Lord of the Fork

So last weekend Ty and I made another pilgrimage up to Kentucky/Virginia to paddle in the Lord of the Fork. The Lord of the Fork history and facts can be found here (http://www.russellfork.info/race.htm). So this was personally my first time in a "extreme" race. As we got to the start line and after a warm up lap I was feeling pretty well and looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead in trying to speed down some difficult rapids. I was starting in the back of the pack and paddling a short boat where as 47 out of 57 racers were in long boats so I started out knowing I was going to have to keep it clean to do well. Thus I set my goal as not losing and having as clean a run as possible. Considering it was my first extreme race it went pretty well with all but one line being pretty clean. Had a little melt down to undercut incident as i got a bit further left on the boof at the third drop of triple drop almost lost my paddle in that incident but was able to keep a hand on it and roll her back up and get a victory fist pump before taring back off towards the finish line. It was a great experience being able to compete and really is as described in the green race video a whole different experience then fast runs with friends when you know that you are truly getting after it alone. It is also a very fulfilling experience to know what you have conquered after thinking about it for so long. In-fact the high of racing still has yet to wear off but that is also due in part to leaving for CHILE in a few days. So here in a short while you can expect to see some lovely goods from Chile as long as we can keep ourselves out of a good bit of trouble. Have a good one and stay safe Paul
By the way the Lord of the Fork results are here:
http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk/1052320196/

heres a parting shot from El Horrendo