Wrapping Up

What a trip! We made it safely back to Boston on Monday night after another full 26+ hours of travel, although traveling east meant that we landed in Boston approximately 2 hours later than we took off (according to the date/time of day).

So my previous post was written the night before our final. In terms of the racing itself, I have mixed feelings about it. It's natural to want a better result/performance, so in that sense I can't deny my disappointment. There weren't lofty medal expectations placed upon us by anyone else, or even ourselves (of course it's a goal, however), but we did have intentions of being in the hunt with a good piece. So, our 6th place (of 6) placement isn't a huge shock, but I expected and wanted to be closer to the field. In hindsight, there are certainly aspects of our preparation and planning that could've been improved, but I would not call them excuses as every athlete/team could improve something. Had everything gone perfectly for us from Trials through Worlds, we likely could've been around Brasil (5th place), but no better than that. It was a class field, and if you had told me before the race that we could beat the Italians (reigning World Champs and holders of 18 of 20 all time titles in this event) and STILL not medal, I would've laughed. So, I'm leaving not quite satisfied but with a clear conscience knowing we did what we could do on the day. All credit to the Germans who won the LM4x. It's also worth noting that almost every athlete (save for 1 member of the LM2- who still finished 5th in the A final) of the men/women German lwt squad won at least 1 medal in NZ. Phew!

After the racing, I joined Brian and our fan club who traveled across the Pacific to watch us race for a home-cooked meal (that we prepared ourselves!). The next morning (Sunday), I went tubing underground in the Waitomo Caves before catching finals in the afternoon. The trading pit formed in the boat yard sometime in the afternoon, and even though I arrived late, there were a few interesting items I picked up despite the seemingly flooded stock of US gear in the market. There was an athletes party in downtown Hamilton on Sunday evening, which seemed to start in several bars and gravitated towards "The Outback" in the center of town - it had a cowboy theme but the stages, tables, lighting, and dance music all suggested full tilt party.

On Monday, we drove up to Auckland to check out the Viaduct Harbor area (similar to Boston's Faneuil Hall, except bigger) before catching our 7:30pm flight back to LAX.

Thank you to everyone at RBC, friends & family, teammates, co-workers, chat board stalkers, who supported this trip and followed me and the fellas during our time in NZ. It was the experience of a lifetime, and I'm forever grateful. This blog helped me feel connected to folks back home, and made the experience richer and more enjoyable...not to mention it killed a bunch of time and prevented boredom from becoming a disease. I look forward to following your stories in the future!

Pete

Photos in this post:

- Outside the Wyndham Hotel in Princeton, before US Trials. That seems so long ago.

- An America's Cup Yacht from 1987 (NZ lost to the USA that year)

- Riverside Lane: road sign on the walk from the course, over the dam (Karapiro is man made in the sense that it's created because of the dam), to the B&B where the fan club of the Moms, Lib, and Pam stayed.

- View from the dam down to the hydroelectric power plant below.

- Some kid watching racing on her Dad's shoulders

- In the Auckland airport, I temporarily lost Brian and Matt, and snapped this shot from afar of them blowing the last of their NZ dollars on chocolate. Fitting.

Videos:

- From the afterparty!

Race Day

We had our best row of the trip this morning, and I'm feeling clear headed about tomorrow, expecting any conditions, and ready to leave it all on the water.

Racing at this level is an incredible opportunity that few get to experience. You don't know if or when you'll get back here, so you gotta race like it's your last chance.

Can't wait.

Finals...finally.

Having weathered a swift kick to the groin in our heat, the trip is back to fun again, and we've had some purposeful rows the past couple of days. At this point, we have to execute our race plan and be ready for any storm mother nature or the competition brings (tomorrow and Saturday look potentially ugly).

