what up what up what up

what up my peeps, sorry it's been a WHILE! Prob like over a week or so. 

The skinny is that we're rowing a ton! Averaging over 30k a day, which is pretty awesome. We've also been erging a bit b/c the way the water is here, when it rains (as it has...A TON) they lock up the dam and our water level actually gets lower... so, we end up dodging rocks and stuff which blows, but hopefully the nice folks who run the dam will allow us to have a bit more of that h2o that we love so much. 

We found out today that we're racing at elite nationals... which is awesome, very excited about that, should be some gooood competition - other gms 4x, a usrowing 4x, and a riverside 4x. should be some really fast racing. anyway - excited. 

As a sidenote, things in "the white house" which, is literally, the white house we all live in... is going great. the guys here for the camp are awesome, we are this pack of 5 ridiculous, hungry, lightweights who are bro-in and row-in... constantly. 

Another side note, the past couple of days we've been rowing one of the only fluidesign quads in the world, which is interesting... We loved the boat the first time we rowed it, but have since found the boat to be very very susceptible to rotational torque, which leads to a wierd flexing of the boat when not all the rowers are in the same lateral plane, if that makes sense. In essence the boat twists. Wierd. The boat has serious speed and low drag but isn't so forgiving. 

I'll try to keep you guys posted more frequently. for now... i'm outie.

-pete

day 1

What up my peeps.... so, day one, complete!

Let me start by saying that the water here is fucking awesome, i mean FUCKING AWESOME. We went out for a row this afternoon after our organizational meeting. The row was about an hour long - 14k in the 1x, nothing better; well, except perhaps, for the fact that i only had to turn around once. That was just the tip of the iceburg; rumor has it, there is about 22k of continuous stuff round these parts. 

Allow me to paint the picture for you:

There are five of us, supposedly one guy may not be coming.

First row, i get assigned to the 1x, a filippi hw single... took a bit of adjusting, but after a quick change in foot stretcher position things began to pick up. 

Off the dock, we are a pack of two mens 2x, two womens 1x , 1 mens 1x. 

The doubles take off and as I make my adjustments. I'm ready to go after a bit of work and take the first of 3 gradual turns as I make my way toward the first bridge. Passing under the 'railroad' bridge the path narrows quite a bit, and as I notice the reverberation of my oarlocks I take a peak around. I am literally rowing between 40ft cliffs on either side. As my good buddy Chris Clark says, its like rowing in the Lord of the Rings, seriously, Frodo.

After about 1k of trippy, awesome, gorge rowing, the course opens up into a gently winding, lushly green, lake. As I make my way through the course on a flat lake, though my roommate Mike (a local, who rowed here as a junior) claims this was a windy day. I have a bit of trouble believing how awesome this place is. As I near about 3/4 of the way out, the launch catches up, and I get some good coaching from Gunter. I row a few more minutes then turn, my body taking the single home, while my mind was floating somewhere up in cloud nine.... haha, ok, you get the point. 

Anyway, this place is an awesome place to row, I am literally living in a closet, with a roomate. 

enough space for a bunk bed and a walkway..... 

Living the dream. 

Caffeinated pre-camp meditations...ha

It is wednesday, humpday, and as a I lay around the house more and more, and begin to pack for camp, the more I get that holy shit feeling. It's crazy that this is actually about to go down, and I am excited, and ready. I spoke with Gunter, my to-be coach for the first time yesterday and it was very cool to think that things are becoming more and more real. I'm likely shipping out on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning for CT and I found I'll be living in the "white house," a house on GMS's property, sounds like rowing camp to me ha. For now, more packing, trying not to hold my breath, and getting ready to lay it on the line MOFO!

ha