The Rivanna River Race has been held every year since 2006 and until this year I’ve raced in every once, except the first year when I did not know about it.
In all previous years the race was organized by one man, Merrill Bishop, who did all the heavy lifting of planning, organizing and arranging volunteers.
For the past several years I have quietly contributed behind the scenes assisting with marketing, public relations, communications and building communities to support the race via the Rivanna River Paddlers Facebook group, http://www.CvillPaddlers.com, and @CvillePaddlers on Twitter. I was happy to help promote kayak racing in the local community and always took great joy in helping ensure the success of our local race and helping others develop an appreciation for paddling.
This year was different.
Merrill decided to step back after last year’s race and I agreed to be a co-organizer this year along with Paddling Buddy Dave.
The amount of planning for an event like this is not insignificant.
There was the development of a race webpage, creating a race flyer, numerous news releases, constant communication via the Facebook group, a radio interview, posting the event on calendars such as PaddleGuru.com, Nextdoor.com, and Blue Ridge Outdoors online, getting and organizing volunteers, etc.
Filing a County Park special event permit application at the last moment because I had no idea we needed to file one. Applying for ACA affiliate membership and event insurance, subsequent revision of the insurance to include co-insured, creation of an online pre-registration form.
A lot goes into an event like this.
Getting up early on race day to set up tables and chairs at the finish line, helping at the starting line to ensure things went as smoothly as possible for our paddlers and volunteers. Paddling the route the night before with Paddling Buddy Dave and removing obstacles to ensure a safe race.
The list goes on.
I had decided a while ago I was not going to race this year. It was a difficult decision but one I felt was the right one.
And to be honest, if we would have gotten a lot of rain with a high river on race day, I might have changed my mind.
But since I have been helping out with communications for years the local paddling community naturally associated the race with me, not the person truly to thank, Merrill Bishop.
I never intended to become the face of the race but I had.
So I decided I needed to take a year off from racing, get some perspective on the race, and avoid any appearance of conflict of interest or seem like the race is self-serving in any way.
As you know, I participate in many races and always write about my experiences and usually do a video of the events because I want to promote all kayak races and promote paddling in general. I do what I do because I love the sport and believe more people could benefit from a more healthy lifestyle and improve their mental state by participating in paddle sports. Race organizers usually love it when I show up at their events because I help give them a bigger footprint on social media.
But my local race?
Maybe I had lost perspective.
So I helped set up at the finish line early Saturday morning and then drove to the starting line to help there as best I could.
Racers started arriving and registration seemed to go rather smoothly. Somebody even brought copies of the regional Magazine, Unbound, which featured our local paddling community and race on the front cover.
I swear I did not bring any of these copies of the magazine.
Paddling friend and volunteer, Shelli, checking out Unbound Magazine at the starting line
So the racers got checked in and the safety briefing began at ~9:35am.
During the safety briefing Shelli and I headed out in our boats to sit at the first significant set of rapids and serve as safety patrol.
Everyone who knows me fully realizes I’m human and suffer from all the maladies, flaws and shortcomings associated with being human.
As I headed down to the river with my boat prior to launch I felt a bit of resentment that I was not going to participate as a racer this year. All the hard work. All the bumps, bruises, stress and skirmishes during the pre-race planning…and I wasn’t even going to enjoy racing myself?
I was not happy.
I did not have the joy in my heart that I had in all previous years.
But a funny thing soon happened.
As soon as I got into my kayak everything changed.
We paddled down and got to our post and took up residence on some rocks and waited for the racers to start coming through the “railroad” rapid.
I brought my video camera and tripod and set up shop.
What then happened was amazing.
I got to see the smiles on every racer’s face as they came through that rapid.
I got to capture video and pictures of every participant in the race.
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I felt their joy and I was able to share their adventure with them, if even just few a few moments as they paddled by. I was able to cheer on every person as they passed by. I saw young paddlers, old paddlers, serious paddlers and paddlers who were simply thrilled to be on the water.
After our safety boater, Scott Shaw, came through we knew the last participant had passed through our checkpoint so we jumped back in our kayaks and escorted the “back of the packers” to the finish line.
I gained even more perspective.