After practice the last couple of days, I've been able to catch most of the midday racing programs. Today in particular had some spectacular racing:
-In the M2-, NZ ran a clinic in dominating the top British athletes in the pair
-In the M8 rep 1, Canada let it all hang out, settling below 40spm for only about 100m in the 3rd 500, before the US and NZ went through in the final portion of the race and traded leads until the American horsepower punched first across the line.
-The M8 rep 2 was one of the best 8's races I've seen. Australia won by a canvas over the Netherlands, who just nipped the Chinese by 0.03 seconds. All 6 crews in the A final are probably within 2-3 seconds of one another on any given day, and the medals are wide open.
-Karsten showed her power yet again in the W1x over Knapkova and Emma Twigg in the semi...most likely the medals will all come from this semi.
-Drysdale, after stopping within the 100m breakage zone due to a floppy FISA sticker dragging off his boat, handed Synek is first loss of the 2010 season. However, Synek appeared composed and didn't fully press the last 500m.

Tomorrow morning, we'll go for our final race walkthrough before Saturday's final. If races are on schedule, I'll probably watch them on tv back at the hotel to rest up.

The posted video will show you the grandstand, and what the scene looks like for spectating - it will be a lot more packed Fri/Sat/Sun.

Later!

Pete

First Race

This isn't the post I want to be writing, but today was a poor showing for us. Our warm-up row and weigh-in went well, and we felt good. However, even though this was only a race for lanes, our sense of urgency was lacking, and that's not an option. So, getting a feel for what we could do in the first 1000m didn't work out so well.

For me personally, I owe it to everyone that got me here, and to myself, and to my teammates, to be better. Tomorrow's workout will focus on getting into the race with target times to hit based on the times from today's race (which will likely speed up come Saturday). If our speed in the final gets us 4th or 5th, or 6th, I can live with that if we leave it all on the course, but the frustration I'm feeling now is because we didn't...and because we've posted competitive splits on this course in the past week.

In other news, Denmark's bowman snapped his oar on the way to the start which delayed our race 40 minutes - would've been tough for them to row w/a stump.

Also, the wind forecast for thurs/fri looks worse than Monday (when races were cancelled), so there's talk of moving some of those races, but nothing confirmed yet.

Pete

Forecast is also calling for 75% chance of better posts later this wk.

Race for Lanes Tomorrow

So tomorrow morning, at 11:29, we have our race for lanes. The forecast seems decent, and I'm looking forward to seeing how we stack up against the other crews. It's always a bit of a tossup because you never know who's racing hard, or for how long. One personal memory that stands out is from the 2006 Worlds in the LM8; in that race for lanes, Poland was far back in 6th place, but came through for a medal in the final.

The other interesting fyi given recent discussions about athletes doubling up at trials/worlds/etc is that the German LM2x will race their repechage an hour before the LM4x race, which means they'll have to weighin at the end/beginning of the LM2x/LM4x weighin window. As the draw goes, they seem to have the kinder rep, so I doubt they care...but the cancelled racing yesterday does compress things for them a bit tomorrow. Don't get me wrong - they are a talented, seasoned crew, and are consistently in the medals.

Our 2nd workout was an erg - this time in the cool parking lot rather than a humid pool room. Rowing at the course would've meant staying there, mostly outdoors, all day. Resting was a nice choice.

I also enjoyed an evening tea at sunset. Pay no attention Howard Johnson esque hotel that made its way into the frame.

Until tomorrow...

Racing Postponed

Today, it was calm during my run and we snagged the 6:30 bus to the course. Our 12k workout with some blasters was great, and it wasn't until about 30 minutes after we landed that the winds picked up and created very similar whitecapping conditions to yesterday. The LM2- and LW2x finished their heats, and then the LM2x was stopped before 500m of the first heat. The plan was for FISA to announce at 3pm if racing was to resume or not, but by 2:15 it was clear that it wasn't improving and a call was made to cancel racing until tomorrow. So the LM2x's and LM4-'s will weigh in again and start around 10:15am.

