Duty calls!  I’ve been traveling throughout Europe working on establishing and growing our dealer base here, as well as giving talks and clinics along the way.  As has been the case with both Greg and I lately, this has meant little time on the water.  Basically my training has consisted of drinking hard and selling harder!

 

I do enjoy time on the road, visiting Epic paddlers & agents, as well as meeting new people.  Getting the chance to talk with and teach young paddlers is particularly rewarding.  This is a solid four week trip, and while traveling is fun, it can be exhausting (not to mention that the vibe from the home-front begins to sour a little at about 2.5 weeks!)

 

Like I said, long work days and entertaining have really hit my training regimen.  When I can get out on the water, it is cold!  I went out at 5:30 am this morning in Sweden; it was 2 degrees with a very hard wind!!

 

I’m not sure how this will affect my schedule coming up.  There are some quality races approaching, but I don’t have a solid schedule yet.  Right now my goals are to continue the development of Epic.  This will keep me traveling throughout the world.  While it may keep me away from some of the events sprouting up around the globe, I plan on starting to get fit for Molokai by the end of the month.  Despite what traveling I will be doing I will keep my build up to the race a priority.  I’ll do what I can to describe my progress and the realities of training on the road. 

 

Molokai is still the race, and I’m looking forward to it this year more than ever.  The organization is going to be top notch, and we should have a first class field. 

 

The following is a recap from Erik Wallgren about my trip:

Our part of Sweden is experiencing our warmest winter for 200 years, so there is no snow and 0-2° Celsius. Bad for skiing, but good for paddling. It was pitch black and Oscar arrived in the dark. He enjoyed a big meal of moose meat, lingon-berries and a couple of beers in front of the bonfire at my place. After a short sleep we went by bicycle to our club to meet the guys in the "Dawn patrol", consisting of a couple of world class adventure racers. The Dawn patrol trains in Epic surf skis every Tuesday and Thursday morning year round. This morning we didn’t have any ice but water is cold (1° Celsius) and sort of thick. We headed out in the dark, icy wind blowing 4 knot from the north, rounded an island in good speed after 30 minutes of paddling.   We stopped to take some pictures (an excuse to rest for me). On the way back we did some sprint racing between lighthouses and buoys and experienced how fast Oscar is. We had all great fun and got a lot of paddling tips from Oscar, who didn’t have any problems with the winter climate.