EJ shows his morning practice ride

May 16, 2006

Here is an early morning ride in practice (4.5 MB, Windows Media Player). The location is really fun to paddle in, however the moves are super dynamic or big due to the nature of the hole. The water is going down a little now so the super big air spot isn’t deep enough anymore. With that said, this spot is a great playspot and every move is available. You can certainly go bigger than my ride is showing here in terms of quantity of air (look for more of that in the competition!) I am working on a routine that is starting to come together. This one is not too far off from a potentially winning one, however the rate in which I am doing the moves is too slow, and the quality of the moves I am doing here is not as good as I would like. I missed my Tricky Woo in this ride, and my set up times are too long. The other spot we were training in earlier was perfect for linking moves. I had a Lunar Orbit into a Back loop, into a McNasty, into a front loop. In this spot, called #2, the hole is diagonal so it pushes you into the eddy and requires that you surf back out after each move. I makes the athletes look a little lazy in their setups but anyone who has tried to link them has quickly discovered some nasty rocks on their second move.

I am finally over trained a little. This is my favorite place to be. I love when I am training hard enough to feel I need a rest. To rest I am simply lowering the session time from 3 hours to 1 hour until I feel strong again. Over training feels like you are tired, and everything feels like they are subject to injury if you are not careful. My side where I got smashed last year at Great Falls in the boatercross felt like it was going to pop this morning on the phonix monkey. I decided not to do any more of those for a day.

Kristine comes back tonight from TN where she worked on the house with the builder to get them ready for the next step. It is much more fun with her here!

Time to get back on the water. I just used this video for my training purposes. I watch it, see how long each move takes; look for ways to compress the moves into less time, so I can add more. I also look to see how to improve the quality of the moves, increase the air (go for the bonuses), and stay in the hole better. If I get all of the moves I want in my routine now, it will take me 72 seconds. The rides are only 60 seconds, so I am trying to cut 12 seconds out of the first 60 so I can get more in. This is part of freestyle. Being able to set up and pull off a move with little time to get ready, and certainly if you miss a move and have to try again you are screwed if you are competing against Jay Kincaid for example. Jay doesn’t often try a move and miss it, especially when it is competition time.

EJ

p.s. Bryan Kirk, Andrew Holcomb, Ben Guska, Nicky Kelley, Tanya Faux, Tanya Shuman, Ruth Gordon, Jay Kincaid, Stephen Wright, Emily, Dane, EJ, Jimmy Blakeney, etc. etc. are all here and the practice is heating up!