Reno Training

By Ben Guska

For the last week my good friend Todd Baker and I have been working with two Reno residents. Our goal is to train them a month prior to the Reno River Festival, and see how well they can do. This last week was week number one! It gave us an opportunity to meet our students Erin Babcock, Scott Sady, and Erica Olsen. So far we have made a lot of progress.

Currently the Hole is a little shallow, so we all are having to adjust. Scott is starting to get his loops down. Because its shallow we have to do more of a sideways cartwheel into the green water, and loop off of that to avoid hitting bottom too hard. It’s a little tricky and involves a lot of edge control. He is also working on his Cartwheels!

Erin has had an awesome week! On Monday I was a little worried as she was still nervous about entering the hole. On Day one we worked with her on confidence and managed to get her in the hole more times in that day, then she had ever gone in it her whole life! After evaluating the situation, we also made another change! We had her jump out of her FUN, and move on into a NEW STAR that Reno Mountain Sports let us use. Because there is less volume, she was able to take more control of her boat. By Saturday she was nothing but smiles! It was the best day I have seen her boat so far. We even got her to do her first SPIN! Coming from only a week before being scared of the hole, and to spinning with confidence Todd and I are very proud of her! Her boyfriend was also happy to see her progress!

For me this has personally been really fun, and exciting. Its super exciting to see them progress so much in the first week. It also allows me to work on my training! So far the hole is super shallow, but with the help of Jason Craig he has shown me the secret places to phonix monkey and Mcnasty! The more I’ve been paddling my New ALL STAR the more im falling in love. The only problem is when I loop I slam the tail on the rocks underneath. But if that’s the only complaint I’d say im pretty stoked! We also want to thank Jason’s Parents for taking Todd and I to Dinner!

For more information stay tuned into the training logs from both Todd and I, as well as the students at: http://riverfest.rgj.com

Also here is a Paper article that ran last week

There will be more to come in the next three weeks!

Enjoy!

Ben Guska