We're still not sure what Wenlock is supposed to represent...

Some things are slightly different, though, like the...interesting Olympic mascots at the 1,000m mark wearing GB unisuits!

But once we're on the water, it's just our normal training and racing and getting ready to have the best races of our lives! Taylor, my lovely pair partner, shows off the view from my seat!

Between practices, we've been grabbing meals at the course, which has great food and beautiful views of the finish line of the racing!

The Village also has a great training room for both us and the Olympic kayakers and canoeists, who will be racing the week after us. The pair and I got in some off-the-water training after getting to watch the awesome racing on the last day of the Tour de France!

That's all for now from us getting ready to race. We're dialed in on our race preparations and practicing, which doesn't make for the most exciting blog posts, but which does make for all of us getting to the line knowing how prepared and focused we are on the work we've come here to do.

Team USA is almost all here now--the men's four and quad will be here tomorrow--and it is really exciting to be here, all together, getting ready to represent our country for the big one! Can't wait. Go USA!

-Esther

Harder.Better.Faster.Stronger

Today was definitely the nicest day we've had here so far - I think the fact that this "summer" has been miserable even by English standards has been pretty well publicized, but to be honest we've really lucked out the past few days, with very little rain, and today was as nice as it's been. We even needed our sunglasses for our morning row, and Nick may have been spotted in a tank top. This morning was a good session, somewhat harder work than we've done yet over here (the exact nature of which won't be posted online but it isn't really that interesting anyway) with Volp's other children, the heavy pair. Then the afternoon off and tomorrow morning as well before we get back to it.

It's starting to become noticeably more crowded here, although the volunteers, police officers, and soldiers (paratroopers today with red berets and jump wings) still seem to far outnumber the athletes. However the morning bus to the course (they run hourly) is now not one but two, and both full. Additionally, we have a few new arrivals to our section of the boat storage area. All the smaller boats (1 and 2 people) are kept in one "forrest" of boat racks, to the left of the boathouse, and the 8's are stored in the boathouse itself. The 4 person boats (men's fours, heavy and light, and men's and women's quads) are stored to the right of the boathouse. Up until this morning, it had been just our hull with the USA women's quad to keep it company, but the Greek heavy four, Chinese light four and women's quad, and South African light four all showed up today. Maybe there will be a race here next week after all!

This afternoon we ventured on the bus to near-by Staines, 2.5 miles east of the village, to go see the most recent Batman film. It was a bit pricey (11 GBP for a ticket? In Oklahoma they go for $4...) but definitely worth it to just get out of the village and relax a little bit. Reviews were generally positive, though not ecstatic. Most criticism was directed at the opening ads - the 4:20 movie didn't start til 5:00, and there were only 4 trailers. The rest was other advertising. Then a bus ride back to the village (the driver must have thought he was Mario Andretti) for a late dinner. We're all looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

That's all from London - enjoy your afternoons!

-Will

http://usalightweightrowing.ning.com/profiles/blog/list

Olympic Credentials

My Dad and I arrived early yesterday morning (very early east coast time) at Heathrow. Immediately upon walking out of the jetway, my Dad and I are approached by two very friendly British men wearing bright pink "London 2012 Volunteer" polos and carrying a sign saying "USA". They guide us through the airport, around the edges of the jam-packed passport control hall with lines that could easily take 2 hours (I've been in them before.) to our special Olympics passport control lanes (two lanes for two people when we arrived) to baggage claim (our luggage had beaten us) and finally to the Olympic welcome desk. As the men's eight's flight was very delayed, we were the only two on a coach bus to the rowing satellite village in Egham (about half an hour northwest of London, a few miles closer to the city than Windsor Castle). I felt incredibly pampered! 

As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were greeted by another volunteer who helped us get our credentials (after we went through airport style security). The credentials are a VERY important, relatively large badge that is our IDs for the rest of the Games. (The photo has it next to my credit card sized library card for comparison.) Then, we stepped on another bus to get to the "south bubble". The satellite village is two "bubbles" (one for entering and going through security and one where we live, eat, etc) b/c it's on a university campus and they had to allow part of the campus to continue operating while we're here so that isn't a "secure" zone. If you take a bus from one "secure" zone to another, you don't have to go through security when you arrive, making your life much simpler. The ride from one bubble to the other is about 3 minutes. 

