Yesterday morning we said goodbye to Steph and Chris N., who were anxious to get back to Pennsylvania as much ahead of the winter storm that's headed toward the eastern seaboard as they possibly could.
The rest of us took the morning off from paddling while a system of heavy wind and rain moved through the area. By lunchtime the rain had moved out, and later in the afternoon Chris H., Royal, and I met a few other paddlers at the Blue Run access on the Rainbow River for our time trial, in which we would paddle up the Rainbow from the Route 484 bridge to the KP Hole public access. Normally we would go downriver for a time trial, but the forecast indicated stiff headwinds for downstream paddlers yesterday.
Meanwhile, there was a Strava record for our 484-to-KP course: 29 minutes, 22 seconds by Robert Norman of the Tampa Bay area. I don't do Strava myself, but Chris H. and Royal do, and they were keen on taking a shot at that record.
But that was their worry. I was just hoping for a respectable effort after a taxing, sometimes demoralizing week of training. After some warmup time I decided to get on with it. I lined up at the downstream edge of the bridge, started my watch, and took off.
I knew the distance up to KP Hole was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 kilometers, and as I paddled upriver I saw that I was moving the boat around 10 kilometers per hour--sometimes above, sometimes below depending on how well I chose my lines to avoid the strongest downstream current. Every now and then I would hit a patch of shallow water and my speed would plummet below 7 kph, but other times I would pick a good line and cruise along close to 11 kph.
I wouldn't say I was feeling "good," exactly; I was quite stiff and sore from the workouts we had done on Friday. But I was comfortable with the intensity level and never doubted that I could sustain it all the way to the finish. I aimed for 80 strokes per minute. Eventually the KP Hole facility came into view and I bore down for a strong finish. I paddled up to the upstream edge of the KP Hole property and stopped my watch at 33 minutes, 50 seconds. My G.P.S. device measured my distance paddled at 5.66 kilometers.
Chris and Royal and I paddled together back down to the Blue Run access. There Royal uploaded his effort to Strava, and we learned that he was the new record holder for this course. His official time was 28:17. Chris also finished under the old Strava record with a time of 29:01. I, meanwhile, was satisfied with my result, so the mood was upbeat as we loaded our boats in the parking lot.
This morning I went back to the river for a recovery paddle. I headed downstream toward the Withlacoochee River, which I'd never really checked out before. I paddled down past where the U.S. 41 bridge crosses it, then back up to where the Withlacoochee State Trail crosses it. It's definitely different from the Rainbow: the Rainbow is crystal clear, while the water is tannin-stained on the Withlacoochee; the Withlacoochee also has quite a few algae blooms on it. But I thought the Withlacoochee was pretty enough, especially once I got away from the built-up banks right near the U.S. 41 bridge.
I tried to focus on my rotation, though I was tired and sore from yesterday and my thoughts were wandering about. But it was a pleasant sunny morning, and I saw an otter right as I was getting back to the Blue Run access ramp, so all told it was a successful paddle.
Well, that concludes the Rainbow River camp for this year. I have to check out of the rental house soon.
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