I paddled ahead and then waited below rapids to make sure everyone got through alright. I got out of my boat a couple times to help people get unstuck from rocks and made sure everyone completed the race.
I thoroughly enjoyed the race and, quite possibly, it was my most enjoyable race because I got to see it through the eyes and perspective of others.
The volunteers. The racers. Merrill Bishop.
Two astounding events encapsulated the entire event.
One: An anonymous donor gave a $100 bill to be awarded to the racer with the fastest overall time.
Two: Said paddler taking the envelope with the cash, asked who the race benefits, and when he was told the proceeds were being given to The Rivanna Conservation Alliance, immediately handed the envelope back and said, “Give it to them.”
That is what it is all about.
I am hopeful that new volunteers step forward to take on organizing responsibilities in future years. I know I’m not cut out for it.
Now that I’ve been through a full cycle myself I’m happy to help transition the race organization to new volunteers and/or management and I remain 100% committed to ensuring the future success of this race.
But I do want to get back to racing in this race.
Merrill has left a race legacy that deserves the support of our community.
One way or another I will help that legacy endure.
Friday afternoon I drove up to Pennsylvania to paddle in the inaugural running of the Youghness Monster 25, a 25-mile paddle race on the Youghiogheny River between Connellsville and West Newton, PA.
I got to the check-in to pick up my race packet and immediately recognized some old friends and started making new ones.
First I bumped into Brian Ammon, whom you may recall I first met at the Lehigh Classic race in 2016 and then again at the Little D On The Monocacy race in 2017. Brian hasn’t changed a bit and is never shy to share stories of paddling adventures which is part of what makes him so charming. He is a wealth of paddling information and history.
Me and Brian Ammon
I soon then met Hansel Lucas, owner of Performance kayaks who, along with Stellar Kayaks and others, sponsored the race.
Hansel Lucas, Owner of Performance Kayaks
I then also soon met Steve Bruner, who graciously agreed to an interview with me.
Shortly thereafter I headed to Uniontown where I was staying at the Holiday Inn Express. The rain starting coming down and questions started coming to mind.
How cold would it be in the morning?
Would it rain all day for the race?
How high will the river be?
How shall I dress?
What happens if continuous Class II rapids are above my skills level in this boat?
I took one last look at my boat and then headed into the hotel for some sleep.
I had some trepidation about this race because it was the first time I was taking my Thunderbolt-X kayak onto any moving water and I was not sure how skilled I would be with her in rapids. I’ve only used her as a flat water training boat and the thought of rapids bigger than advertised or possibly smashing her into rocks worried me greatly.
Flipping and filling her full of water would equate to “game over” for the race as it would take long time for me to empty her out and recover.
Hansel Lucas assured me the water was at a good level and that the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to release some more water from the upstream dam so the water would come up at least 8″ overnight. He said he and friends run carbon/Kevlar boats on that section of river regularly and that anything above 4 ft. at the Sutersville, PA gauge was fine for any construction of boat.
I looked at the gauge on my RiverFlows app one last time and saw the river was well above 4K and was already starting to rise, so I felt better about the situation.
The water came up to a great level overnight
The alarm when off 6:30am on race morning and I quickly got ready and ate a breakfast of some scrambled eggs with 2 sausage patties and black coffee before heading back up to the starting line at Connellsville.
I grabbed another black coffee for the road for the 20 minute drive.
It should be noted I had no other food until ~7pm when I stopped for dinner on the drive home. During the race I only had water in a CamelBak bladder and was not again hungry until well after the race.
Being fat-adapted is great. #NSNG #LCHF
People were starting to gather at the starting line and dropping boats at the ramp. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of high-end surf skis to me, especially for this land-locked area of the country.
The weather was warming up fast so I realized minimal clothing would indeed be appropriate (even though I brought a wet suit just in case.) I had safety clothing stowed in my dry bag, but I was not going to start with too much clothing because a body generates a lot of heat when exerting sustained energy. It is better to get to the side of the river to add layers than it is to try to remove layers due to overheating while trying to paddle and balance a boat. Just my opinion.
I chatted with several people before the race began and it wasn’t until I was driving home after the race I realized why one particular guy seemed very familiar. He was Joe White, or JoeDirt22222 on YouTube.