In the "south bubble", I was shown my room, and my bed was topped with an Olympics quilt as a welcoming gift (see photo). I get to take it home with me! I had about five minutes to refresh after the red-eye before rushing off to a quick breakfast. Then, my Dad, Andreas (the boatman), and I were off to USA team processing! 

If I haven't stressed it enough already, I want to emphasize: there are many volunteers everywhere on Olympics territory, and they are all super-friendly and super-helpful. It makes the experience much easier--so that the only stress is focused on competition--and that much more enjoyable.

Anyway, team processing was a really fun, "shopping" (b/c everything is free) scavenger hunt. Upon arrival, the greeters give you a checklist of all the things to accomplish: RL opening and closing ceremony fittings, Nike/RL gear gifting, head shot, ring fitting, watch, Oakley, P&G, shipping, medical forms, USADA. Our list yesterday was one short b/c USADA hadn't arrived yet. Darn. 

1) RL: I went to processing w/ the men's eight and their coaches. The girls rowing team went through when they arrived, and rowing was the only team to arrive Friday morning. So, I was the only girl going through processing Friday midday. At Ralph Lauren fittings, this meant I had three amazingly nice and fun RL employees fawning over me in a fitting room the size of a school classroom. They buttoned my buttons, they cuffed my sleeves just so, they put my hats on for me to get the proper look, etc. 

2) RL & Nike: I step into a school gym and am handed two large duffels (think LLBean bags size Large) packed to the brim, a backpack, and a big cardboard box. One RL duffel and backpack (full of RL attire) and one Nike duffel. The cardboard box is for sending clothes home. There's almost no way anyone could wear it all in two weeks, and it would be very expensive to fly home with three bags (four in my case b/c of my rigger). I packed a little over half what I was given into the box. It'll be like Christmas all over again in late September!

I spent about 90' trying on clothing to make sure I had the right size in everything and because it's really fun to try on new clothes. The staff enjoyed my walking out to show them an outfit every now and then because they only see the clothes in boxes and folded, not on people. Usually teams stick to the fitting rooms as they have each other for feedback on what they like, how things fit, etc. Quick summaries of the gear highlights:

RL (photo): lots of red, white & blue; lots of collars; some "vintage" look stuff; sunglasses!; zip up sweatshirts; sweet backpack

Nike: lots of black, gray and neon yellow; four pairs of sneakers; some very comfy long sleeves; three "podium outfits"; a bunch of comfy yoga pants; a few great lightweight jackets

Oh, and lots of t-shirts in both!

3) Headshot: Pretty self-explanatory (though not ideal after a red-eye and pulling on and off shirts for over an hour)

4) Everyone who competes at the Olympics gets an Olympic ring. Think high school ring with the Olympic Rings as the center of the design. Then, one side has your sport icon with your name above it and the other has 2012. I didn't know about the rings ahead of time. That was an amazing surprise. 

5) And a free watch by Hamilton!

6) Oakley: Oakley customized about eight sweet new shades for the Olympic Team. There were three super-awesome women's designs. I wanted them all. I had a TOUGH time making up my mind. I ended up choosing the aviators. I love them. 

6) P&G: Another fantastic goody...a messenger bag filled with full size toiletries: shampoo/conditioner, toothbrush, tampons, mouthwash, etc. Luckily, I was warned ahead of time and didn't pack much of that stuff. What a trip saver! 

7) Shipping: That big brown box heads to Newton

8) Medical Forms

9) USADA: N/A

Complete! I could then sit down and eat lunch. (I was very hungry by 2:30pm.)

After processing, back to the satellite village. This time in a mini coach bus with the men's eight. The driver took us right through the middle of the city, and we got to see Buckingham Palace, the Museum of Natural History, and other classic London city sights. There are signs of the Olympics almost everywhere: on billboards, on street signs indicating the special "Olympic car lane", banners hanging off street lights, etc. It's crazy. In the best way possible. 

Great to see the women's team back at the village. There's a really positive attitude among the Team USA rowing group. It's wonderful to be part of such a team. Smiles, lingering at meals, laughing, etc. Also, some cheering for the South African rowing team (who were also in the dining hall at dinner time) because one of them made BBC evening news for his Olympic Rings helmet--think green construction helmet with pipe cleaner Olympic Rings sprouting out of a stalk glued to the top.

And then I had a few hours before bed to revel in the day, take it all in and imprint it on my memory. Go USA!

