Well it has been a couple of days since my last update, I have to admit not a real lot or exciting stuff has happened. The river has been high the last 2 days as the EDF has pumped some water down the river before they begin to control the river at the lower race level from Saturday.  High water is fun, the river gets faster and the waves become rollier, which means you don't get slapped as much, which is kinda nice.

The town of Aime and the river bank side area around the finish and rapid sprint has transferred quickly in the last day as preparations for next week are made, banners and signs are appearing, marquees and pavilions are being erected for VIP and spectators alike. The river side area has gone from being any old river to one that you know something important is going on, and as expected the French look like they will put on a better show than anyone else.

I am starting to paddle my race boat on the river today, I want to have a chance to get used to this boat on the river. Whilst the tow boats are of identical design and the set up is almost identical there will be some very subtle differences between them and I want to give myself time to become comfortable with them. I think this is a mistake I made two years ago in sort.

The next few days until racing begins on Wednesday are all about staying in tune with the river, making final physical preparations and freshening up getting ready to race. I have one hard session left which is a time trial on Saturday morning, this is all about getting the feeling of feeling tired on the hard section and getting some splits to work towards on race day. We will also do some teams work on Sunday, to prepare for the classic teams.

The house is certainly much quieter now that Ben Oakley has moved in with the Brits. There seems to be a plague of flies in the valley so a part of each day is spent stalking the kitchen/living area with the fly swat attempting to rid the house of the little suckers. Unfortunately French people don't seem to have heard of a simple Australian invention called the fly screen door, which means on the 30 degree days we have to choose between air flow and flies.