My first Regatta

My first race of the season is done...  What am I saying?!... It was my first regatta ever , and now I have two wins under my belt...

Me at the end of my race

 But it's not just me. Anyone who has been following my progress so far will know that I'm  really lucky to have support, so I thought it was time to introduce the amazing "Team Dickins"...

- Colin and Matt, the coaches at GB Paracanoe
- Claire, Phil and Batty coaches at Wey Kayak Club
- Pippa my kayak, (she looks great from behind)

- and Rory aged 6 and Elsie aged 4, my very own special fans!

The story so far... I got into ParaCanoe because Colin, the lead coach for GB Paracanoe in Nottingham, persuaded me to turn up for a try out. At my first trial I did ok, but I really needed to learn to paddle a kayak.  "How hard can it be?"  I thought. Six months in and I still don't fully understand how much more I have to learn.  I just know it's a lot... As I live in Surrey with family and work commitments, I needed to find something a little closer than Nottingham for my day to day training. Weekly commutes I could just about manage, but I was going to need a lot more training than that.

When Colin pointed me in the direction of Wey Kayak Club he knew he was recommending a good club.  It has a reputation for producing GB squad members and medal winners. But even he couldn't have known just how much the club would rally around and support me.  Being a disabled friendly club, with a new paracanoe specfic boat (sponsored by Sanofi Health) was a real bonus, but within weeks of me turning up I had my own coaching team.

last minute boat check from Phil and pep talk from Claire

Team Dickins is based around Claire Gunney (ex world no 2 marathon paddler).  Coaching a complete novice with the goal of GB number 1 and a dream of Rio is a tall ask and I can never thank her enough for taking on the challenge!  Phil, Claire's husband (who was her coach), brings a wealth of coaching tips (and pain!) to the team. If I can talk at the end of a session then I haven't paddled hard enough!
Dave Batteshaw (Batty) is another ex GB paddler based at Wey with his own para-athletes to train. His sessions complement Claire's, meaning every training session is bringing something different. With so many accomplished paddlers at Wey there are many others eager to offer support and tips (thanks to Richard-Rachel Cawthorns Dad for pointing out that it's a pull bar, not a roll bar;-) ) or just people to train with in the club gym. When I train alongside the u23s I get the added bonus of expanding my traditional musical knowledge as their iPod tracks fill the gym. 

At the Start

It is almost impossible to quantify how much being at a club has assisted in getting me through this first regatta.

If the team at Wey wasn't enough, I also have sessions at the 'High Performance Centre' in Nottingham -The hub for GB para canoe. Colin works with Claire to make sure my Surrey programme is integrated with the Nottingham sessions and they work together on my year's race plan.  We now also have Matt on board, who helps with the sessions in Nottingham.

I then have my very special boat Pippa, named after a certain Middleton who apparently also looks amazing from behind - My aim is that all my competition gets used to that view ;-) Her artwork was designed for me by a friend of mine, Kelvin.  His work is always inspiring. Hope you like her?

Pippa

So back to this weekend's regatta - a weekend full of firsts for me.

 My 10 firsts this weekend:
1/ First regatta (really scary)
2/ First time using my new Thule roof kayak rack (having used their bike racks before I knew they would be great, thank you Thule)

Easy loading Thule Kayak specific roof rack

3/ First time driving with a boat on the car (also scary)
4/ First race (glad to get that one out the way - my 'start' and race was pretty ragged -  its amazing what nerves can do, and I was really annoyed that I let my technique go)
5/ First win (yay!) Well done to all the paddlers out there in testing conditions.
6/ First start into a howling gale (I guess it's good experience, but it meant no chance of notching up a personal best.

7/ First pre-race curry (Simon, when I said that I needed distracting the night before the race, a curry wasn't quite what I had in mind)
8/ First post-race debrief with the GB paracanoe coaching team (Yes Steve and Colin, I know I paddled with more enthusiasm than finesse but am just as excited as you about how much room there is for improvement!)
9/ First fan club (Rory and Elsie, you are adorable. Thank you for cheering me on so loudly on the bank - I promise to let you know when the next race is in town!)
10/... Nope, you know I still lose count...

