I should admit that preparing for the Yukon has so far been quite a long way from the mullet-tastic neon wonder-world of “Fun House”, but the postitive aspects of training have definitely been more prominent of late. It has just become all-round more fun training, for several reasons.
The weather is pretty key - it’s wonderfully warm even when raining. I know this isn’t what we’re going to find in the Yukon, but it has made getting in and out of wet clothes about 90% less depressing. Paddling is now only 4.6% pants; a marked improvement.
We’ve also worked out how to paddle in time, and we spend a lot less time struggling with the boat. I even got a surf from a passing motor boat the other day - jolly kind of him to give me a bit of a morale-booster :-).
Most important, however, is the fact that our bodies have got used to the training, and as we’re cutting back from the long endurance runs I’ve been feeling energetic. Bunny is back…
So I thought it best to blog once more after a fair sized break from the blog; sitting here on my night off from the gym, eating another ridiculously large portion of pasta I’ve been feeling a little guilty about our inactivity on what should be our diary of progress (great or small).
In the absence of any other interesting things to say, I thought I’d give an overview of what we’ve been up to over the last few weeks. Although we took a weekend off from training (surf kayaking) to try and stay in touch with friends, we’ve completed several milestones in our schedule. We’ve entered the phase of our training in which we try to work up some endurance, and we’ve completed our first real long-distance paddle; a 6 hr slog down to Greenwich against the current and back again. Click to read more …
We started a little memory game to relieve the boredom while paddling. What it proved was Pete and I have no short-term memory. Fortunately a bout of insomnia last nite finally produced the final list that we struggled so hard on Sunday to remember.
BEFORE WE GO TO THE YUKON WE HAVE TO
- Train
- Pad out boat and fix footrests
- Learn how to answer mother nature from the boat
- Work out what food to eat
- Get a coach
- Work out flights to Canada and then to Whitehorse
- Work out what to drink
- Look at the rules and work out a boat inventory
- Learn to roll the K2
- Learn to steer the K2
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