YouTube ramblings - ten videos that have almost nothing to do with anything

You know. You do it too.  Everyone does it. And it feels good...
Start with one simple "I remember when [insert band] did 'x'", find it on YouTube, and then let free association (plus YouTube suggestions) steer you around until you've wasted a whole cold, rainy evening.  And unless you were supposed to be finishing a project or studying for exams, you are usually better off than if you'd spent the evening with your face glued to the TV.

So let's begin:

• The Weight - now it's without question that The Band did *the* best version in the film The Last Waltz, but a sidebar search finds Gillian Welch and Old Crow Medicine Show doing a great cover.
• Loretta - an old Townes Van Zandt song covered by Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and Norah Jones
• For a dancer - the Jackson Browne hit covered by James Dupre
• E3 Harelbeke - no, it's not a song.  It's one of the spring classics bike races, another opportunity for the hard men to shine.
• Road Bike Party 2 - Martyn Ashton (and friends) incredible stunt riding on a _road bike_
• Red Bull Planica 400m - What do you do with a ski jump hill in the summertime?  Race *up* it. What else?
• And over the mountains
• Down the gentle river at the Adidas Sickline
• And on flatwater with the Hungarian K4 at the London Olympics
• And what tour would be complete without Guilty Dogs???

Spring Break road trip recap PT 1

The last week has been a blur.  In one part of my life, I coach a group of young athletes in the sport of flatwater sprint canoe and kayak racing.  During the local school break window, I took several of these athletes to visit another club in Georgia - Lanier Canoe Kayak Club.  LCKC has epitomized a lot of what I like about this sport for young athletes.  Lots of young people doing something outdoors and as a group, without having to have a specific talent/skill/strength level to enjoy the sport.
We drove 20 hours pretty much straight through, trading drivers often and stopping as needed for food, gas (lots of gas) and nature.  The last time I did this, the athletes were a year older on average, and seemed to be more 'seasoned' as travelers.  We'd stop for gas, they'd pile out, check straps on the trailer, hit the bathroom, grab food, and be curled up asleep again before the tank filled.  Not this time.  I'd be tanked, straps checked myself, and have been to the bathroom by the time they got out of the truck.  OK, maybe not really, but it seemed like it.
The week started out with a clear blue day, a bit of paddling, and dinner with our incredible host families.  And went straight downhill from there.  Rain, rain, cool, wind, and cold water set the stage for the first couple of days.  We did paddle every single day, did strength training, and even a little mall ratting (the kids, not me!).  But it was pretty miserable being out in 45 degree mist and light rain - especially in a low stability boat.  We did get some good, even hard workouts, and started seeing personalities and abilities emerge.  Over the course of 5 days, I got to see a lot of good things about each athlete, and especially got to see a lot of improvement on some.  One of the athletes had never really sat in any kind of ICF kayak before this week, and over 7 days made incredible jumps in stability and power.
The last couple of days were great. The weather was beautiful, and while we had some hard sessions, we also had some unexpected things.  Low point - they managed to flip the 'unflippable' C4, much to the delight of the LCKC athletes, and the embarrassment of the two great sports who agreed to teach them high kneel in the C4.  Great fun, cool water, and a lot of laughter *after* the fact.
On Friday, I felt like they'd done a *lot* of really good work, overcome some trials, and needed a really positive last full day. So when they got back from lunch, they met the K4 for the first time.  For those  not familiar, a K4 is 35 feet long, about 20" wide, and with an elite team can pull a water skier!  In short, fast and sleek.  They managed to all get in without swimming, so off they went.  8K later, and they were singing, chattering, and generally enjoying being out there.  And then just for pure fun, we went out on SUPs for the first time as well.  All in all, a good end to the week. Except...
There was this race that they were supposed to do, and nobody was really thrilled about paddling 10K in a K1 (on their first week all season).  So we talked about it, and they agreed that the K4 might be possible.  It was.  They finished ahead of all the experienced K2s, and had a ball.  Medals, pictures, lots of smiles and a 20 hour ride home.  Great week.

My eternal thanks to the staff, coaches and especially parents and hosts who put us up down in Gainesville. You made a good trip into a memory!

USA Canoe/Kayak Coaches Conference

Another year, another ski race missed due to the annual coaching conference!  Not a big deal.  I know my personal interests have shifted from coaching and racing XC to more single focus on coaching paddlers.

This year's conference was split into a coule of major areas for me: Paracanoe, Physiology/psychology of racing, and technique.  And some sessions on the what's going on with USA Canoe/Kayak, the OKC venue and such.  All good stuff, and well worth attending.  I only found a couple of sessions hard to stay focused, and that was more an issue with me fighting the back side of bad URI.

So to accentuate the positives:
The always impressive Dr Neil Fleming of Ireland and Indiana on energy systems and matching training for different events.  Neil is a great speaker, and understands paddling from an athlete's point of view.
Shaun Spanbauer, USOC nutritionist on eating for competition. Pretty basic nutritional stuff if you've been around coaching for a while, but it was nice to see his talk reinforce the same points Neil made - and Neil challenged him a couple of times as well - it made for really good dialog, not lively debate.  Bottom line - as a junior, supplements will do a lot less for you than focused training.
Good presentations by OKC staff strength coach and psychologist.

Best presentation of the conference for me was Megan Blunk, a paracanoe athlete who won two silver medals at Worlds last year.  Megan is a typical college student athlete, she just happens to be in a chair.  She plays hoops for Illinois (and Team USA), and paddles for Gig Harbor (and Team USA). She gave her first ever public speech to the group, and while certainly not a hostile crowd, it took a lot to get up there and essentially bare her soul to an audience.   I was moved to tears.  She is an amazing young woman.

And a big Mahalo to everyone who came, presented or helped set this up. It takes a lot of work to do so, and I'm glad to have been there.

Lowlights:
Having a hacking cough wears you out, so I passed on stepping out for drinks and socializing after work.  It was already late, and the noise level in Toby Keith's is absurd most of the time.

Airport food:
The good - Cheese Steak at Charley's Philly Grill - actually, quite good.  Well seasoned, cooked to order. Fries were perfect. Service was quick and friendly.
The bad - Salt Lick in OKC main terminal.  I've eaten at multiple Salt Lick locations over the years, including at the Austin airport.  Salt Lick does brisket and sausage pretty well, and pretty consistently.  This is definitely an outlier.  Warmish meat, limp fries, mediocre service.  I'll go to Schlotzky's next time.

OKC - I'll do a whole post sometime on how I became a huge booster of Oklahoma City.  Oklahoma is the reddest of the red, and yet they have levied civic improvement taxes on themselves 3 consecutive times.  This has built the convention center, arena, minor league ball park, downtown improvements, parks, the boathouse district - and all paid for the day each item breaks ground.
This year  permanent, retractable lane markers and buoys. Lighting and audio improvements, better scoreboard, improved access.  Lots of 'icing on the cake' items before Marathon Worlds in September.
Next year - opening of the Whitewater Center!!! Directly adjacent to the flatwater course, it'll be the only such venue in the world.  That will add a new restaurant, venue building, and other cool amenities.