Ive been Kayaking for 6 months....

September 2012 was my first time in a sprint kayak. It is now March 2013 and I am firmly on the GB Paracanoe team. I am less than 3 weeks away from my very first race and with a winter of training behind me I feel might be able paddle and not look like a total beginner. It has been quite a journey with lots to learn.  Here's my top 10 lessons!

1/ A kayak isn't a canoe. With a kayak you use a double ended paddle and you sit down, where as in a canoe you use a single ended paddle and you kneel. I feel It's important that as a new member of team GB I know all the nuances of my sport ;-)

Its official!

2/ Kayaking is not a pulling action but a push. (the top arm  pushes the kayak past the lower arm) This involves a huge amount of trunk rotation- something I had none of as a cyclist.  Or maybe I did... which would explain my inability to control my bike around corners;-) 

3/ You don't really use your arms to create power, it's your trunk and your legs that do most of the  work- the arm just acts as a lever to transfer the force. This I struggle with as part of my disability means I have limited sensation under my right foot and buttock. Because of this,  I can't really gauge how to put even pressure through my legs or whether I'm sitting squarely on the seat. I go wonky quite regularly - which is comical when the sprint course is a straight line! One coach who didn't realise why I go wonky, was a little anxious when I called out at the end of an effort that it had gone wrong because I had "lost my arse"  halfway down the river.

4/ Sprint Kayaking gives you a really flat stomach and strong core :-) I have lost inches from my waist  and my hips-  I have totally changed shape, its as though someone has squeezed  my bottom half like a toothpaste tube and its all ended up at the top. 

6 months later

5/ Sprint kayaking is the most technically difficult sport I have ever been involved with. It is possibly the most opposite sport from endurance cycling (in terms of movement patterns and fitness) that you could find. I dream about paddling every night and have done since I first started. I'm hoping this subconscious visualisation will help speed up my learning curve, rather than just wear me out or hurt my partner as my arms flail about during my sleep! 

6/ Kayaking makes controlling a full shopping trolley around the supermarket really easy. I can now navigate off camber corners with a full trolley and I frequently avoid mid isle collisions with  Grannies meandering unexpectedly into my path! This is definitely one of the surprising benefits of sprint kayaking...

7/ Kayaking eliminates bingo wings, but on the flip side I can no longer get my arms into my favourite shirt. 

8/ The water can get no colder than zero degrees... or it stops being water. On many occasions through the winter the water has been significantly warmer than the air. I tell myself this regularly to persuade me to go paddling despite this being the coldest winter we have had for 50 years! We don't wear wet suits and most people paddle in bare feet and yes we get cold!

minus 5 degrees

snow doesn't settle on the water so no excuses

9/Hydrodynamics- The warmer the water the faster you go - I have yet to experience this warm water phenomenon.....Roll on Rio

England Vs Rio.

10/ I can't count.

 Genuinely! Ask my coach if I can remember how many reps Ive done after a session. I reckon I blank just them out....

GB Training Camp

It's not every day that you get asked how big your chest is by a man 20 years your junior. In this instance it was neither cheeky or pervy, Colin my coach was simply ordering my GB kit and as such didn't receive a slap! 
Despite being on a team GB winter training camp It was only at this moment, when uniform was being ordered, that it dawned on me I was actually part of 'team GB'. 

The winter training camp was the first camp for the new para canoe squad and  I was suitably nervous.  I had only been kayaking for 3 months and here I was amongst the best para canoeists in the country- in fact the world. In this squad of 20 there were 4 athletes who had won medals at last years world championships. Just a little daunted doesn't even come close to how I was feeling!
Looking around I was struck by the diversity of the group. Almost every demographic box had been ticked. All so different and yet united by some event in our past which had changed our bodies and our lives. We all sat there- some in wheelchairs, some with prosthetic legs, some with wiggling stumps, some with crutches but all athletes with an incredible mindset that anything is possible. We could all have decided after our injury that we were a victim of circumstance and put our 'glass half empty' down on the table. In contrast, everyone had raised their 'glass half full' up high, in celebration of what we yet could achieve. 

