rain, racing, and the remix 100

It finally rained! This was a really exciting week in Johnson City. I started with 5 Watauga laps on Wednesday and Thursday, a Linville double on Friday, and topped it off with a great day of racing on the Russell Fork Saturday. But first, a boat review is in order.


This is Liquidlogic's newest creation, the Remix 100. I was given the opportunity to test it out on race day in Elkhorn City. This boat is absolutely massive. At nearly 12 feet long and 100 gallons it is a true speed demon. To put the picture in perspective, I am 6'4" tall. The first thing I noticed about the 100 is it's ability to boof. Most long boats pencil, slowing forward momentum. The first rapid on the Fork, Tower, is a 5 foot tall, wet boof. There is no rock to assist the paddler in landing flat, but the 100 landed flat as a pancake, skipping over the hole. Triple Drop is always the hardest rapid in the Lord of the Fork Race. I am used to being under water from the neck down in Second and Third Drops, but Saturday I did not even get my skirt wet. The boat is a lot to handle in flat water. It is fast and accelerates quickly, but when I let it get away from me on the eddy lines, it went quick. This weekend I will put it to the test on the Green.

T Dub was in the house on Saturday. Congrats to Toby, who cruised into first once again. The top five spots were as follows: 1. Toby MacDermott 2. Geoff Calhoun 3. Matt Walker 4. Adam Herzog 5. Bryan Kirk. Huge thanks to Woody, Shane, John, and the rest of the crew at Liquidlogic for coming through with the 100. Those guys put a lot of effort into getting the boats to Kentucky in time for the race. Thanks to Jay Ditty and the Elkhorn locals for putting on the best extreme race/party in the country. Congrats, Jay, on setting the C1 course record in a 30 year old glass boat.

Race training consisted of a Linville double the day before the event. Drew Austell and I left Johnson City at 4:45 a.m. to get a full day of paddling.

We hiked down with head lamps and waited for the sun to come up. Here's Drew scouting Babel tower by camera flash.

The level was 2.4 on the first run and slightly lower on the second. This slot is a good indicator for The Cave rapid downstream. If you can't hit the boof river left in the slot, don't run the entrance to The Cave. If this one is no problem, The Cave entrance slide is good to go. Both lines come in around 2.6. This picture was taken on our second run (2.3ish).

birmingham

Alenda has almost completed medical school. She graduates in May 2008 (congrats, Alenda), and she has decided to specialize in neurology. The application process is complex and daunting. Residency programs interview applicants and rank each one. The applicants rank the programs. On "match day" a computer is going to tell us where we are spending the next four years. I am going to visit as many of the potential towns as possible while she interviews. I am going to give each city a rating, on a 1 to 10 scale, for outdoor lifestyle. I hope to do something hardcore in each town. Last week we went to Birmingham, Alabama.


While Alenda was interviewing I went to Oak Mountain State Park. Oak Mountain is 30 minutes from downtown Birmingham, and it contains 50 to 60 miles of trails. The terrain is a combination of technical single track and old roads. The trails are well maintained and well marked. I ran a 17 mile loop known as the Double Oak Trail that is maintained by the local mountain biking group.

The section I ran looked like great mountain biking. The first five miles of the loop is old, dirt road. The rest is singletrack like this.

Wildlife was plentiful at Oak Mountain. I saw this owl (upper right hand corner) hanging out in the trees. Birmingham is a great place to live for outdoor enthusiast. Mountain biking, running and paddling opportunities are plentiful. Little River Canyon, a classic class V river that runs frequently, is an easy hour and a half drive. Due to sketchy road biking and pretty flat terrain, I give it a seven out of ten.

Johnson City is a hard act to follow for outdoor living. It is one of the most underrated towns in the East. I took this shot and the ones below on road cycling routes over the last few weeks.

This is the Doe River Gorge (background) as seen from Johnson City. The Doe contains 5 miles of continuous, Colorado style class IV and IV+ whitewater. This scenic overlook is a ten minute bike ride from my house.

Buffalo Mountain overlooks Johnson City. It contains 10 to 15 miles of singletrack as well as 15+ miles of ATV trails. JC earns an 8.5 for the high density of whitewater, trails, and quality biking in the vicinity.

my favorite time of year...russell fork season

Known as the "Grand Canyon of the South", the Russell Fork is one of my all time favorite rivers. Ten years ago some old school boaters took me down for the first time. It changed my life. At the time I was still doing a lot of park & play, and downriver class IV stuff. I had only dabbled in big hair. One weekend on the Fork and I wanted gnar all the time.

Caleb Paquette is the man. I owe most of my big water Johnson City days to this guy. Here he is charging through Fist.

Cooper Lambla got some race practice on Saturday. He was looking strong speeding through Fist in a Wave Sport Excell. He will be a contender in this years Lord of the Fork Race.

No matter how many times I run Tower and Fist, they always give me butterflies. This is the Fist rock, a place I never want to see up close.

On Sunday, Coop took his Riot Nitro for some downriver play. This is a ledgewheel sequence from El Horrendo.

We logged five runs in two days. It was a great weekend with many memorable moments including big downtime at Third Drop, shorty tops, and catching the water both days. Don't bother putting on before noon this year. The pools are taking longer than usual to fill due to nonexistent natural flow. It was my first day in the Grande on some real water, and it felt really good. The boat is predictable, stable and easy to figure out.

Last week I did some flat water training on Boone Lake and got a nice shot along the shore.