Norge... part1

Hace ya más de un mes que estoy en Noruega, y desafortunadamente mi estancia está siendo muy diferente a como la había imaginado. Justo después del los Campeonatos del Mundo en Plattling volví para casa, una tarde en casa de mi hermana en Barcelona y a las 6 de la mañana siguiente volaba hacia Moss Rygge, Norge. Desupés de un largo y caro tren llegué a Voss, una de las mecas del kayak en Europa. Voss está situado cerca de la costa oeste de Noruega, a escasos 100km de Bergen, la ciudad más turística de Noruega. Tan solo a 52m por sobre del nivel del mar, Voss está rodeado de montañas nevadas.

Right after Worlds in Germany I went to my sister's in Barcelona, unpacked, packed again and flew straight to Norway at 6am on the next day.

I arrived in Norway on Monday morning, and after a couple buses and a long train I made it to Voss, Norway's white water mecca and one of the world, no doubt!

This place is awesome, only 52 meters above sea level and surrounded by nice snowed peaks. The town is right next to the lake, and there's so much water coming from everywhere…. There are so many runs around I'll need another trip just to get to know the classic runs…

Brandseth

Justo al llegar en encontré con Logan, Anton y Rachel, y a la mañana siguiente nos fuimos a ver que podíamos remar. Debido a las intensas lluvias casi todos los ríos estaban demasiado altos, así que al final mucho coche y no remamos nada. Lo mismo el siguiente día, hasta que a la mañana siguiente acertamos y pudimos remar Double Drop en el río Teigdal. Lástima que no remáramos el río ya que es uno de los mejores del mundo. Durante los próximos días remamos el Myrkalselvi con buenos niveles y el Brandseth… algunos de los clásicos en Voss.

Once I arrived in Voss I met up with Logan, Anton and Rachel and we spent the whole first day driving and checking for something to run. Unfortunately the levels were super high due to the heavy rain, so at he end we didn't paddle… We did the same thing on the next day… too bad!

Finally on my third day we drove up Teigdal, on of the best runs in Norway that finished with the famous Double Drop. The level was high for the run, so we decided to run the drop. We all had good lines but unfortunately drove away without paddling the run… bad decision. For the next days we paddled the Myrkdal at some good waterlevels, Brandseth…

Double Drop, Teigdal

El martes 5 de julio fuimos a hacer un río nuevo con Jakub, Benji y Terje. Todo iba perfecto, buenos rápidos, muy buenas líneas… hasta que en el último rápido aterricé sobre piedra. El impacto fue brutal, el más fuerte que jamás haya experimentado… mis costillas absorbieron todo el impacto a través del kayak… el dolor era muy fuerte.

Till here everything is great, having fun and paddling lots. Unfortunately within the first week of my stay in Norway I managed to have a crash. After landing too close to some rocks, the big hit to my boat was absorbed by my left ribs causing a lot of pain.

A día de hoy aun estoy lesionado, después de 1 mes de reposo, y el dolor aun sigue ahí. Durante los últimos 12 meses, he estado lesionado por un total de 8, casi 3/4 partes, el 75%!

Nunca antes del 2010 había estado seriamente lesionado, pero últimamente estoy pagando todas las salvadas antiguas. Las costillas son una parte fundamental, tanto en la vida diaria como haciendo kayak.

1st rapid

Today, almost one month after my accident I'm still injured. The pain is still strong, and however I've done some easy kayaking, biking… the pain is still there and it's not improving much. The healing is taking so long, I'm not able to do almost anything, as everything involves ribs in one way or another.

I've been injured for a total of 8 out of the last 12 months, this is almost 3/4 of a year, 75%. Being injured means you can not do what you love, you can't kayak, you can't do almost any sport, you are in pain even doing the most stupid things and you are constantly angry and frustrated. Recovery is always long and tough. Your body doesn't respond or recover as quickly as you'd like to, days go by and you still feel the same way, you are still resting, the pain is still there and you know you are going stay like this for a while.

Esperando que la recuperación que queda sea lo más rápido posible y ansioso para volver a remar y vivir sin dolor ni tener que vigilar cuando te levantas, te giras…

Suerte a todos!

last rapid..

I had never been seriously injured before 2010. Unfortunately, during the last 12 months I had three (in my opinion) serious injuries. Ribs both sides and right wrist. All of this parts of the body are essential for kayaking. At the moment I'm putting all my effort on trying to heal as fast as I can… (not too fast so far!). The hardest part is to stay out of the water, apart form that there isn't much to do… ice, stretch and rest, lots of boring rest.

As said I can't wait to be back on the water and I really hope it'd be soon. Stay safe everyone!

My best,

Sick photos by Terje Sorgjerd! Tusen takk!