The week was divided up into water sessions, seminars, gym sessions and testing. 
I'm now getting used to the fact that I am constantly going to be tested to make sure I am improving. The first time I went to this gym was 3 months ago I couldn't even lift the bar without any weights on it - what a total wimp! 

I have spent considerable time down the 'other' end of the gym at home- No more am I at the end full of ladies in matching gym kit who check the mirrors regularly to ensure there is no makeup slippage or VPL. I'm now pumping iron in the smelly end of the gym. I am surrounded by men in baggy sweat shorts who's arms no longer hang vertically.  The sleeves are torn off their t shirts and they gaze into the mirror to ensure that their shiny biceps are getting bigger. 

My hard work has paid off, I manage a new personal best both in the gym and on the water!

My ethos is black and white, do it or don't. So when the coaches say give it 100 % -I do just that. By day 4, I couldn't even take my t shirt off as my arms were so stiff and sore- my core was exhausted and it felt more like wet pasta than muscles of a 'finely tuned' athlete.

Despite being in shreds, I had a brilliant week! My highlights were having a training session alongside the face of GB para-canoe and treble world champion. I had a - "ooo crickey, this is surreal! "  moment as we paddled down the lake together. 

The bigger highlight however was getting to know my team mates. What a fantastically brilliant, uplifting bunch of people. Everyone should spend time with a squad of para athletes in the hope that some of their spirit, determination and irreverent sense of humour might possibly rub off on them. 

From Zero to 'hero' in 7 weeks. GB para canoe selection.

It felt very odd standing at the paddler briefing at the GB selection event. Lots of Team GB track suits and athletes who's faces I recognised. They must have wondered who I was, standing there in my cycling 'race team' kit ( I hadn't bothered buying any canoe specific kit yet). Only my boat shoes confirmed that I probably hadn't turned up to the wrong briefing! 

"Is everyone ok with the starting mechanism?" Steve Harris ex world champion and head of the para canoe program was asking.
I hesitated, then reluctantly put my hand up. There was an awkward moment when all the other Athletes eyes seemed to turn to me- the only one in cycling kit. "Im not sure how it works" I said. I had just admitted out loud to everyone that I was a newbie and that I had never been in a race.  

The day was precisely organised. Every athlete had to do 2 water 200m time trials, an ergo test and I, as a new athlete was to have my para athlete classification medical as well. 

It was time to head out for my water time trial - I wished my legs would stop shaking with nerves as I walked over to my boat. To my surprise, my coach had put my name in large letters across the bow making me smile which also seemed to calm my legs down a bit. 

Ready steady.... Last week I had capsized and frightened myself comprehensively by being unable to breathe in the freezing water as I struggled to swim to the shore.
This image was not helping! 

go! 

The bucket start mechanism released the boat and I plunged the paddle into the water. All technique seemed to go to pot ( frog in a blender comes to mind) as I furiously splashed my way down the course.  I vaguely remember going cross eyed as I pushed to my maximum. At about 150m everything was excruciatingly painful and it felt like my eyeballs and core muscles would pop. How can a minute or so of exercise be so hard? I told myself to "get a grip, it was only temporary" I put the pain out of my head, went more cross eyed, hoped nothing would burst and pushed harder. I had worked incredibly hard over the past 7 weeks, this was a one chance opportunity and I had put everything into it. I had been coached at Wey Kayak club 3 times a week under the critical but encouraging eyes of Claire Gunney. (ex team GB and marathon champ) We practiced until my body felt like a rag doll and my hands bled. I had travelled to Nottingham once a week for more torture. I squeezed in daily gym sessions which focused on changing my strong cycling core into a kayaking core. I worked on facilitating the strength I already had into specific kayaking patterns. ( being a physio is really useful sometimes and this is the kind of work I specialise in.)

At the end of the time trial I was too out of breath to smile but I knew I had done my best. I was really pleased that  A. I hadn't fallen in and B.despite being cross eyed had managed a vaguely straight line (not as easy as it sounds) I also felt it was a decent time. But was it good enough for the team?

