Horizon Flyer

Horizon Flyer
The weapon that will see me attempt the 2010 Classic

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sponsorship update

Another Update to the $1000 Sponsorship Goal

Online $457
Raffle Tickets $110
Cash Donations $10

Total $577 :)

Past halfway, thank you to all those that have donated. A little over a month to go and yes I will be a pest in the coming weeks to get donations to the $1000 goal.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Good training weekend

Another weekend goes by and the Classic is getting closer under 4 weeks to go now!

It was a good weekend on the water with over 30km travelled. I did 20 on Saturday and another 10km today. The cramping problem was not as bad as previous weeks so the work at the Physio is working. I have another appointment tomorrow.

One good thing from today's short paddle was the workout I had when I chased down a friend that had almost 300m on me and I hunted him down in about 1.5km. It was a solid workout.

I also found a great program that I have been able to track all my training on Sports Tracker. It is a program for mobile phones that lets you log your workouts. It even has paddling as a workout.
www.sports-tracker.com

Next paddle: Saturday Morning 6:30

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sponsorship update

The $500 mark has now been passed. People have donated over $450 directly to the website & with the selling of hte first complete raffle ticket book I now have another $100 raised.

Thanks to all those that have donated or purchased raffle tickets so far. To those who have not donated by still intend on doing so you can still do it online at;
2010 Hawkesbury Classic - Sponsor Grant Mascord

I also have raffle tickets and cash receipt books for those who wish to purchase tickets or donate cash.

Passed the halfway mark for the $1000 goal.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Great morning Paddle

Took the chance for a morning paddle today and went down and did The Needles and return. Great place for a paddle. Also trialed a proogram i downloaded for my Nokia phone called Sports tracker. It isa a program that not only tracks you training but also logs it on GPS. I get a full report and best of all it is free. It also is very easy to look and see where I paddled well and where I was having a breather.

Todays paddle stats
11.93km
1 hour 25 minutes
Average Speed 8.35km/h
Peak speed 12.1 km/h

Sports Tracker - My Paddle today

Will hit the water or the gym tomorrow depending on the weather.

Monday, September 20, 2010

A week off work to train.

I have a week off work and will be a good week for training. I am going to try and get at least 3 paddles in before the weekend. Plan is to at least paddle Tuesday/Wednesday & Friday. Cant do Thursday due to physio appointment.

On 32 days to go and time to push the sponsorship hard. I will probably be a pest but I want to raise funds for this great charity. I am going to print up some flyers and do a letter box drop in my area. I got one of the local shops to let me place a flyer in their window.

At work I have a had a little win as well, my boss has agreed to buy a hamper that I could raffle and all proceeds are going to be for me to add to the classic sponsorship. All I have to buy is the Raffle tickets. :)

Any donations are greatly appreciated, my goal is to raise $1000. I am halfway there.

2010 Hawkesbury Classic - Sponsor Me 

Thanks

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Saturday Training Paddle

Early start today hitting the water @ 6:30 for a planned paddle with the other Classic paddlers from SSCC. The other guys had a 40km paddle planned but due to a BBQ being held at my place I had to turn around at Picnic Point and return to Woronora to get a paddle of around 30km.
I had previously done the same paddle in around 4 hours 10 but that day was the start of the cramping issues. Today I did it in 3 hours and 35, the cramp issue is better too, not gone but better. Also the mods with the seat and pedal position have worked well the kayak seems to flow through the water better and I seem to paddle faster. Today I was keeping with the faster paddlers and also at times was the pace setter for the paddle.
Not long to go now and it all seems to be falling into place.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Paddle on Sunday

Did not get on the water on Saturday due to having to work on my TAFE assessment and going to the State rail auctions. I went bright and early Sunday and tried out the new seat config with the seat base I had made by Horizon Kayaks. Started off with a short paddle to the last house on the Wonnie upstream and then turned to the head of the river and back to the clubhouse,a little over 10km. I then went a short series of short paddle playing around with the paddle config as I was not feeling I was paddling effectively. After a few trial I have gone back to 212cm paddle. It feels good. Funny how last year I was paddling the same event with a 220cm flat blade paddle! I then went back to the beach and fiddled with the seat and rudder pedals as it looked like I was dragging the bum of the kayak in the water. Went one hole forward with the seat and rudder pedals and it felt better immediately, I went back out and had another paddle, a short 5km. I worked it like a sprint session doing 200m paddle flat out and then resting for a minute, another 200m resting. It felt great and best of all no pain in the hammys.

Had another Physio session today and worked the right hammy as the left now is pretty good. Down to 2 sessions a week.

40 Days to go until the Classic

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Sackville to Wisemans Ferry Famil paddle



What can I say I am elated to paddle as well as I did today. Sure it still is not quite up to speed time wise and the cramping pain is still causing me grief but I have to think of the positives. I paddled today's famil 1 HOUR faster than last year! Sure I did it last year in the Wavedance Kingfisher but it was still a registered time. I did it today in 3 hours and 40 minutes. We had the tide with us for the start, due to the start being a little late it meant that for around the final hour we had to fight the tide.
Pre Start


It was a tough slog for the final 8km when the tide turned and the Wind picked up to blow straight in my face.

The cramping problems were still evident but were also better than last time. More Physio required but the results so far are pointing to the right direction. Cramps did not become a problem until after the 2 hour/20km mark and were not as bad a previous paddles.
The finish

Should have gone harder, carrying out of the water too easily :)
In other news there was a misunderstanding when I ordered the modified seat deck for the Bumfortable seat and it was not ready last Monday, on the way home today they rang to say it was ready, pick it up Monday.

Everything is now staring to fall into place for this years effort to be a good one.