Munich Finish Line

These fish prove to be very distracting since their enormous black forms can be seen clearly at any point on the lake in the clear, shallow water...even when cruising by in a rowing shell.  The park is only vaguely reminiscent of a World Class competitive arena as various elements of the concrete architecture are now overgrown with local vegetation, and the crowds that now frequent the park are typically families with strollers and umbrellas, rollerbladers and cyclists.  Only the giant stone grandstands that remain really serve as an indicator of the scale of the energy and competition that created the venue...and they are impressive. Even with a nearly-annual World Cup being held here, there is very little to suggest that the lake is much more than a quiet recreational facility for locals and their families to enjoy.

Then the Americans crash the party.

After practice yesterday as a means to combat the jet-lag doldrums, most of the Women's Team took a swim in the lake off the docks.  We were joined by the men's pair as they finished their workout...they docked their boat and promptly jumped in the water themselves without even taking oars out. It was a wonderful way to end the afternoon and a huge morale boost for everyone.  There is talk of taking another post-practice swim this afternoon.

It seems that we are joined by a few other elite international athletes from Chile, Thailand and possibly (?) the female single sculler from Azerbaijan (I swear...I would recognize that uni anywhere because it is the one I covet the most for trading this year). And of course a few colorful locals...such as the 70+ gentlemen who were out for a spin in their wooden 2X this morning wearing matching magenta polo shirts.  The stroke seat whipped out a pretty impressive Canon DSLR on the dock after their row as we were getting oars and requested a few photos of Stesha and me.  Not with them...just of us standing on the dock.  Flexing. 

Anyway, on to more important things: mainly my current video editing crisis. In an act of personal liberation, I decided to take this trip to Europe with only my iPad, leaving my MacBook Pro at home (and all my work files that are stored on it as well).  I decided to do this as an opportunity to take some time away from work, to relax, and focus on my "real job" while at Worlds. The only things I wanted to be able to do were: email, blog, Facebook and be able to upload photos and videos. I believed, foolishly, that I would be able to do all of that with just a simple purchase of the iPad camera connection kit. However, the wonderful HD movie files that are created by my little Kodak Playsport camera are not compatible with my iPad. I cannot make videos!!!  I spent all day yesterday furiously searching for a solution on Mac help forums, the App store and finally a Hail Mary Google search...with no positive results. I need to be able to convert MOV files to MPG4 in order to edit them on my iPad. The trick is I need to be able to convert them WITH my iPad, not on a second machine (because I don't have a second machine...that's the whole point).  I have iMovie, I just need the content!  If anyone has any ideas on how to make this work...I'd be much obliged. Otherwise no videos from Worlds this year...

Back to the course again this afternoon for another spin. The boat is going well, when I can steer it straight, and when I can hear Stesha's calls from bow. I keep telling her that I'm getting older and it's harder for me to hear all the way in the front, but she doesn't seem to be sensitive to the needs of us geriatrics on the Team. Kids these days.

Long Live the Dream,

--MK

P.S. Speaking of geriatrics, Coach Volpenhein's birthday was this week, so be sure to wish him a happy 50th!

www.megankalmoe.com

Unfortunately no one was able to win my proposed upgrade contest. Although the flight stewardess nearly won by moving me to a row of empty seats with an extensive amount of leg room right behind first class.

The video posted above was a project I started basically mid-Atlantic. It’s really all thanks to Air Canada (being in my opinion one of the best airlines to fly) for having outlets on the plane which basically allowed me to use my laptop for the entire flight over. I just started collecting some footage and was progressively adding it to the video at each connection through to Erba. More will be added but unfortunately due to upload speeds I’m not sure how long the full 2 min video will take to post, so here’s a preview for now.

Upon arrival we were greeted with the familiar faces of the hotel staff who always seem delighted by our return. The men’s eight, lightweight men’s double, and coxed pair who train under Mike Spracklen, have already been in Erba for over a week and as a result were settled in and heading out to practice. The rest of us had the usual unnecessarily long jet leg induced attempt at rigging to overcome. Highlights include: Four starboard backstays for the lightweight men’s four, a lost steering post wing nut off the heavy men’s four requiring a 5 man search party through the grass, and a blade heist from the men’s pair. Regardless, most of the work was complete and the crews set out for the most miserable jetlagged 4km row that will ever be endured on this trip. Upon which the fallouts of the typically sub par rigging started to emerge. Highlights from this row included: collars 3 cm off from the port and starboard blades of the heavy double, and a backstay shooting off the bow seat of the lightweight four.

As always, I now return to sleeping most of the day because though its 1pm here it’s really 4 am where I’m used to being.

twitter.com/@rarescrisan

Game Face – This isn’t the same Canada you’re used to

This opportunity is very humbling given that in the last couple months my own blog has become rather bland. Since Christmas I began to write more about my actual training and stopped focusing so completely on the humorous nuances of the Victoria Training Centre. Honestly, it’s a little obvious what training is like: wake up, row, eat, sleep, weights, row, eat, have a philosophical discussion with Conlin McCabe, sleep, repeat. However, with a newly rekindled focus and sense of purpose to my writing, I will aim to expose the Canadian rowers and their lives for the world to either love or hate.

For fellow Canadian rowers who happen to be reading this, there are ways to protect your image. For starters, you could be Scott Frandsen. As a fellow port side pair rower my respect for him is too high to even fathom the idea of saying anything remotely negative about him. In a completely different way you could be like Tim Myers, as one athlete aptly stated “ I would love to call out Tim on the water, but I know if I did he would burn me 1000 times over and worse ” (Tim is that fast and witty). If you don’t have either my upmost respect or are my roommate then here is a list of other things you can do to make sure you’re well represented.

1.If you have a first class upgrade for Air Canada and let me use it (given that through my own fault I forgot to claim all my aeroplan points for elite status last year), I will make my entire next post about you. Yes, this is a contest and together the two of us can both win.

2.Given that the dock at our pre worlds training site in Erba, Italy is rather small, if the lightweight four is launching/docking and you chose to relinquish your position for us, I would consider that a positive decision.

3.Also in Erba, if you are in line in front of me at the delicious buffet with all that fantastic cheese, relinquishing your position again would be another positive decision.

4.Women, just because you are in Corgeno instead of Erba does not mean you are safe. I have spies in Corgeno in the form of lightweights. If I hear of defending world champion Lindsay Jennerich receiving any wash during pieces, I will not be happy. Lightweights need to stick up for each other; we’re small people in a world of giants.

5.I’m sure I’ll come up with other things randomly, so be prepared.

Ok, all over the top dramatic seriousness aside, I hope to fulfill your interests in the Canadian perspective at the World Championships and lead up to. I will do my best to convey who we are, what we are setting out to accomplish, and how we go about completing our goals.

twitter.com/@rarescrisan