Today's kayaking training was an interesting experience. I used Jiansheng's regatta ended up capsizing 3 times in flatwater conditions. Hur hur. But overall my control of the boat improved (as compared to when I first sat in this morn) and it became a bit more reasonable, even though I was nowhere as stable as in the raptor.

I actually swam for the first time in 3 weeks!!! The experience was simply tiring and hard to catch my breath for the first 6 laps. I was swimming and stopping every lap or 2 to catch my breath for the first 10 laps. Then settled in a bit more and I completed the next 30 in roughly 67sec lap pace (or slower). My ankles felt a bit weak. And I'm still not swimming horizontally I think. But that will do for now...

I've been following the tour de france online. Locally here the 'live' updates start around 7 plus pm and they finally end around 11pm. So far the racing has been ok, with no major surprises. But there has already been 1 abandon in the tour during stage one when one of the riders drafted a team car and ended up smashing into it when the caravan suddenly stopped. He shattered the windscreen and his collar bone. Besides that there were 1 or 2 crashes everyday, but no major injuries.

So far:
Prologue - London 7.9km ITT (individual time trial)
Stage 1 - London to Canterbury (203km). A flat stage with 3 cat 4 climbs
Stage 2 - Dunkirk to Gent (168.5km). A very flat stage with no climbs

18 more stages to go!! That sounds like many many more hours in the saddle...