Summer Wrap Up and Ready for Fall
The Reno-Tahoe Blog will occasionally feature entries from athletes sponsored by Reno-Tahoe, America’s Adventure Place. Jay Kincaid, professional kayaker, has been paddling over half of his lifetime, and is back to blog about his life as a professional kayaker living in Reno, NV. As 2003 Freestyle Kayaking World Champion, 2001 U.S. National Champion and three-time U.S. Point Series Champion, Jay is the most proud of the many first descents he’s done on rivers and waterfalls in his native Oregon and in California.
The 2006 season has been really fun and very productive.
I spent the early Spring living and kayaking in Reno. We had tons of water this year and that conveniently made for an ideal training and playing location. With Macy Burnham, Rusty Sage, Jamie Cooper, and Jason Craig in town it seemed that I always had someone awesome to paddle with.
The first event of the season for me was the Brush Creek Race at the Kern River Festival. The Kern Fest turned out to be a great time with lots of paddlers in the area and high water on the creek. With tons of spectators and a really good class of racers the Brush Creek Race turned out to be one of the most fun races I have ever been part of. I made one mistake that cost me a couple of seconds and put me in 3rd place. Without that mistake I would have moved up to second place but I still wouldn’t have caught EJ who basically destroyed the rest of the field. After the event was over I spent the next day doing clinics on the water for the event which was also very fun.
The next event was the American River Festival. The water level was weird and all week long we trained at different features not knowing what to expect for the competition but determined to have as much fun as possible, as we always do. The morning of the competition the event was moved to a small wave that could be really good one ride and pretty hard the next, and that made for a fun competition. I won the prelims with two good rides and then got beat by Stephen Wright and EJ in the final to finish 3rd. Jackson Kayak sweep number one.
From there Stephen and I did a little Jackson Kayak dealer visit tour. We first went to Portland Oregon to see Alder Creek and paddle at the Clackamas river and Joe bob’s at an awesome level. The we headed to the Alder Creek store in Bend and paddled at a little know spot called Area 51. Basically we just wanted to personally touch base with Alder Creek, answer any questions if there were any, and let them know that we appreciate having them as a dealer.
That next weekend Jackson Kayak did a one water day with Reno Mountain Sports in Reno. After a in store visit we headed to the water doing clinics and demo boats all day long. I love Reno and I love to see my people paddling Jackson Kayak, almost as much as they love doing it.
Up next was my personal favorite event, the Reno River Festival. For me this means a solid week of media engagements leading up to the event usually starting at 6am. I don’t mind though as I love promoting the event and seeing the 20,000 plus people who showed up for the weekend makes it all worth while. The usual suspects were there and I was ready to dominate as I take a lot of pride in how I paddle at my home feature. It turns out that as well as I paddled, and as much fun as I had, I didn’t have my best ride at the right time and I finished 3rd again. The next day consisted of the head to head race and I was determined to get my revenge. What I got in return was 3rd place in the Time Trial, another 3rd place finish in the race itself, and no revenge at all. It was however a lot of fun and can hardly waite for the event in 2007.
Next it was off to Colorado for a big sales event at CKS. The three day event consisted of clinics, demos, and time in the store itself. Together with Stephen Wright and Clay we had a great time both on the water and in the store. It is easy to call that weekend a success, as it indeed was.
From there it was on to a kayak club gathering and Jackson Kayak video showing in Colorado Springs. Clay and I meet up with the kayak club, showed a few video, held a Q&A session, and generally had a great time with everyone.
Steamboat Spring was the next stop. This year Paddler magazine held a pro-invitational that consisted of a extreme race and a freestyle event on the same day, with the goal of having a winner of the best overall paddler.
The race was on a fast and steep creek called Fish Creek. It was basically one long rapid with very cold water and lots of small technical moves. I ended up 3rd in the race which put me in prime position to win the overall if I fished well in the freestyle. The freestyle event was at a large powerful hole in downtown steam boat that was really my kind of spot. I was able to win and that gave me the overall title, and some more cash, which was quickly used as gas money.
Vail was next on the list. I have a long unfortunate history of finishing 2nd or 3rd in the freestyle event. If my memory is correct I have five 2nd places and one 3rd place with no victories. Unfortunately this year was no different except that it gave me that one 3rd place. The event was awesome though. The feature was challenging but still allowed for huge air that made it tons of fun for the crowd to watch. EJ and Stephen finished ahead of me making for another Jackson Kayak sweep. The head to head race was also a ton of fun even though I could swear that my throat is bleeding after each run.
The combination of high altitude and a 4 minute race make for some burning lungs to say the least. My time trial went great as I fished second and within a fraction of a second to EJ. During the race itself I again finished second which I felt pretty good about as EJ and I took the top two spots.
Later I found out that I was DQ’d for not touching a gate, and that put me in 4th place. I was really disappointed to be disqualified as I felt I had a great race and made no such infraction, but at the end of the day it was how it was. No problem, I will be back next year and ready to have fun again.
After Vail I had a break in my schedule. This allowed me to come back to Reno, paddle around home, and do a Main Salmon Trip with some good friends from Reno and Carson City. It was an awesome trip that mostly consisted of floating in a raft drinking the occasional beverage and fishing. I did get in my kayak a few days though, just enough to keep the guilt to a manageable level.
After the outdoor retailer it was on to the Ottawa River. First up was the U.S. Team Trials and in my opinion the most important event of the year, because if you aren’t on the U.S. Team, and you are American, you can not be World Champion. It was at a the famous Garborator Wave and I had lots of learning to do. I had not been on a wave in months and combine that with the ultra long lines in the eddy made for a slow challenging learning curve.
Come competition day I was mentally ready to compete, regardless of how I was physically paddling, and ended up making the Team again.
From then until the World Cup I was paddling better everyday but was also quickly becoming burnt out. By the time the World Cup began I believe that I had all of the physical and technical tools to win but wasn’t really into it, and as a result finished poorly. Burnout is really weird because it is not intentionall, and the only real cure is to taking a few days or a few weeks to simply do something different.
I am back out west now and have been paddling a handful of times the last few weeks and am really starting to feel the love for what I do as a complete package come back. I am planning on next week to be the begging of a new season for me and I am really starting to get excited about being on the water again. At first I felt guilty about being burnt out, but I just had to put it in perspective. I have spent well over half the days of my life on the water in a kayak and this is the first time that I had just had enough, after literally thousand of days. I am actually surprised it has not happened before, but am glad that it has gone away.
So, this fall is going to be filled with playing on and off the river, and I can hardly wait to wake up tomorrow and start a new day.