Happy Halloween! There were fake tattoos distributed at dinner tonight, and I selected a spider. Our bus driver also gave out candy on the way home.

Pix today are from:
- My morning run. There's a horse racetrack about 3 minutes from the hotel.
- Our coach, Guenter Beutter ("G-Man"), with Brian
- Outside the USA tent before racing was canceled. Athletes stretching, mostly. The atmosphere this morning was a LOT quieter, more serious...racing is here!

Also, I tried a video today! It shows the course, docks, and boat yard from the deck of the athlete restaurant.

Pete

Choppy Water and Ergs

My pre-breakfast routine usually includes a short before stretching, and today was the first time it's been anything but "excrutiatingly" perfect weather. Actually, it was just a bit breezy, but the tail wind's effect on the course resulted in pretty gnarly whitecaps that forced a course closure until 10:15am. We arrived at 7:45 and watched conditions before calling it a day and catching the 10am shuttle back. The course was technically open, but the water looked just as ugly. The planned workout was a controlled rate 2k, which we instead did on the ergs back at the hotel in the pool room - not quite as pleasant (or cool) as rowing outdoors, but overall this was expected given normal springtime weather, and I'm glad this is only the first day of conditions-related land training.

On a side note, motorsports appear very popular in NZ, and with countless auto dealers around the hotel, I can't help but notice they're all very appealing to the male 18-34 demographic. Most cars have at least 2 extra cylinders than their size would suggest, and there are turbos and superchargers all over the place. Even the station wagons are cool, as Brian models in the photo of the www.wetandforget.co.nz car (it's a household exterior moss remover, like garage doors - I'm sure many of you had your mind on gutters:).

Because of the early return to the hotel, I didn't catch the opening ceremony. Racing starts tomorrow, and we'll stick around after our morning row to watch some heats. Conditions could be pretty similar tomorrow, so practice and racing should be interesting to say the least.

Later!

Background Info, etc.

It's another beauty of a day in NZ.

With the training/eating/sleeping settling into a rhythm, I figure this is a good opportunity to mention how this composite quad (of GMS Rowing Center and RBC) came together and introduce the guys in the boat.

Starting with yours truly, Riverside has been home since 2003. Since joining, I've had the privilege of rowing around the US, in Canada, England, Italy, and Israel. My personal favorite moments are too numerous to list, but racing at trials and eventually Worlds in the 2006 RBC LM8 in was pretty up there. On the same note, missing the same sweep boat in 2007 was pretty tough, but it made me want to race internationally again. I thought a quad might be a better fit for me, so I began monthly weekend trips to GMS because of their sculling focus while still training at RBC almost every day.

The 2010 GMS/RBC trials boat of Brian Tryon (pictured above on beanbag chairs), myself, Todd Mickelson, and Matt Carey, was selected in September based on results from pieces in quads, singles, and on ergs down in CT. After winning US Trials on Oct 2nd, we've had a few weekend camps, bought some long haul plane tickets, and now we're psyched to be in NZ for our longest stretch of consecutive practices as a crew. Hopefully there's more speed to find.

Brian is the crotchety old Purdue alum of the crew at 33 yrs old (oldest on the team...and the room of Pete/Brian is the oldest avg age room with the lowest maturity level) Consequently, he sits in bow and tells the rest of us what to do. Brian attempted to make the US Team for almost 10 years after college before making the '09 and '10 LM4x, so he never takes anything for granted and knows a thing or 2 about seizing an opportunity when it presents itself. His day job entails designing jet engines, and I won't be surprised if someday he straps one onto his 1x stern deck.

Todd quietly dominated quad selection after a 2+ year stint working as a civil engineer in Seattle following his U23 LM2x trip in 2007. As a young eligible bachelor, Todd serves as our scapegoat ("Sorry - have you met Todd?!?) to deflect harsh feelings during any on-water entanglements with female crews on the crowded course. Look out for this Lehigh grad in the future.

