Big update

Ciao!

Sorry I have been a little bad with update over the last week or so, Internet access hasn't been as readily available in sort! 

A lot has happened since the last time I posted, the first two world cup taces were held on the soca in Slovenia, I was a disapointing 27th in the classic, I paddled ok but my cold had left me feeling a little flat and I found it hard to push, unfortunately a world cup isn't somewhere you can get away with being sick:(. At the end of the classic I also was stupid enough to crash into a stone in the middle of the river and swim after the finish, which would be my first one in two years! Luckily the rescue guys fished my boat out before the gorge of death/ boat distruction, and there is only a small amount of damage.

The rapid sprint was in the afternoon, I essentially paddled like a goose, not driving the boat enough and was caught out trying to make a cross behind stone and succesfully petone a rock. Which resulted in my worst international result since I was 18!!

Sunday morning we packed up and the british left for sondrio while I hung around to catch up with an old friend from Austria before driving to sondrio as fast as I could.

The change in the weather from Slovenia to Italy has been amazing, Slovenia wS constAntly overcast and we had an afternoon storm everyday. Italy has been warm and sunny everyday. We are in a typical northern Italian valley High hills on Bith sides that turn into snow topped mountain peaks. The hills are covered with small villages and a large amount of churches, in between the villages the hills are all terraced with grapes and fruit trees. It is truly picture post card stuff..

We have had a few issues with the Britain team driver refusing to drive shuttle early in the week, but Alan the team coach had arrived and everything seems to have settled down. It us very interesting to watch how a bug team interacts as well as the level of support and feedback that they get. 

We are staying in an appartment building in the middle of town, which is just down the road from a very nice gellati shop! I haven't had much of a chance to explore town yet as I have had to do some repairs on my race boat after my aquatic incident. 

The river here is quite fun. However the level is low during the morning and is turned up at 11 the. Slowly increases throughout the arvo untill it peaks around 2. No one knows which level the race level will be?? The Italians aren't here to ask either... 

At either level the river is a lot of fun, there is a small flat section at the start the the river starts to get wavy, it gets progressively bigger and more technical over the next 8-10 minutes before flattening out for the last few minutes for a big push to the line. It is a great wildwater course with a little bit if everything where you will be rewarded fir paddling well. 

Anyways I should go and have breaky. I pro use I will be more onto updates over the rest of the week!
I hope all is well at home

Mathew  

Ps sorry I haven't provided many procrastination opportunities lately...