Dominion Riverrock: A study in x-treme and freestyle sports

The combo sport + music weekend—a popular one, for obvious reasons—is nigh, but can you get through a week at work. Or will the anticipation be too much? We’ve come up with a week of previews that will sustain you like a powerful, time-release drug until you can Riverrock it up at the real thing.

May 15, 2015; 9:25 AM • by Susan Howson

The week may have just begun, but it’s got Riverrock at the end of it! Each day, we’ll giving you one Riverrock-sport rabbit hole that’s just ready and waiting for you to jump in, feet-first. Get lost in sports, and before you know it, quittin’ time will be here.

Monday

It’s Monday, and you have work to do, but you also need some serious motivation to get through what seems like a five-day eternity stretching in front of you. We’ll start off with a bang.

Garmin Freestyle Biking

Look at these kids go! I fail to understand how one even learns to do one of these tricks without dying or, at the very least, knocking some teeth out. Watch various stages of this competition on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, with Slopestyle finals on Saturday at 6:00 PM and Best Trick finals on Sunday at 4:00 PM.

Tuesday

You’ve got your email sorted out and your to-do list made, so it’s time to get some work done. But when you need to take a break from staring at your computer–wait, keep staring at your computer. Looking outside will fill you with restless discontent.

Stand Up Paddleboarding

Not being an athlete, I can sit back in my comfy, dry chair and laugh at how silly stand up paddleboarders look when they are trying to go fast. Although, I do hear it is a relaxing thing to do on the river, and I bet it’s fun to pretend you’re a gondolier, cruising by Rocketts Landing and serenading young professionals with Italian arias. I don’t think any of that will be happening at Riverrock, though.

Here’s how crazy it can get at the finish line of an SUP cross event:

This guy will probably not be there, or if he is, he will not be seeing those waves in the James River. And if he does, we have bigger problems.

SUP Cross happens entirely on Saturday, while SUP Enduro endures on Sunday.

Wednesday

The week is getting older, the Day of the Hump is here. Uh oh, your stack of work to do looks a little thin, and if you sit around staring at your fingernails, your boss might give you more things to do. Project the appearance of a busy worker bee by looking at videos of slackline tricks. Open up a Word doc while you do so and just start typing “OMG I AM WORRIED THESE SLACKLINERS ARE GOING TO DASH THEIR SKULLS TO PIECES UPON THE CEMENT SIDEWALK.” NO one will know the difference.

Slackline

From the slackline World Cup ’13. You can see this on your own allllll over the Riverrock schedule.

Thursday

Can you sense it? The smell of river water and the sounds of rock? Ahoy, up ahead on the shore is Riverrock, beckoning you.

Sierra Nevada Freestyle Kayaking

If you were a freestyle kayaker (and who knows, maybe you are), you’d definitely. know the smell of river and the sound of rock (or your helmet hitting it). More than anything that I just discovered during this perusal of Riverrock events, freestyle kayaking makes me sit here with my mouth ajar. They…remind me of humpback whales or like seals or some sort of marine creature that enjoys playing but is also maybe in some peril.

See freestyle kayaking in person on Sunday, and do your best not to throw them a life-preserver.

Friday

You did it. You paced yourself. You enduro-ed your way through the week, and as a result, you earned the right to be mesmerized by dogs jumping into water.

Subaru Ultimate Air Dogs

I highly recommend spending your Friday doing nothing but watching this and other videos of its ilk.

Air Dogs is basically all weekend, so you can just stand creepily and zone out while dogs are manipulated into performing for us. Why is this like weird therapy?

May 15, 2015 9:25 AM · in Shockoe News 1 5 updates