I spent most of Tuesday 6 March cleaning up and washing smelly kayak gear. At 3pm I started thinking about the Derwent Canoe Club race. I felt ok, even though I am still having problems with pins and needles in my hands, so I put my Grafton Paddle Sports 'Wizard' kayak on the car.
I arrived at Kingston early so I could get used to a kayak that is vastly less stable than a my loaded mirage 580. I felt a bit wobbly for a few minutes but when you go from a loaded sea kayak to a light racing kayak it feels great.
We were racing a time trial up the river and a handicap race on the way back. I held back a bit on the time trial because before my circumnavigation I felt like I was going into lactic acid meltdown by the first bend and I had a very hard paddle the day before.
As I paddled up the course I was keeping an eye on the paddlers in front of me to try and gauge my progress and I was keeping a similar gap. By the end of the time trial I felt good for a change. I noticed a big difference after the last 4 weeks of intensive training.
On the way back in the handicap race I was feeling great and for the first time this summer I was able to build through the race (even though I did wash ride to the first bend). Normally I am ready to die by the shallow last bend and I am looking for an ambulance down the finish straight but this time I was able to sprint to the end. There is only one more race now in a fortnight then a short break to 22 April for the 'Total Eye Care' Huon Series - 4 races, 22 April, 27 May, 24 June, 29 July.