-Gevvie

The last two days have been slightly calmer. After a good night's rest, we drove down to the racecourse and rigged up our newly molded Lucerne boat. (For those of you who don't know, our original boat at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta was knocked down from the rack by a crazy gust of wind. It literally broke in half so we had to borrow another boat from the very generous Australian team in order to race. Our original Lucerne boat was taken back to the factory in Germany and remolded like a Phoenix, to this one we have now.) After a quick paddle around the racecourse, everything except a few loose bolts here and there, the boat was good to go and we were ready to begin our final stage of preparation before the games.

The training we will be doing for the next couple of days will not be much different than the training we have done over the past year. The training usually goes is that we have 3-4 week periods of training with pretty much identical workouts where the only thing that changes is the volume of work and the intensity. We peak with both volume and intensity at the end of the cycle, have a few days off and start at it again. We have just been through one of those 4 week periods while training at Princeton and now all that is left is the finishing touches. As the racing approaches, we taper off on the intensity and volume and get ready to race.

One thing that has stood out over the last couple of days is the small number of countries that are currently training at the racecourse with us. The main reason is that most of our competitors are European and stay home for as long as possible since they don't have to worry about things like jet-lag or new equipment. I think this extra time will benefit us though, not only to get over the jet-lag and adjusted to the new equipment but also because it will give us an opportunity to get acquainted with the racecourse and its surroundings with-out any of the distractions or the 250 meters of filled grandstands.

The satellite Olympic Village in which we are staying is about a 40 minute bus ride from the racecourse and is very scenic. The campus is surrounded by trees and full of green areas. I've even noticed that the roofs of most of the buildings are covered in grass, for better insulation maybe? Perhaps an architect can correct me but I do know that many of the new Princeton University buildings have that same feature in order to reduce the urban heat island effect. These London games are expected to revolutionize the Olympic experience in two ways; the first is with the proliferation of social media as a major source of information (hey! We’re doing that!), the second is that the London games are going to be the “greenest” games in history. Other than the ample supply of compostable and recyclable products and trash cans to throw them in, many of the recently built sites are not permanent at all and so there will be a very low impact on the country after the games are done.

Other than the color green, the final thing that has stood out is the heavy security. Upon entering any Olympic site, all vehicles are thoroughly checked by armed guards, bomb sniffing dogs and more armed guards. Everyone who enters also has to go through a screening very much like the one at airports. Luckily, they have the same security at the racecourse as they do at the village and we only travel from between those two so we don't have to be screened through the metal detectors every time we come in.

-Robin

www.twitter.com/robinprendes

http://usalightweightrowing.ning.com/profiles/blog/list

The men’s 8+ and women’s 1x arrive today, so we’re almost all here (with the exception of the men’s 4x and men’s 4-). There are tents set up at the course for every country next to the boathouse and I ventured out there yesterday to see what they were like. They are actually really cool, they have carpet-covered wood floors, glass doors and cots for us to sleep in. They also included mats and USRowing brought along some watt bikes. Since no one is really around, it is a nice quiet place to relax in between rows. Another awesome perk is all the free Coca-Cola products. They have Diet Coke, Coke, Coke Zero (my favorite), Sprite Zero and Powerade everywhere you go. I usually try not to drink much soda, especially before racing, but it’s hard to resist when it’s everywhere!

 -Taylor

While waking up this morning wasn’t as easy as it usually is, I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would after such a big day. We ate breakfast in the Village and then made our way to the course, which took a lot less time than we had expected. Eton Dorney Lake really is incredible. The venue is beautiful; there are Olympic rings, signs and mascots everywhere. The boathouse is the nicest boathouse I’ve ever rowed out of that’s for sure. We decided to stay at the course in between rows because of the distance back to the Olympic Rowing Village, so we ate lunch there and rested in the Athlete Lounge. While I really like the energy around a big regatta with all the other foreign athletes around, it was very peaceful to be one of the only teams there. We had the run of the place, so we made ourselves comfortable. The two things I took away from the course were that it’s chilly out there and that there will be wind, most likely a crosswind. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s good to accept it and learn to ignore it. So far, there’s really nothing to complain about. It feels like we have a ton of time before racing, but I know it will go by quickly! I’m off to bed now, but look for more updates soon! I’m so grateful and excited to be here, Team USA wouldn’t be here without your support of the NRF, thank you!

Our coach gave us a sleep in this morning and we didn’t head down to the course until 9 a.m. for our first morning row. The bus ride to and from the course went quicker than I expected. It took us about forty minutes door to door. When we arrived at Eton Dorney Lake, we finished rigging our boat and went out for a short row. It was cold, windy, and rainy (who would have thought in England?) but it was nice getting over the stiffness from the long traveling day before.

