We have been pretty quiet this fall as I, Mike, have been spending mucho tiempo with my family. My wife, Franny Perez, gave birth to our daughter on October 16th. We named her Camille. The other project has been helping prepare hosting US Wildwater Nationals on the Skagit in 2010. They will be held July 31 & Aug 1. Rich has been in his K-1 a bit, and I have been recovering from a case of sciatica. Picking up my 30 pound 2 year old, during a tantrum, takes its toll. I have managed to spend some time lifting weights and working out on my paddling machine. We are very excited about hosting and racing on the Skagit.

Fixed Gear Bikes for Wildwater Cross Training

With the Nationals behinds us and no big races until next year, Rich and I have not spent as much time in the C-2 as we did this spring. We did do some runs on the North Fork of the Nooksack in creek boats. It was nice to let the boat go sideways to the river for a change. We both put in maintenance time in our wildwater K-1 and C-1s on flat water. One other piece of cross training has been on bikes. Rich has been on Galbraith Mountain on his mountain bike, and I, Mike, have put in some miles on my fixed gear road bike.

With a fixed gear bike, the peddles never stop. They are in constant, direct drive with the rear wheel. there is also only one speed. Usually, this is a high gear. This forces you ride fast and to attack hills at speed so you don't get bogged down.It is a fun, simple type of biking.

While riding this summer, I noticed some parallels between paddling wildwater boats and peddling fixed gear bikes. First of all, the forward action never stops. You never glide down a hill on the fixed gear bike as you never rest on a brace in a wildwater boat. Both tend to be built for speed. Wildwater boats handle much better at speed. With the gearing of most fixed gear bikes, you tend to ride them fast. In climbing hills, you have to stand up and stomp or get off and walk. I also like the simplicity of the gear in both sports. If you can get on a fixed gear bike, go for it. This is one of the better sites explaining fixed gear bikes-http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html

2009 U.S. Wildwater C-2 Champions

This is the first post of the Wildwater C-2 team, Rich Roehner and Mike Baker. The purpose of this blog is to share our experiences training and racing Wildwater C-2. Our hope is that this may be helpful to those that are interested, new or experienced in Wildwater racing. The date of this post coincides with the 2009 National Champions listed -

www.daveyhearn.com/US%20Team%20Alumni/National%20Champions/national_wildwater_champions.htm

The C-2 races at 2009 Wildwater Nationals were the tightest we have ever been in. The C-2 teams of Nic Borst/Chris Wiegand and Rob Murphy/Jon Pinyerd are formidable competitors. 3 of 4 of these paddlers are former national champions. In the sprints, Nic and Chris were only 1.68 % or 3.5 seconds behind us. Rob and Jon had a swim on their second run. On the classic, Rob and Jon beat us by 1.32% or 16 seconds. They were effectively out of the Overall Championship title from the swim in the Sprint. We had to have a good run in comparison with Nic and Chris in the Classic. We were only o.43% faster or 5.28 seconds in a 20 minute race. Close indeed!

The Junior C-2 team of Gaudet/Kieft gave there best in their debut in a National Championships. They had a few tough swims, but kept at it. We wish Patrick and Charlie well in the Junior World Championship this summer!