I got up Friday morning and drove from the Quad Cities to Dubuque via the "scenic byway" route along U.S. 67 and U.S. 52. The trip took a couple of hours, and I arrived at the site of the USCA Nationals just as the first day of marathon racing was finishing up. Classes that raced on Friday were mostly mixed tandem in both canoe and kayak.
I picked up my race packet and then went over to the site I'd reserved in the city campground, located across Chaplain Schmitt Island from the race headquarters. I found myself camping in yet another picturesque spot, right on the Mississippi River just upstream of the Dubuque-Wisconsin Bridge.
I spent yesterday morning watching the women's solo canoe, men's tandem canoe, men's tandem kayak, men's ICF kayak, and women's "unlimited" kayak classes. I shot a few pictures and cheered on the people I knew. Once the racing was over I got in my boat and paddled a lap of the course. It seemed to have a little of everything to challenge (torture?) a racer: shallow water, lots of floating grass, squirrelly currents, rocks lurking beneath the surface, and more. The guys who had raced in the K1 ICF class told me it was a very difficult course for their craft but that surf skis like mine should fare better in the K1 Unlimited class the next day.
And so I turned in fairly early last night so I could get up early this morning. The races are starting at 8:30 AM this year--earlier than I typically like to get going, but then again it's nice to have it all over with well before lunchtime.
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