tell me how to do things bigger and better.The Glenwood wave is a manmade wave that is right in the middle of downtown Glenwood. With one of the biggest rapids on the Colorado River only 6 miles upstream it is a great place to be. You can play in the morning and then go scare the crap out of yourself on Upper Death and Barrell Springs. The elevation got to me, being a southern girl the first few days were extremely rough on me. After three days of suffering it all got better and it was uphill from there. People were coming in from all over the country to watch and compete for a spot on the Team.The Biscuit killed it on the wave. I was very happy with how loose it felt and how I could throw it around using almost no energy. It is fast going down the face and really edgy, always keeping me on my toes!!!Emily Jackson and I took first and second place in team trials. Thankfully on my last ride I finally brought around an air blunt to take second place behind Emily. I guess this "creekboater" is a playboater too. ;-)
After all the results were in for Men, Women, and Juniors we all had a party surf on the wave to celebrate the new US World Team. Everyone lining up in the eddy above the wave. And then chaos ensued!!! Notice: Jeremy Lauks about to get creamed in the front of the frame, and EJ at the back of the fram who got pushed off the wave in a hot second. Also notice that Jordan, the C-1'er is about to get run over by Emily, what a great team building exercize!!!!The victorious four, Emily Jackson, Stephen Wright, Johnny Meyers, and myself. WaHOO!!What the team lifejackets will look like. Thanks to Astral for makin the hand stitched absolutely amazing looking jackets. There are 28 stars for the 28 people on the team and the team signed this lifejacket. There it is, the beautiful US Worlds Freestyle Kayak Team!!! Nice work to everyone and CONGRATULATIONS!!! WE ARE GOING TO THUN!!!

Adriene

Biscuit 45- Out of the Oven and on the River

Hey everyone! Holy pooo! I just got my brand...spankin...new Biscuit 45! YAY! I just took it for it's virgin paddle down Meadowcamp on the Deschutes. I was a bit squirly but I L O V E D it. It's going to take some getting used to as the spin disk and sharp edges were removed. It is super fast on a wave and quick and loose in a hole. Liquidlogic really pulled a great boat out of the hat...er, oven. Nice work!

In a week, I will be taking it for its maiden voyage down the Rogue river for five days...YEAH! Can't wait to see what the wild and scenic section is all about. I'll make sure to get lots of pics and video so you all can enjoy it as well.





Stay tuned for a POV video of Meadowcamp and Lava!

Hasta Pasta,
Christina