He designed a kayak ergometer which served as the inspiration for my own do-it-yourself, DIY, kayak ergometer design. Please, purchase one of Joe’s ergometers! Dude is amazing and is an awesome paddler.
There were skis everywhere. Primarily Stellar but Epic skis were also well represented.
We had a pre-race briefing and then the race began.
We were given ankle bracelets with timing chips and walked across a mat to start our time and then went to the water to get into our kayaks and begin paddling.
I allowed the first big wave of paddlers to start first as I hung back a while since I knew I was racing against the clock and didn’t want to be in the first giant cluster of paddlers. Plus I thought I might get better video if many of the racers were in front of me.
I got in my boat and pushed out and quickly realized something was wrong.
I worked my rudder tiller and realized I had very little control over my kayak. Not a good thing in a 21′ craft.
I soon surmised my rudder cable fell off my rudder so I paddled back to shore, got out of the boat, slipped the rudder cable back into its track, and then got back in and started paddling.
Already a loss of two or three minutes which didn’t sit well with me.
Oh well, you can’t change it, you just deal with it and move forward.
So I took off downstream and quickly hit the first set of Class II rapids.
The real test.
I took short, choppy, bracing strokes and essentially “floated” through the rapids trying to remain upright to get a feel for how the boat behaved, That worked well so I decided that would be my strategy for the day.
Short bracing strokes and conservative through the rapids and give it all I have on the flats.
The strategy worked well and I found myself in 1st place amongst all kayaks at the finish, 5th overall amongst solo paddlers. With nothing but 4 fast surf skis with elite paddlers ahead of me I felt satisfied with my performance.
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Crossing the finish line at Youghness Monster 2018
It felt good to pass so many surf skis!
This section of river is mostly flat water with numerous sections of Class I and Class II rapids. The flats aren’t so long as to get boring and the rapids are not threatening and they are plentiful enough to keep you on alert the whole time.
I ran a pretty good race and took some risks in term of lines chosen and guessed right most of the time as I was often able to gain on the paddlers in front of me by taking a different path around a few islands or taking a different line through the rapids. I paddled alongside and chatted with a few other paddlers throughout the race and it just reinforced my opinion that fellow paddlers are some of the nicest, most interesting people in the world.
What really kept me going, though, was the fact that my sister was bringing my parents to the finish line to greet me and I couldn’t wait to see them all.
Mom and dad meeting me at the end of the race, the first kayak race of mine they’ve ever experienced. Astute readers may recall them posing with the boat when it was brand new in 2011.
Thanks, sis!
I neared the finish and my eyes welled as I spotted my parents at the top of the ramp.
We got in a great visit for the next few hours and then I headed back home to Central Virginia through heavy thunderstorms.
It was a long day but a wonderful day. Physically I felt fine and felt as though I could have easily paddled another 25 miles.
The organizers of this race did an amazing job for a first time race. The awards ceremony was a bit of a letdown since there were technically no awards, but that did not diminish a wonderful experience on a very scenic river and a very well organized event.
I look forward to paddling this race in future years.
I’ve only paddled ~40 actual water miles so far this year so my on-water training is behind where I’d like it to be. This is mainly due to a busy schedule and cold weather. In fact, as recently as this past weekend we experienced snow and freezing rain here in Charlottesville.
As a result I’ve continued to hit the gym hard but will back off starting next week and have several light weeks in a row as I get back on the water to log some serious miles and get back into paddling shape. If the weather is bad, I’ll be ramping up the miles indoors on my kayak ergometer.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve lost much of my technique as the few sessions I’ve had on the water so far with Paddling Buddy Dave have been very good workouts and my form is still there.
I sold my Pyranha Octane and ordered a new boat which will be revealed in due time. (I don’t want my competition to know what’s coming.) Keep an eye open as a new boat with a fresh review is always exciting!
We just found out this week that the James River Association is no longer going to host the annual James River Rundown, which was becoming a popular ultra-marathon kayaking event on the East Coast of the U.S. This is sad news because many of us looked forward to this event each year and its popularity was growing.
Years ago there was a different race to benefit a day camp, The Camp Kum-ba-yah Race, in Lynchburg on the James and that was a great event, but they, too, stopped hosting that race.