Matt is a stoic firecracker, and he'll let you know if things aren't moving in the right direction. His routine Pavlovian responses to the boat launching process are 2nd to none, so we allot an extra few minutes in case he needs to run back to the team tent or WC. Matt rowed out of RBC in 2009 and 2010 in a 2x with member Dave Smith and reluctantly admits that Boston is cool. He also raced at the 2007 U23's, and hails from Weslyan.

Other random news tidbits:
- Tomorrow afternoon is the opening ceremony, and if the weather's nice I'll stick around to snap some photos
- Today the first 500 meters of the course were closed down for practice starts off the blocks. This was also the first day where the lower portion of the lake is closed off to long distance training. Until now, this area offered an additional 5k of rowing away from traffic, along the shore with cliffs and palm trees adding to the visual experience.
- In Matt Muffelman's event (Lightweight Men's 8), despite only 5 entries, it will be a brutal fight. The Australians have prioritized the LM8 and have no other lightweight men racing. The Germans and Chinese are putting their lightweight fours into their 8's, and Italy are the defending champs. Matt's blog can be found here:
http://shivspix.com/usa/team-usa/matt-muffelmans-new-blog/
- Esther, racing in the Women's 8, is also blogging. She more high tech than I am.
http://usrowing2010nz.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-training-more-teams-arriving.html
- Yesterday, the grocery store had free samples of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate. I'm now the proud owner of a berry fruit and vanilla shortcake "bar of plenty."

Racing begins this Saturday (Eastern Time) and runs through next Saturday (Eastern Time). Race coverage info:

My heat (race for lanes) in Lightweight Men's Quad is next Monday at 6:47pm (Eastern Time), with final on Friday at 9:33pm (Eastern Time).
Matt's heat (race for lanes) in Lightweight Men's Eight is next Tuesday at 6:41pm, with final on Saturday at 9:33pm (Eastern Times).

Results can be found at www.fisa.org
Streaming video (for finals only, next Th-Sat) can be found at: http://fisa.feedroom.com/

Word,

Pete

Wednesday

Hello! Today's (minor) adventure was accredidation, which meant getting photos for athlete ID cards that will get us into the venue from here on on out. Photos only took a few minutes, and the RBC hat made its way into the pic.

After lunch (salmon, kale, potatoes, salad bar), Matt and I snapped a photo en route to the "Kiss and Cry Zone" - the Kiwis have thought of everything:)

In the quad practice this morning (only 1 row today!), we did a longer piece at race pace. It was our first race pace work in NZ, and it pretty much knocked me on my ass. BUT, an erg cooldown, followed by nutella sandwich, and massage from the trainer had me on my way.

This trip kicks ass.

More Company!

Another day in the record books. More teams are rolling into town, and the boat yard, food lines, and course are all filling up.

This morning, we caught the early shuttle and rowed twice before lunch. After the first row, we chilled out in the "athlete's tent." We played connect 4, and I won most of the games. It was sweet. Napping in a bean bag chair is as good as it sounds.

Attached are a few pics of the lounge, the boat yard, and the COURSE! It's beautiful. The course pic is taken from the deck of the restaurant that overlooks the finish line. Not a bad life!

My internet time is about to expire, so more to follow tomorrow.

Pete

Lay of the Land

First - SOME PHOTOS!
Interesting Signs:
- Boston in NZ (look at store name)
- Cheerleading classes, anyone?

- View of boat racks and athlete restaurant
- Inside the athlete restaurant (at table, right to left, is Matt, Todd, Brian of my boat, and then Jimmy Sopko of the LM8)

- Boat containers and the rigging party
- Brand new oars already painted red/white/blue!
- Customs at the airport had a special lane for us

Onto today's update. Most of the team agreed that last night was the deepest sleep we've had in recent memory. I slept 11 hours, which was great. (Jet lag is useful for sleeping?)

