Twist, Rip and Glide....

It’s time to add another feather to my new-found activities cap, this time Dragon Boat racing. I hear you, it’s slightly unrelated to adventure racing as the chances an oversized 20 man raft being included in a race are pretty slim, but it is a waterborne activity.

I knew about Dragon Boat racing and had done my usual ‘I’d love to give that a go’ spiel. This was followed up with my usual ‘full of good ideas, lacking in action’ style. Hence I hadn’t quite gotten there.

The opportunity was recently provided to me courtesy of an old workplace and their decision to field a team in a Chinese New Year corporate dragon boat racing regatta at Southbank.

Team ‘Twist, Rip and Glide’, aka TRG, was born from a mottled crew of mixed males and female colleagues. We’d been bought together by our illustrious coach and team captain, Mark/the man with the big voice/‘Skins’, a lad who is unwaveringly passionate about his chosen sport.

The training
It all started off with 5 training sessions at the Brisbane River Dragons headquarters near Bulimba.

There is a certain technique required which translates to the power of your stroke. You need to twist over to get the paddle in to the water, then pull through by sitting upright, which in essence is all about your side core muscles and not arms.

With the technique down pat, the success of the team is all down to timing. A team should be paddling in perfect unison and this is achieved by watching a teammate diagonally in front of you and emulating their stroke. You don’t look at the water, you don’t look at your competition, and you certainly don’t check out a hot guy on the bank. You need to watch your teammate like a hawk, to a point where in any other circumstance it would be considered stalking.

There’s a system that is used whereby you start with 6 big powerful strokes, before ramping up the rate for 15 strokes to really get the boat moving, before settling in to slower powerful hits.

If the team is working well (aka in perfect unison whilst demonstrating a beautiful twist and rip), then you don’t need to paddle like the clappers. Some boats were only paddling at half the speed of other teams, yet were out in front. As Mark explained, a slower rate with a full buried blade, a big sit up and spot-on timing can bring home the trophy.

Off and racing!
The regatta was a lot of fun and proved to be a fantastic team building exercise. There was a lot of high-fiving, back patting and general fond words being shared throughout the day. Taryn was our official team photographer and we had a good cheer squad to back us up.

The races were 250m long (which is fairly short), and I can only relate them to a theme park ride. There seems to be a long lead up with stretches, waiting in the marshalling area, getting in to lifejackets and boats and sorting out the start line – a bit like standing in a slow moving line for the fastest roller coaster in the park. Then all of the sudden the starter horn blows, there is an explosion of paddles, noise and adrenalin, and the race is over and done with in a minute.

We competed in 4 races and came 2nd overall, only to be beaten by a (dragon) nose and around .5 of a second. The photo demonstrates how close the race was! It turns out we exceeded Captain Mark’s expectations, and probably our own.

I’m keen to keep on going with this sport. Aside from the usual physical benefits, it’s fun, being out on the water is enjoyable and it seems to be pretty social as well – which we all know I’m all for!

M

When nobblies become slicks

Tre-X Endurance was two weeks ago now and that seems like a lifetime. But looking at images and video of the event brings it all back.

The day was wet, which we were told is typical of the endurance race. I'd never ridden in wet and muddy conditions, so I was wary about the conditions. Even so, I chose to not do a practice lap before the start of the race. Retrospectively, I think that was a good idea-it would have spooked me!


Going into the race I had a simple goal. I wanted to come out of the swim feeling stronger than last time. I certainly did that. In fact, I felt stronger through the whole race and took time off my run. I finished without feeling fatigued and knew that all the work I'd put in with my trainer had paid off. Thanks Dayna and well done on your race and result!

My swim was exactly the same time as the last race. I really need to do my swim sessions without breaking every 50 metres, though!

My bike leg was a lot slower than the first race because of the mud and rain. It was so muddy that I had to stop two or three times to clean muck out of my tyres and brackets so my wheels would turn!!