So we are left with no kayak/canoe race on the James River in Virginia.
I’m hopeful that somebody else will pick up and run with the idea of an organized marathon kayak race on the James. When they do they can count on me for support.
Paddling Buddy Dave and I have talked about hosting a 44 mile race on our local river, The Rivanna, or possibly making the race longer by extending it onto the James where we could easily turn it into a 55, 66, or 85 mile race. Dave and I might have to talk more seriously about this for 2019. If you represent a charity and would like to take on this fundraising project, just let me know.
In the meantime in 2018, the closest thing we get is a new race called The Richmond Paddle Cup hosted by Crosswind Paddle Company with the longest race being a mere 17 miles. A huge letdown for those of us looking forward to another ultra this year close to home.
To make it more interesting, a couple of us have hatched a plan. In order to make this 17 mile race more interesting and as a reminder that we don’t always need to be looking for the next fast boat or better gear, we are having an event within the event.
We will adhere to all the regular rules of the Richmond Paddle Cup but we will have our own division within the 17 mile race in which we will all have to use a boat we found on Craigslist for $200 or less. It has been dubbed, “The First Annual Craigslist Challenge.”
I just found this photo in the archives and it is one of my favorite photos. Two old school boats, the Phoenix Match II and the Perception Wavehopper, taking first and second place on a low water day in the 2015 Rivanna River Race, Charlottesville, VA.
I hate the phrase “bucket list,” but yesterday I was able to check off an item that has been on my bucket list for a couple years.
Paddling buddy Dave and I jumped in our kayaks and paddled the entire length of the Rivanna River from just below the dam at the South Rivanna Reservoir in Charlottesville to the James River at Columbia, VA. This was a training run for our upcoming 100-mile James River Rundown.
I paddled my new-to-me Prion Beluga and Dave paddled his Epic V7 surf ski. He definitely, once again, had the boat advantage and I probably pushed myself a little too hard trying to keep up.
We started at 6am but paddled through the heat of the day on a very hot day and it has taken me most of today to recover. Maybe a little heat stroke or maybe a little sinus infection, I remember rolling on my side in my sleep last night and waking up and feeling dizzy. And again this morning, when I bent over I felt dizzy. So I took it easy all morning and early afternoon and am back on track this evening.
Nutrition yesterday consisted of bacon and eggs with coffee for breakfast, a couple of Epic bars and water along the way, a “cheat” snack of a MusclePharm Combat Crunch bar at one point when the heat was getting to me and I felt weak, and 1 Nuun tablet in water.
Now I’m feeling good and I have a sense of accomplishment. It took us 7-3/4 hours of paddling at 5.8mph over the 44.1 miles and we saw countless turtles, Herons, heard a few beaver tail slaps, and were even treated to two American Bald Eagle sightings.
I raced in the Rivanna River kayak race last Saturday and had a wonderful time.
The race organizers did a great job of coordinating a well-run event and the volunteers were outstanding.
I arrived plenty early to drop my boat at the starting line and then drove to the finish line/takeout to try to catch a shuttle back to the start. This year, a new outfitter in town, The Rivanna River Company, provided a complimentary shuttle with their bus which made life extraordinarily convenient.
There was another guy at the put-in with a Cobra Viper, my buddy Dave with his Epic V7, and several other fast boats so I knew the competition would be fierce this year. Organizers reported a record number of ~70 racers and with that many competitors, you never know what is going to happen.
The starting horn sounded and I got off to a fairly good start. A few boats were out ahead of me and I was able to pass them fairly quickly. All except for one, Dave S. in his Epic V7.
I paced behind Dave for a short while and then saw an opportunity to make my move to get in front of him about a quarter of a mile into the race. I passed him fairly easily but heard him file in behind me and I knew he was close.
We approached a bend in the river less than 1 mile into the race, and I thought Dave’s bow was at or ahead of my stern and we followed the main current where a tree was protruding from the left bank of the river. Rather than use my rudder to make a quick adjustment to the right and possibly bump into Dave, I decided to cut as tightly as I could to the tree and stay as tight into the bend as I could.
That was a mistake for a couple reasons.
