Wind and Walls

chaos

About 30 boats rounded in the next 30 seconds!

leg of lamb

hand(s) of sailor.

time trial

introducing:

the portland hill time trial. known to strava as 'road to the heights'.

this is the bike.

before.

after 5 minutes.

the beast!

now the route.

start your watch as you enter the left bend and begin to climb.

 the first steep right corner.

levels off for a bit.

climb up through fortuneswell.

flat section to catch your breath and look up to see the dirty big hill looming before you!

approaching the big right corner.

this is the steepest bit.

from a different angle.

the endless climb.

views of weymouth and the harbour.

one last left before the summit.

 there's always a message on the side of this hill.

approaching the roundabout - the end point!

almost there!

finish.

5 and a half minutes of lung-busting effort!

training

is like fighting a gorilla. you don't stop when you're tired. you stop when the gorilla is tired.

-greg henderson

refresher

 so -

*deep breath*

- it has come to this.

come this 30th july, i will be lining up with 40-odd other lasers on the waters of weymouth. it should be pretty special!

i've taken some twists and turns to get to this point in my journey; there have been some hard lessons along the way, moments to savour and treasure, times of doubt and uncertainty. part of the reason i stopped blogging was because there were moments simply too difficult to face. coming back to this site reminds me of a simpler, happier, less stressful time... i didn't want to ruin this site with copious grafitti.

the life of an athlete is an extreme one - is there any other profession where your emotions are so inexplicably tied to the level of your performance?

(here's where the other half of my brain says 'actors, musicians, artists - their emotions are the performance!')

i have been tremendously lucky to have had a lot of support and assistance from lots of people along the way. insert thank you speech here.

being my first Games i cannot bring too many expectations out onto the water. but yet these races come by only every 4 years and i cannot help but think how often you get an opportunity like this to really do well and leave your mark.

so i've had a week in sweltering singapore to relax, refresh and not worry too much about sailing. which isn't that easy. i can't help but think about it can i? forgive me.

in that time i've seen the jezabels. funny that i study in sydney but had to come all the way to singapore to see the sydney band. they'd be really good if only hayley's pipes were as impressive live as they are on record.

And saying goodbye to the sweet simple life that you knew
Ooh hoo, toodaloo
It's true
You're through
Through with the old world...

my week ends on monday. then i return to weymouth to join forces with my buddies kristian ruth of norway and brett beyer of australia. 43 days to the start gun!

buzz

something fresh:

bonobo - black sands

st vincent - the strangers

bauhaus - bela lugosi's dead

the tallest man on earth - the wild hunt

danny macaskill - way back home

fleet foxes - helplessness blues

beirut - santa fe

laura marling - the muse

the tallest man on earth - love is all

bon iver - i can't make you love me

cold war kids - robbers