So yesterday we got out in the boat for the first paddle of the season on the Nashua River. I love the excitement of pulling out all the gear and getting ready to head out onto waters we haven’t seen in months. We have a great local put in minutes away from the house that we had scouted out earlier in the week to make sure it was accessible and open. The parking lot at the put in hadn’t been plowed all season so we had to park in the other lot and carry the boat thru the snow which was interesting to say the least. The snow was still up to my knees but we trudged right thru knowing it would be easy to get into the water on the other side. It actually wasn’t too bad with our fancy rubber boots we added to the paddling wardrobe. It makes a huge difference getting in the boat with snow and ice around knowing you can step in the water and not have to sit with wet feet for a couple hours in the boat.
We decided to take “the barge” our plastic red Wenonah out for safety and strength training sake. Early in the season and being the first time on the river in months you never know what has moved and shifted over the winter so the bigger stable boat adds a little confidence to the day if you ask me. We also feel that moving that big boat up and down the river gives us a little competitive edge and helps wake up those paddling muscles that have been resting for a while. We made our way easily down the river towards the Rt. 2 bridge stopping once in a while to cut out some branches on downed trees that had shifted and block our lines from the year before. Of course we also marked out some trees that needed some chainsaw action but that would be a project for the warmer days when we don’t mind getting a little wet.
Surprisingly enough we made it past the Rt. 2 bridge and just around the bend where we ran into a pretty sizable iceberg so we stopped and had a drink and espresso gel. We both felt great at this point and had about an hour of paddling under our belts. All the training with Jeremy at Achieve Performance and the occasional run in with the treadmill seem to have paid off. The paddling muscles were warming up nicely. As I sat in my seat I thought to myself paddling is like riding a bike, your brain and body remember quickly how to make a good stroke and move the boat along nicely. As we turned around to head back up stream we started talking about our trip to Florida and the sites we will see. It’s really nice to get out and see all the wood ducks and occasional mink but the prospect of seeing gators and dolphins in a few weeks has really got me excited. Ohh yeah that 75-80 degree weather is going to be pretty awesome too considering it was about 35 degrees out when we started our adventure today. Well we had plans to make it back down to the river today but we woke up to about 3-4 inches of fresh snow so we decided that maybe the gym was the way to go today. It was a good start and we now have about 6 miles and an hour and forty-five minutes under our training belts.
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