My coach was grinning, he had been right. That games-maker he met in the coffee shop 2 months ago was a para-canoeist (even though she didn't know it yet). I had posted the fastest time of the day out of all the girls, including those already on the GB team! Yaaaaaay!

Not only that, I had received my official para classification enabling me to be a LTA classified athlete. I had had mixed feelings about putting myself forward to officially classify my 'disability' Admitting to this disability, in my mind was a failure. I had struggled on in denial trying unsuccessfully to race my bike, becoming increasingly frustrated and depressed with my weak leg limiting me. I was really very down about it until I was given this opportunity to do something completely different. It was as if a light had gone on in my head and I had something positive to work towards again rather than standing at a dead end trying to 'ride my bike through a brick wall'. One door closes but another one opens, and classification (despite being something I didn't want to be true) was the key to that door. 

I had made it! In seven weeks I had managed to achieve the squad selection time!

The official email followed welcoming me onto the GB squad with a list of dates- including the world champs 2013- to keep free.. 

I keep having to re read that email just to make sure. It doesn't seem possible that a chance meeting in a coffee shop at the Olympics (see my olympic legacy post) would lead to this. I still can't believe that I made it onto the GB squad never having raced a canoe and having spent nothing on canoeing except petrol and precisely £ 6.99 on a pair of boat shoes! 

It just goes to show that anything is possible if you are open to change, want it enough and have the correct support around you.
I could never have decreased my time to get squad time without the coaches at Wey kayak club and of course Colin the Games-maker/GB coach who saw beyond the lopsided cyclist. 

My Olympic "Leg"acy

This is not a normal Monday morning. I am sitting in a logo'd "team GB" race canoe and I'm using an uber bling carbon fibre paddle to splash my way furiously up the 200m sprint course at the National waters sports centre. ....

The Velodrome at 2012 Olympics

Working at the Olympics had been an amazing experience, but not for any of the reasons I could have predicted. A chance meeting and a casual conversation in a cafe with a random fellow gamesmaker turned into an invitation for me to try out for the GB squad para canoe team.

Gamesmaker

All gamesmakers have a real life job, and his job was GB paracanoe coach. In between sips of coffee he was explaining that he was searching for suitable athletes to train for Rio 2016

"you can have me if you like" I said

This was meant as a joke but his coffee was soon forgotten as I received a fast and furious Q and A session about my back injury, my weak leg and my bike racing history.

He left me feeling slightly giddy with a date in my diary to be assessed for suitability to join the team.  In the time it had taken to eat half a muffin I had gone from frustrated endurance cyclist with a dodgy leg to a possible GB para sprint canoeist. 


I was trialling for team GB in a sport which I had never done- did I mention that bit?- I've never actually been in a canoe.

I arrived at the water sports centre and met the gamesmaker who was now wearing his team GB coach polo shirt looking very official. He was talking to the other athletes and suddenly I felt like I was in the wrong place. They were all in wheelchairs and I couldn't help wondering What the hell was I doing here? My legs 'work' and I can't canoe!! 

GB paracanoe bay 

It was explained that there is a spectrum of disability classification for each sport and I am at one end, having reduced use of my leg, whereas they are at the other end having use of just arms. 

First things first-to learn how to 'paddle'. I had a swift half hour session on the ergo (dry land canoe) - I had no idea how complicated it all was.  "right, let's see what you can do. "

As an endurance cyclist I'm all slow twitch with weedy arms so a 200 meter sprint  at full pelt on the ergo put me into a whole new world of pain. 

Despite my time putting me 17th in the world for my category which I was actually ok with, it was a 'disappointing' time. In order to make the team I would have to be within sniffing distance of a medal on the world stage!

Race Lake at Holme Pierepont 

Then moment I had been dreading- actually getting onto the water. 

