Time Trial Saturday

There are heaps of teams here now. Germans, Slovenians, Swiss, Slovakian, Serbians and should see many more tomorrow. We did a time trial with the Brits today, and I was truly nervous. Not sure why, but I just felt weak today.I was going as hard as I could while I was barely around the first corner but not really moving anywhere near as fast as I should. On this course the first 5 minutes are relatively easy, but still bouncy and with some manoeuvring,while the next three are fast flowing flat water and the final 6 and a half minutes are full-on, unforgiving and relentless technical and slappy whitewater. If you can't go fast in the early- middle part you can't go fast anywhere, and today was one of those days. I'm hoping that the misplaced sense of nagging self-belief that often rescues me in big events will hurry on up and deliver me from negativity soon! Foo had an ordinary day, on track for a very good time he spun out and rolled up in Les Moutons, while Stew put in a solid 14.16, Rob excelled with a 14.27 and I had to be content with a 14.29, only 2 seconds faster than a week ago with a higher HR, better boat, higher water and better river knowledge. We followed up with a teams run which felt a lot better. I think I need to ease into the first few minutes so I can go psycho bananas in the flat bit and then outdo myself in the big stuff. The challenge is to not lie to yourself. It's easy to back off in order to better survive the big stuff, but I also know I race well when I don't start too hard. Another 3 training days, then straight into the Individual World Champs, then, with luck, the teams race, and then the Masters World Champs. It's going to be a big week, and that's not counting the sprints.