Lucerne Preview

Hello from Switzerland! Left Henley on monday morning and arrived here in Lucerne that afternoon. I took a couple days out of the boat and did some running around the area. Saw the sights, the sights are great. The race course is pretty amazing. When you are rowing to the start, there are peaks that rise above the finish line. On my first row on the course, I had trouble not smiling on the way down. Then I thought, why am I supressing my smiling?…so I kept smiling!Racing starts here tomorrow morning. Heats for the M1x will be around noon. The draw takes place this evening, so tonight I will know who I am lined up against. In a field like this, everyone is obviously very very good, so pretty much no matter what the draw is, the plan is the same: go as fast as humanly possible.Compared to the last World Cup in Eton, I feel ready to put down my best racing. I have had a few weeks over here of adjustment, learning, and growth. Now I think this regatta will be a good opportunity for me to show what I can do( without any excuses). In many ways that scares me…no excuses!? What if I perform really badly? That means I take all the blame!

Such is the life of a single sculler. The success is all yours and the failure is yours as well.

In all seriousness, I am very excited to race. A few of the other guys on the US team asked me,” Are you tired of racing yet??” I thought about that for a moment and answered with a resounding, ” No way!”

Racing is the GRP’s middle name!