 The other athletes had made it look so easy! I scramble into the boat and wobble. One girl says "you will fall in - we all do in the beginning" ....thanks:-) 

I start off down the lake and massive a smile spreads across my face, I  work!! My arms, unlike my legs are equal and for the first time since my accident I don't have to struggle or concentrate on walking. I feel free, I feel like I'm flying!  whoaah! Plop!

It was 7 weeks ago that I was given the challenge by the GB coach to turn myself from slow twitch sloth into a fast twitch cannon with guns of steel. I was told that I had to drop a considerable number of seconds to be any where near the selection criteria.

 So much has happened in the last 7 weeks. I have been training, paddling, working and sleeping and not much else. I have open blisters on my hands, aching shoulders and quite scary looking biceps. I have learnt the difference between a Kayak and a canoe and stopped mixing up the words paddling and peddling!

This weekend is crunch time. I have a total of about 2 minutes racing time and a medical to determine my path for the next 4 years, and whether Im going to be paddling towards Rio.

Nervous? Me? hell yes! 

Please don't try this at home...........

......The SouthDowns Triple

Richard on the 'south downs triple'

"I want to be the first person to cycle the South Downs Way triple, what do you think? "

Richard looked at me earnestly. Inside I was struggling to know how to respond Yer yer funny joke. Only 25% of people who attempt the double have achieved it and Richard isn’t your normal elite athlete.....

He was still looking at me intently and I realised he was being serious – and he wanted an answer. 

"Really?" I said “Sure – why not!”.  He smiled and I realised that he had already decided he was going to do it. He was just testing me to see if I would be there for the journey.

The rulebook for the South Downs double hall of fame states that there are 2 categories - supported or unsupported – yes some people do the 200-mile double unsupported. Riding 300 miles off road in one go? Slightly crazy in its self, but to ride it unsupported would be crazy verging on dangerous. As the team came together we all wanted Richard to achieve his goal, but understanding the seriousness of his challenge we wanted to make sure that no one got hurt in the process – neither Richard, who was clearly at risk, nor any of the crew, who would also be getting fatigued driving for 36 hours on public roads. This was going to be a supported ride and, having some experience of 24 hour endurance racing and some personal experience at things going wrong, I volunteered along with Simon to coordinate the support.

Support riders rode behind and allowed Richard do all the gates

That conversation was 15 months ago and last weekend he set off from Eastbourne to attempt to ride the South Downs Way three times in one go - 300 miles nonstop, including 30,000 ft if climbing, in a target time of 36 hours. 

check point info

Richard is a planner, dare I say the spreadsheet king. He likes to know everything in advance to the minutest detail. Over the next 15 months he updated his massive file from his previous double achievement with information on the challenge. Photos of every gate and junction from both directions, average prevailing winds, every checkpoint with an aerial view. The location of 24hour supermarkets for emergency supplies for the crew or for if things weren’t going to plan. Each check point had instructions of what he wanted, his nutrition, his clothing, his desired average mph – even when to text his wife! Every situation and possible problem had been thought through with contingencies being planned.  Everything and I mean everything was in that file. 

Planning didn't stop there, Richard, despite having a full time job and a family, found time to train efficiently and intelligently - it wasn't just about the miles and the hours – it couldn't be. He enlisted my help to work with him on his core, and to help correct muscle imbalances we picked up in his core assessment, as well as Kate Potter from AQR coaching to work on fitness, skills and (between us) on bike fit.

The dynamic core assessment revealed issues which would have led to injury, either as he ramped up his training or as fatigue set in on the ride, if left unchecked. Working with Kate, Richards training involved specific exercises to rectify this as well as to develop a strong dynamic core, to help with performance and efficiency. Kate devised a specific training program both to deal with the specific challenges of the triple as well as to take into account Richard’s work and home life commitments. 

the support van

So on to the support plan.  Both Simon and I know 24 hour racing, but 24 hours with a fixed pit is easy.  36 hours with a demanding, moving pit was a completely different challenge. Enlisting support from the other half of AQR’s endurance race team, Ant and Rach both being experienced in 24 hour races, meant we could plan to work in 2 overlapping shifts, to make sure we didn’t get too tired.  I was also particularly conscious of the potential for something to go wrong medically and although I am reasonably well trained, I am no sports doctor.  We consulted with numerous experts as to the possible problems we might encounter and done everything we could to minimise risk. The final team was made up of a support van, a camper van, 4 support crew, a Physio (me!), a sports med doctor, and a team support riders for the last leg – to make sure this crazy idea was as safe as possible. 