This morning there was a shuttle to the course at 10am. It's about 45 minutes to Lake Karapiro from the hotel in Hamilton. It was calm and sunny and in the 60's - perfect weather. Traffic in all practice lanes were packed. Brian, our bowman, did well to avoid crews who act like only children; some never learned to share in a confined space.

Unsurprisingly, our rowing was night and day better than yesterday. Cobwebs are shaking off, and we're feeling out our boat stroke by stroke. We just did a few laps in the morning and a couple in the afternoon, but things are moving along.

In between rows, lunch was provided at the athlete restaurant next to the boat yard. The food was amazing. My favorites were the lamb, and cinnamon-topped carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting.

Before dinner tonight, I strolled to the nearest supermarket (about 20' walk) to get some snacks. Trail mix, for the good stuff, is about $25/kg - makes Whole Foods seem like Costco.

Tomorrow, we'll get on an early schedule and take a 7am bus and return after lunch.

Interesting factoid: Guenter, our coach, overheard a race organizer talking to a helicopter pilot. Apparently, there will be remote control miniature helicopters with HD cameras covering the races! The pilots know little about rowing, so the organizer was making sure the copters don't interfere.

Pete

Arrival Day

We've arrived safely! The US Team and all the familiar RBC faces were on the same flight from LAX. Surprisingly, 27 hours from RBC to the hotel in Hamilton, NZ didn't seem ALL that bad. The hotel in Hamilton is pretty modest, but the food is decent, and everyone is extremely friendly.

This will be a quick post both because I'm using a coin-op internet kiosk at the hotel and some jet lag.

Sun and clean air greeted us when we left the airport, and it was ideal conditions at the course for boat rigging and a quick spin on the course. There was a slight snafu and our quad wasn't actually shipped with any riggers. This would've been disastrous, but we lucked out BIG time because the lightweight women's quad just happened to take 4 additional Hudson riggers on the plane with them. Photos to follow, but this is a very scenic course. Also, rumors of large attendance during race week seem very believable because the temporary grand stand (still under construction) looks to hold 10 or 20 thousand people. It's HUGE.

To everyone racing this weekend at the Head of the Charles...GO FAST!!

1 More Sleep!

Hello everyone! (or...anyone? Mom? Dad?) This is my first attempt at blogging, so bear with me.

It's hard to type when you're this excited about something.

Tonight, I'll bust out my last 540 bench pull (and some other stuff) lifting session of the season. Tomorrow, the rest of the quad (Brian Tryon in bow, Todd Mickelson in 3, and Matt Carey in stroke...I am in 2 seat) will arrive at RBC around lunch time, and we'll do a final 2k piece on the water before heading to Logan for our 6pm flight to LA, followed by a 13 hr flight to Auckland on the North Island of New Zealand for the 2010 World Rowing Championships! (Take a breath)

Entries were posted today, and in the LM4x, there are 6 crews. This means there will be a race for lanes on Tuesday, Nov 2nd (that's Monday, Nov 1st in Boston) and then Final A with all 6 crews on Saturday, Nov 6th - so, it looks like we'll make the A final:) Alas, it gets tougher from here. In our race is a slew of powerhouse sculling teams. There is Italy (the perennial champions), Denmark (who has been nipping at Italy's heels this season), Germany (comprised of accomplished athletes & Olympians who were also selected to race the LM2x, LM1x, LM2-, and LM8+ in this same regatta), France (France), and Brazil (do you know how many kilometers you can row on the Amazon!?!?).

Signing off for now, and I'll post again on Saturday after our 24+ hour trip to freakin' NZ!!

Next up will be a quick intro to the rest of the crew and how we got to this point.

Pete

P.S. THANK YOU to everyone that has supported this trip! The fundraising effort so far has been incredible, and the RBC community and environment is an amazing thing to be a part of every day. The donation site can be found here: http://www.riversideboatclub.com/product.aspx?p=179