March 19 2011: Spring Has Sprung

It All Started in An Almost Normal Way...

This Saturday, the Potomac had returned to the more reasonable level of about 5 ft, which allowed us to go for a second edition of the "Slow Grinding Death" going from Angler's to Sycamore Island. 

The team (minus Liam and Thomas, away on a backpacking trip) met at noon under sunny skies.  Spring was in the air and the balmy temperature caused a smidgen of confusion among the members of the Dream Team. Could they be the victims of a mild collective heat stroke?  Maybe! But they were more likely perturbed by the sharp contrast between the chilly temperatures of the past few weeks and the 70+ degrees we experienced this Saturday.  As a result, the first half-hour was spent discussing wardrobe issues.  "What to wear or not to wear?  Dry top? Too warm! Fleece? To cold!  Splash top? Disgustingly sticky! Neoprene or neoprene+splash top? But it is too warm for that today! Yes, but the water is cold!" And on goes the dry-top.  "But we are going to work hard and sweat!" And off goes the dry-top. 
After some animated discussions and debates everyone made up their mind and the group ended up with a whole range of river apparel going from bare arms to full-on dry-top/neoprene combination with, in between, the fleece only outfit and the "almost dry-top" option.  Ben won the price of the "Most Laid-back Paddler of The Day" with a casual "Socks-only style" -- yes, that means no shoes :) -- tastefully enhanced by a white sock-black sock combination.

Eventually, we put on the canal to practice some drills while working our way up-river.  After taking out at Canal Falls, Ben realized in horror that he had been giving a ride to a colony of ants (see little black fuzzy things in the picture), which decided to call "home" his very cozy blue Pirouette S. The squatters were promptly drowned in the Potomac as soon as we reached Sandy Beach.  The ant extermination turned out to be quite an undertaking but the inside of Ben's boat ended up squeaky clean.  In the meantime, Sandrine, whose boat was filling with water so fast that she was paddling "a bath tub", found multiple cracks at the bottom of her boat and patched them with some Gorilla tape, hoping she would not sink before reaching the Sycamore Island take-out. 

After a couple of other misadventures involving a little bit of "cross-training" for some of us (i.e. some rolling, a little swimming, a touch of rock climbing, some heavy boat lifting...etc) we paddled downstream in an eerily uneventful way.  Our down-river paddle was broken down in several stages and we practiced paddling at different paces.  Hopefully, everybody also started to understand the importance of reading the water in order to work with the river instead of fighting it and muscling their way around.

Here are a few tips, that might be useful on these long stretches of paddling, during a race or simply while running rivers.

How to Cheat the Slow Grinding Death

The down river paddle to Sycamore Island better known as "Slow Grinding Death"  will not seem so "slow" nor so "grinding" if you apply a few simple tips:

1. Focus on your strokes

1. Make them as efficient as you can by engaging your torso muscles rather than your arms only. Here is a link to a video that Tom put together to illustrate the forward stroke technique.
2. Avoid back-strokes to correct the angle of your boat but prefer sweeps, draws and even rudders.  Back-strokes kill your momentum... Not so good, is it? 

2. Use the water! The shortest time between two points is not always achieved by following a straight line.

1. Read the water (color, texture...etc)
2. Follow the fast moving water
3. Avoid going through waves and holes.  They will slow you down considerably.
4. When you can, use whirlpools to pick-up momentum and get your boat to glide. It is a very cool feeling, too!

3. Do not go all out all the time.

1. First: CONTROL.  It is better NOT to take a stroke than take a stroke that will not propel your boat where you want it to go.
2. Then, POWER.  Only put the "pedal to the metal" when you know you have total control of your craft.  This will prevent you from spinning out of control and have to struggle to get back on track.

These simple tips are a good starting point. 
Try to keep them in mind next time you are on the river. 
Hopefully they will work for you!! =o)

Saturday March 12 2011: Zee Team Hits the Town

With a river level close to 11 feet, "Zee Team" (minus Zach, who had to be on a SAT mission) hit the Capital.  The exercise was a bit different from "the Slow Grinding Death" you experienced last weekend.

We zoomed from Fletcher's boathouse to the Key Bridge in less than half an hour. The water was moving fast!!  You all noticed the huge boils and whirlpools we encountered, especially after peeling out of our starting eddy.  And even if nobody had to experience highly technical moves such as the "refrigerator boof" or the "washing machine dodge", you saw that the Po can sometimes move some pretty large and not so friendly objects.   The River certainly showed us a different personality yesterday.

After paddling on river left past Roosevelt Island and past the Memorial Bridge, we attained back up on the river right side of Roosevelt Island.  Everybody seemed to absolutely looooooooove paddling upstream -- or not? --  In any case, you all did pretty well, despite the despair that started to show at times.  by the way, keep focusing on your forward stroke! I already noticed some improvement!


Despite the enthusiasm that gained the group during the attainment up river, Ashley and I (after much begging and pleading) managed to get you all to finally paddle downstream.  After a nice sprint to the finish line, we took out at the Washington Canoe Club, where another set of activities such as stretching, chatting, trash talking, wrestling....etc took place.  You guys are certainly a fun crowd!!

It looks like this workout opened Liam's appetite!! Or is this an ad for Clif Bars?

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND GOOD SPIRIT !


 SEE YOU ON THE RIVER!