Since we don’t want to travel to the course more than once per day, (three hours on a bus a day would be a little too much) we ate lunch at the course. After a quick bite to eat and a little relaxation in the athlete’s lounge, we were back on the water for a second practice. The weather was more of the same, but both practices went well and it feels good to be back in a somewhat normal routine.

Back at the satellite village we got some physical therapy, dinner, and just relaxed a little. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight and not have to worry about jet lag. Things are pretty low key around here, not many athletes have moved in yet, and there aren’t too many good stories to tell. Sometimes that’s a good thing though, it’s great to avoid any distraction and stay focused for our upcoming races!

-Nick

http://usalightweightrowing.ning.com/profiles/blog/list

Susan & I modeling closing and opening ceremony kit!

We hopped on a red-eye at Newark last night, and before I got a great (if short) sleep, I met Saida, a huge fan of the Olympics and, hopefully, a future rower (I'm always recruiting!) Talking with her reminded me how huge our support is here in the USA, and it was neat to share my goals and journey with her just as I am starting this final step for all of our training with my team.

As soon as we landed, oodles of friendly and helpful London 2012 volunteers shuttled us to our accreditation, where we got the passes "our lives depend on". Then it was off to grab our luggage and head to the Rowing Olympic Village, one of the satellite Olympic Villages near to Dorney Lake. We'll be staying here through the end of racing, and it's a beautiful place to be living with Team USA and focusing on our job at hand: getting ready to have the best races of our lives!

Just minutes later, it was time to head into the city and get "processed". Even after hearing stories from the women in Athens and Beijing about this crazy building where awesome sponsors bedeck you with bags and boxes of gear and goodies, I was totally unprepared for how almost overwhelmingly amazing it was! We started at Ralph Lauren, where we were fitted for our Opening and Closing Ceremony kit. The video crew asked me to say a few words about the gear, and it was really neat to have the opportunity to say how elegant and athletic our whole team looked in the outfits.

Then we went through the other stations--our headshots, ring fittings (Hamilton Jewelers gives every Olympian a beautiful watch and ring!), Proctor & Gamble Welcome Kit pick-up (everything I could have possibly needed to pack--thank you!), and Oakley (so excited to race in my Olympic-Edition Miss Conducts!)

And then--the huge dressing room and what seemed like 8,000 things to try on from Nike and Ralph Lauren, each cooler than the next! Nike designed a whole slew of really sharp outfits, and I couldn't even wait until tomorrow to wear some of it to the dining hall tonight. Our team left looking great and ready to get out on the water and race!

We took a tiny tour of the major London sights on the way home--Westminister Abbey (sadly, no Princess Kate sighting!), the Gherkin building, the London Eye, the Tate, and many more. It will be great to explore the city more after racing--but first, it's time to race! So then home for dinner, posting this blog, and now, bed.

One of the other amazing things about today was a letter that was waiting for me when I got back to my room tonight. At our Olympic Ambassador training several months ago, we were asked to write a letter to ourselves, one that we'd open if we made it to the Olympics. I had completely forgotten about it, and opened the letter to find a huge reminder of the work that we've put in as a team over the last four years and the tons of support that are beaming over here from everyone we know in the USA. It was so moving and it really sunk in--this is it. I'm here. At the Olympics. Ready to have the best races of my life and find an entirely new gear to go to in our racing. I cannot wait! This has been unlike anything I've ever done before, and I've only been in the country for just over 12 hours. Just--amazing. I can't wait for what the next three weeks will bring! Go USA!

-Esther

Harder.Better.Faster.Stronger

Welcome to London

From there, it was a 30 minute busride to the satellite village we'll be staying in through the end of competition, since the regular village is too far from the course. It's a college campus that's been locked down by the military - our areas are surrounded with 8 foot high portable blue fencing, all the entrances are manned by soldiers with assault rifles, they check the buses coming in for bombs, and we have to go basically through airport security to get in. Once we're in though, it's quite nice. Each team get's its own wing of a building, and each athlete has their own room with shower, wifi, and special Olympic duvets. There are workout rooms, a dining hall open 24/7, entertainment centers with computers and video games, and a medical center. It's crazy to think all of this is set up just for us and that we're at the center of it - the scale is so big, and the departure from reality so complete, that it really doesn't register.