Paddleboating: Fun or Torture?

My fellow steemians. In my lovely city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (our nation's capital|) we have the Rideau River and the Rideau River canal. There are many interesting sites to visit and many pleasurable activities. For instance paddle boating.

For a reasonable rate you can rent a paddle boat and spend an hour exploring our water system. I recently got to experience paddle boating. It was quite the experience too. Paddle boating is best experienced with a friend, or family member as it takes two to peddle the boat.

In the past I had looked down on the water and had seen happy people moving serenely across the lake. I could see their happy smiles almost hear their gentle conversation and laughter. That looks like fun I thought to myself. Oh, it would be nice to try that sometime.

Well my beloved oldest child, my daughter, scored a two hour rental on a site called Groupon and invited me to join her. Great! Quiet times, sitting in a boat paddling to adventure. The water, the sites, a chance for bonding time in the gentle breeze off the water. Our respective lives are busy and I don't see her often enough so I happily anticipated our outing.

As it turned out it was a chilly day so I wore a light jacket: mistake number one. But here we were at Dow's Lake expecting a lovely time together. I had brought my camera to photograph the wildlife and stunning vegetation around the lake. We donned our life jackets, clambered aboard and with my daughter at the helm we set off. In the next two hours I came to view that paddleboat as an instrument of torture.

It seems my daughter's active lifestyle has equipped her with the legs of an athlete. Now I'm sure the signs posted down the sides of the lake of a speed limit of 10 kph are meant for the motorized vehicles but my child ever the rebel set out to see if she could overcome the posted limit.

Her feet pedaling in a blur of motion had me straining to maintain the pace. I quite believe she succeeded in beating the posted limit. Note: at the time we were paddling against the current. If ever there is a world championship for paddle boat racing my money in on my daughter.

Why didn't I ask her to slow down? By this time I had no air to speak so I was breathing like a winded race horse. In a 15 minute span she managed to get across the lake and into the Rideau Canal. My legs were burning and my heart rate was up near 200 bpm.

"oh, look ducks," she said as we flew past them. The ducks were not even aware we passed. However I imagine the people on the boat we passed scratched their heads and said "what the hell was that?"

It was not too long before I noticed we were taking on water. My side had an inch deep and my daughter's had two inches. I was somewhat concerned but my daughter seemed to take it in stride. Having paddle boated before she had worn leggings and a skirt while I was wearing jeans. I think the lower amount of water on my side had more to do with how much had soaked up into my pants. The day was chilly and the water in my pants was acting as a coolant.

The upper portion of me was soaked in sweat from having worn a jacket and been put through an extreme workout. If not for the life jacket I would have removed my own jacket. I had not expected to perform like an olympic athlete.

Well down the canal, technology came to my rescue. While my daughter was distracted by a text on her phone I seized the helm and headed us back to the dock still a daunting half hour paddling away.

There were taunts of "somebody's tired" she posted on video facebook. Damn straight I was tired. In two hours it felt like I had done a marathon. I could have pushed my car home with less expended effort.

Finally we reached the dock and she hopped out like she had been for an afternoon stroll while I oozed out of the boat and wondered if people would think it strange if I just layed on the dock and whimpered for a while.

My knees did not want to speak to me for days after and my hips still harbor a grudge. If this is what paddle boating is really like I have been handed a reality check. I'm gonna cash that check and cross paddle boating off my bucket list unless I get into some serious training for it. I do have an exercise bike and a treadmill to use to get ready for the next time. But will it be enough?

Don't let this put you off paddle boating with the right partner I'm sure this is a pleasant experience

Live long and prosper