Riding in mud is so different and with our climate and conditions, it's not something we get much practice at. My tyres had a thick coating of sticky mud on them part way through first lap of the mtb course. There was no tread to speak of and the ground was incredibly slippery. Most riders around me were walking their bikes through bad parts of the track. A few times I attempted to jog through it, but my feet were slipping around as much as my bike.

The rain came and went throughout the race and by the time I was on my second lap of the mtb course it seemed to have diluted the top layer of mud enough that it was no longer so sticky. I was able to stay on my bike a lot more on that lap and did a quicker time.

I felt so good the whole race and remember smiling and laughing a lot. I couldn't have been much happier when I crossed the finish line.


The guys from Phoenix Adventure were there, always smiling, helping out with advice and race tips and letting me crash their tent-a blessing given the weather! Thanks Andy, Miriam, Katherine, Shane, Alannah, Clarissa and Co and congratulations on your results!

There are so many events coming up, it's hard to keep track. I'll post a list of them soon, with links to the websites.

t

Whose silly idea was it?

Back when we registered for LunarC a couple of months ago it seemed like such a fun idea.

Sitting in (the back of) the starting line up, the idea did not seem so good any more, rather it seemed like a foolish, stupid, idiotic mistake.

People had talked to me about lights, particularly the magnificent Ayup lights. But at $300-400 a piece I wasn’t rushing out to buy one. I didn’t realise that the reason they were so focused on lights was because they are actually really important in a race run in the dark.

Funnily enough you really do want to see where you’re going, particularly when it the road is actually a narrow dirt potted track lined with trees and containing the occasional log or other obstacle. Shame.

I was woefully unprepared both mentally and physically. I knew there were hills, but I had some romantic notion that downhills leading in to some of them would propel me most of the way up - ha. The hills were horrible and I got to a stage where I didn’t even going to bother tackling them. Once I ran out of puff, instead of grinding and moaning and gasping for breath spinning like mad in granny gear, I just got off and started walking.

And as for the few hills that had a downhill lead up – I was too scared to let go of the brakes on the rutted way down, so the little momentum I had got me, if lucky, a huge 5 metres up the other side!

My first proper lap was horrid. I had never been in a race situation where you start as one big mob of riders, and the experience spooked me. I accidentally ran my bike in to a rut somewhere in the third kilometre and went over the handlebars. It wasn’t a bad stack and didn’t really hurt, even though I now possess a bruise on my leg the size of a saucer (great war wound), but it certainly knocked any confidence I had.

Also unbeknown to me at that minute, the stack had jammed my right gear leaver up so soon after I found myself stuck in 7th gear with no way down.

In my darkest moment pulled over beside the track, while trying to calm my adrenalin and scratching my head in wonderment about my sticky mechanical situation, who should show up but my trusty partner in crime, Taryn.

As usual her calm demeanour was a godsend and she helped me put the whole thing in to perspective. So we scratched our heads in wonderment in unison about my sticky mechanical situation. We poked and prodded the gears, chains and all moveable things related to my back derailer before deciding we had no f*@king idea.

So the decision was made to push on and Taryn moved ahead to ride her own race. About a kilometre later I came across the first checkpoint. A guy there had a look at the bike but was unable to help. By this stage was really hoping that the problem was unsolvable so when I got back to HQ I’d be able to pull out completely.

After this checkpoint the track got a little flatter so with the pack well ahead of me I was able start riding at a pace more suited to my skills and sticky gear situation.

I made it back HQ and went straight to the mechanics. Unfortunately the very pleasant chap had my lever fixed in seconds, so I had no excuse not to continue. I had actually started to find my form in the second half of the track and after a few words of encouragement from Taryn and the fabulous Coach Jeff I set off for my second lap.

The traffic had thinned out and I was getting use to letting faster riders past and navigating in poor lighting. Ignoring the hills, I actually started enjoying myself.

I got through 4 laps during the race, and when adding the practice lap on arrival I rode 50km that night. An effort not to be shunned, and a figure to improve on for the next night race.

M