Hey Guys,

For those interested in adventure racing I thought I would let you know of an awesome one I just did this weekend.
Its called Caffeinated and is a 24hr adventure race with kayaking, Mt biking and running/orienteering/bush bashing.

A good fun 7.5(ish) km stretch of the Blackwood from Bridgetown. Geegleup Cup is the DR State Champs, but open to many classes. Good fun weekend!

Organiser and details
Wildwater WA
Race Details

Robyn's notes
Good notes
Thanks Robyn, love the site!

River Level Update

Hello all,

Doing our first Avon Descent this year (515) and would really like people's opinions on what are the best things to do on this the final weekend (given the water levels that is).

We have done Northam to Toodyay; and a couple of runs from Walyunga to Bells and a little beyond. Otherwise, we are both unfamiliar with the rest of the course.

What other sections (if any) are doable and worth doing this weekend?

If none, where would you be going instead?

P.S.
To preempt - yes - we have already started practicing running with our bath tub, I mean kayak.

A general forum for footage of any sort of Avon training ... preferably rapids ... good or bad lines.

Just an invitation to any paddlers who would like to join a paddling group.
We meet on Wednesday nights at Garret rd Bridge in Bayswater at 6PM. We've started with a 12km paddle and will build up over the comming weeks. Ave speed is 9km/hr so its a steady pace but we do throw some sprints in. I would love to see other 'wave hoppers' join in but other plastics are welcome. The focus will be creating a group that will then stay together for valley runs and T Tree practise. Hope to see you there.

Just thought I'd share this...

I just got my 'new' paddle. Well sort of... the angle was all wrong for me so I had paddle cut in half and this little insert thing that allows me to freely adjust the blade angle/offset and the length of the paddle... it's awesome. I found that i need an angle of 60 rather than 72 which was my old angle (it's a huge difference).

I'm 6ft on the dot and I'm liking 214cm length at the moment on my spirit racing ski on the river :)

cheers
Pete

what are your clothing recommendations to keep dry and/or warm on a cold winters day on the river?

OK, for our Perth readers, it is stating the obvious that it's been hot lately.

So, the question is raised 'How do you adapt your training for heat?'

A couple of points to start with.

Drink lots of water before, during and after training. While most Perth paddlers train in salty conditions, this means it is important to drink during your session. Training in the heat is different for paddlers when compared to sports such as running. We can generally still train in the heat, however as I've mentioned, make sure you drink. Test out your Avon drink system... it's a really good test!

To celebrate it being 30 weeks until the next Avon (or so),I've listed here the links to the 10 week training program (and also 'cos a reader asked me to do it...)

Just follow this cycle 3 times, with a 'serious' race at the end of each cycle. The third cycle will need to be altered a little depending on when, or if it rains.

Week 1.
Week 2.
Week 3.

I've been a believer in setting one or two major goals, and then a few more minor ones. Then you also need to be in the habit of doing club races on a regular basis. This becomes part of the basic formula for learning to race and eventually becoming good at it! Good racing does not happen by accident, even for the elite of the paddling world: you have to work at it.