With all this meticulous planning a date was set – Sunday the 3^rd to Monday the 4^th June - what could possibly go wrong?

The weather. 

A surprise storm coming in after 2 weeks of dry weather meant that the South Downs Way would turn from being perfectly baked to being treacherous, slippery and gloopy. As the forecast firmed up Simon, in charge of logistics, calculated that the best weather window meant pulling the whole thing forward two days – this was on the Thursday morning, which meant we had to go tomorrow. A few phone calls later and it became apparent that a Friday start meant that more than half the team physically could not make it. 

15 months of planning thrown up into the air - panic! 

I frantically looked through my contacts to see who might be able to stand in. Bingo! Judy and Roy from Dark Star Brewery’s endurance team. They were local, also knew the endurance scene and amazingly they were free.

The crew left to right Roy, Judy, Dr Jerry and Anne
(thanks to Mike Anton for the photo)

We scrabbled round trying to get more support riders who were free, but with this little notice on an extended bank holiday weekend it was proving a struggle. 

Almost sorted and then another phone call from Simon. "We are also changing the route” The normal prevailing wind is from the West, but the storm coming in was bringing in a strong Easterly wind for the final leg, which didn’t make sense to ride into on the final leg, so all change to as Eastbourne start rather than Winchester argh!!! By the end of the day my hair was pulled out and lying in a heap on the floor and my byro chewed down to the nib. 

trying to sort out logistics 

37 hours after the start, Richard cruised into Winchester. 15 months after that “innocent question” he had done it; The first person to ever to cycle the South Downs Way three times in one shot. The last 37 hours had been utterly brilliant, incredible, scary and exhausting and Richard had been absolutely amazing.

Richard at a checkpoint receiving physio and food.
(photo by Mike Anton) 

The crew at a checkpoint at 5 am waiting for
richard to appear through the mist

The hours and months of preparation and planning had been worth it. For sure Richard had ridden into the record books, and I don't know many people who could have done that, but the pit crew had been kept busy and not everything had gone to plan.  In the end there were seven core members of the support team as well as support riders making sure he was safe.  Every single member of that crew contributed and just about every “what if” scenario came into play.  

 quick medical check

in particular I would have hated to have been the one to take the call on whether to stop Richard from continuing when he started to waiver with 60 miles to go. A professional sports medic performing a medical exam and testing for cognitive reasoning confirmed his body was functioning normally despite being exhausted, is just the kind of reassurance we needed; and a fresh set of crew with fresh brains to take on driving duties and question decisions was invaluable towards the end.   

The team plus supporters at Winchester after 37 hours 4 minutes

Richard and Simon at the finish-
both looking exhausted!

So a marker has been set and no doubt someone will try and break it. I know Richard is in many ways an ordinary bloke who has achieved an extraordinary thing, but please don't be temped into thinking it is easily achievable. If you, like Richard, wake up one day wanting to ride a long, long way without sleep, please grab that thought with both hands and say Yes, but also be aware of the dangers involved. Plan ahead, make your body the best that it can be, get yourself a crew who can look after you, and plan for everything!

Remember, it’s about breaking a record, not breaking yourself… Good luck! 

head wind

Richards own blog about his ride is here:

Judys blog is here to give you the other side of the story. 

Thanks to:
 Pete from Kiss training for his in depth outdoor first aid advice

Dave Buchanan: guiness record holder for endurance mountain biking for his advice on what happens to your body after 24 hours riding

Jerry Hill - Sports Doctor

Dave Brothers, main support rider who changed his weekend plans umpteen times in order to help us

Judy and Roy from the dark star brewery endurance team who dropped everything to help us - they were absolutely awesome!

Mrs Sterry for a truck full of cake