First, my boat hit and branch that was just under water which forced me into another branch that hit me in the left shoulder and chest. While either one of these would normally have been recoverable events, combined they caused me to lose balance and I overturned. I thought my race was over.
The second reason the decision to cut it close to the tree was a bad decision was the fact that Dave wasn’t actually just behind me. He had split river right, so unbeknownst to me, I had plenty of room to maneuver around the tree. I should have spun my my head around to know for sure where Dave was.
After I overturned, I was able to quickly get to some shallower water and when I looked up, Dave was paddling back up river to check on me to make sure I was OK. I yelled at him that I was OK that he should turn around and keep racing but he kept coming back upstream. I yelled at him again, “Go, go set a record,” and he said, “no, I can’t leave you.”
I quickly flipped my boat over to try to drain out as much water as I could and watched as least 5 or 6 boats pass me. I jumped back in my Viper telling Dave, “I’m fine, go, go!” At that point he turned back downriver and started racing again.
It took me another 10 or 20 seconds to get my boat turned around and start downriver again, but I probably lost at least 90 seconds in total and now had an inch or so of water in the bottom of the boat which represented a great deal of extra weight.
I realized quickly I had two choices. Paddle leisurely knowing I was defeated or start racing again to see if I could catch up to the front pack.
I decided to continue racing.
Much to my surprise, I was able to catch up to and pass most of the other paddlers. All of them, in fact, except Dave.
I kept him in sight for the rest of the race and tried as hard as I could to catch up to him just to see if I could do it, but I had decided that if I caught him, there was no way I was going to pass him. His selfless act in helping me earned him the right to win this race if it came down to just the two of us. I was able to close in on him but wasn’t able to entirely close the gap.
When I crossed the finish line, Dave was already there and I gave him a high five and thanked him for his help and concern. He finished in 52:47 and I finished in 53:41, a little less than 1 minute behind him. The next closest time was just under 58 minutes so even with my mishap and Dave’s sacrifice, we pretty much smoked everyone else.
I don’t think I ever felt so good or had as much fun in a river race! Adversity threw itself at me and I was able to quickly recover and overcome.
I also know that I have the best paddling partner possible for the James River Rundown and I predict right now, if we complete that 100-mile race together, we will have exactly the same time as we cross the finish line together.
As feared, the water levels were very high last Saturday on the Tye River, forcing the race organizers to postpone or cancel the Nelson Downriver Race.
It was a disappointment.
But I used the morning to take advantage of the high, local water on the Rivanna River and took my whitewater play boat down river and tested out a new helmet cam.
Tomorrow morning I’ll be racing in a kayak on the same section of river.
2015 was an odd year and my outdoor training took a huge hit.
We made a local move to a new home in the Spring of 2015 and between getting the old house ready for market and settling into the new home and all that goes with it, my free time for kayaking and cycling was limited.
The upside in terms of fitness, however, was that we moved from the country into a neighborhood with a fully equipped fitness center so I started spending a lot of evening hours in the gym. If I couldn’t be outdoors training during the day then I’d at least be training hard in the gym in the evenings to build some muscle and drop some fat to enhance my skills on the water.
On the first Saturday in May I took time out from unpacking boxes and maintaining two properties to race once again in the Nelson Downriver Race on the Tye River. I wanted to race this race in my Phoenix again to make it past Rockpile rapids without incident.
Making it through Rockpile Rapids with ease, although a tree branch stole my favorite paddling hat
I did not get a great start as another paddler went perpendicular in the first rapid and I wound up tangled with his boat for a while, but I soon recovered and had a fairly good run downriver in my Phoenix Match II kayak. I thought I would place well because I passed a lot of people on the river during the race and when I came across the finish line I did not see anyone in front of me.
As it turned out, two paddlers finished well ahead of me and one more started behind me in a different heat but would end up posting a time more than a minute faster than me so I took forth place overall. It was a finish that was not at all unsurprising since I had only been on the water two times that year prior to the race and wasn’t in any sort of condition.
Crossing the finish line at the 2015 Nelson Downriver Race in my Phoenix Match II kayak
I was unsure of the water levels that day so I loaded up two boats on my vehicle the night before and would decide at race time which was the better choice. That is to say, I knew what the river gauges were telling me the day before but I held out hope for some rain overnight.
