US Team Trails – Demshitz Style

Well the US Team Trials is now officially over and Demshitz made our mark on the freestyle world.  This September the Freestlye World Championships will be held at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, NC, and Demshitz wanted a piece of the action.  Click for the full story.

Mid Ride/ Mid Dknasty

This story starts a number of years back for most of us, and when I say us I am refering to David Fusilli, Mike Patterson, and myself.  The three of us are lucky enough to travel together representing Pyranha Kayaks through competitions, media, and dealer visits.  The idea of being on the US Freestyle Team has been on all of our minds for a while now.  With the Team Trails and World Championships being here in the US, and with the best kayak on the market, we knew this was our time to make a push for the Team.  January would kick off our training, and that would include lots of kayaking mixed with some running and weight training.  Here is a short video from the kayak part of the training.

Demshitz Training

Once the Team Trails were upon us it was time to focus and get some work done.  With changing levels, a changing feature and poor organization, NOC was really behind this thing.  After the first round all three of us had made it into top ten, but the next cut would determine who was on the team.  David Fusilli and myself did not have our best rides, but we did have one more chance with Mike Patterson. Demshitz had a bunch of support from family, friends, and loved ones, and with that he was able to put together a good ride.

Demshitz cheering section

Mike Patterson beat out some big names such as Andrew Holcombe and Stephen Wright to become, maybe, the first Pyranha paddler to be on the US Mens Freestyle Team. Needless to say Mike was stoked, and David and myself were just as happy for him.

Mikey likes it!

Now with all the stress of the ridged “freestyle” kayaking over with we can get down with some non “freestyle”, freestyle kayaking. I will leave you with this, enjoy.

Beer and Blunt