The rain did not come.
I checked out the finish line first thing and saw that the water was low and I also heard reports that there was a fallen Sycamore tree across the river that left only a narrow passage, river-left that most likely would require a portage during the race.
So I decided one again on the Phoenix Match II because it was shorter and lighter than the other boat on top of my vehicle and it would skim off rocks more easily in low water.
The starting horn blew and I got off to…the absolute worst start ever.
I still don’t know what exactly happened to me at the starting line that morning, but somehow I started river-left and my boat started drifting into the center of the river within the first few paddle strokes. Rather than kill my speed and make the proper correction early, I decided to try to power through a gradual correction and that, combined with the waves from others’ boats, only made matters worse and pushed me more to the right, right across the river in front of almost all the other racers.
My embarrassing start at the 2015 Rivanna River Race
I was very embarrassed and felt I had already blown the race but I kept my eye on the leader and decided to sprint to try to catch up to him. He was paddling a Perception Wavehopper kayak and I knew he would be tough to catch.
I spent a lot of energy catching up to him but I did, and then passed him. I did not know if I had enough energy and endurance left to hold him off for the rest of the race but I was able to and never lost the lead after I got in front.
It was close, though.
I would put some distance between us in the flat water and he would narrow the gap through the rapids. This cycle repeated several times.
We both made it through the narrow, shallow section around the fallen Sycamore tree without getting out of our boats, though.
I came across the finish line in first place and found myself in a position I did not expect to be in. A three-peat winner of the local race.
And that, my friends, is where I started revealing this journey to you.
I created this blog to tell you my story and to document my journey not only for my children to read at some point but for others who might just be getting into fitness mid-life.
From this point forward I’ll be essentially “live blogging,” but will also fill you in on more of my diet and exercise routine along the way.
Before I started taking things seriously a few years ago I weighed ~180 pounds and was ~20% body fat. At my lightest weight immediately after the 2014 Storming of Thunder Ridge 100-mile bike ride I weighed in at 159 pounds and was ~13% body fat. That was way too light and unhealthy for me considering I got there in ~16 months.
I’ve under-eaten to the point where my metabolism and hormones crashed, I’ve suffered brain fog, tendonitis, twitching eye lids, sleeplessness, night sweats, and irritability under the guise of losing fat and getting healthy and there is one thing for sure I can tell you.
Eating at a significant caloric deficit for any length of time is not healthy and is not sustainable.
After figuring out how to eat and train to add muscle and lose fat, I’m now at ~176 pounds at ~16% body fat. I’m just about where I want to be, but am currently in a cutting phase for Spring. I think I’m safe to lose 3-4 pounds.
I’ve been eating at a slight caloric surplus for months (by design) and I know I’ve added muscle mass by lifting heavy and then high volume in the gym over the winter months and am looking forward to shedding a few pounds to strip off a bit of the fat to see what is left underneath.
It is time to maintain my muscle for kayaking season but to also lighten up to float higher on the water.
I’ve tried just about everything when it comes to weight lifting, training, dieting, and supplements and would like to share one pearl of wisdom with you at this point if you are trying to lose weight and get in shape.
Figure out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and do not go over or under that caloric intake by a drastic amount whether you are trying to add muscle or lose weight.
Do not do a drastic bulking phase and do not do a drastic cut/crash-diet phase.
Proper diet (i.e. What you eat) and patience are 95% of the game. Aside from that, be active, keep moving, and lift heavy things regularly to maintain or add muscle mass at any age.
It can be done.
No sugar, no grains, lift heavy things, don’t eat significantly over or under maintenance calories, and keep moving! Use it or lose it.
Paddling friend and volunteer, Shelli, checking out Unbound Magazine at the starting line
Hansel Lucas, Owner of Performance Kayaks
The water came up to a great level overnight
Mom and dad meeting me at the end of the race, the first kayak race of mine they’ve ever experienced. Astute readers may recall them 
Yinz paddle?
Start of the 2017 Rivanna River Canoe & Kayak Race
Making it through Rockpile Rapids with ease, although a tree branch stole my favorite paddling hat
