Paddling The Colorado River 100 Canoe/Kayak Race

 

(2007 Update on 2007 Gallery page)

The Race

To paddle 100 miles down the scenic Colorado River in east Texas from Bastrop to Columbus. For details go to the race web site:

www.coloradoriver100.com

A sea kayak on a river? The Colorado River along this stretch is beautiful and almost entirely non-technical. I entered the solo adventure class with my Chesapeake Light Craft LT 17 homebuilt sea kayak. I bumped sand bars along the way and slid over some smooth rock at one point but ended the race with only a few more scratches on the hull. (My poor body was in much worse shape than my boat.)

Am I fit enough? Prior to this my longest race was about five miles. This was 100 miles but what could be so hard about paddling down a river? (A lot, it turns out.) But the odd thing was, I DID finish the race. I wouldn't call it easy but after five or ten miles everything that is going to hurt already did hurt. The other 90 miles was an effort in staying hydrated, fed and motivated, so someone with average fitness and paddling skills could certainly give it a try, especially if you are paddling tandem and have a support crew.

Race Prep. Mike Drost and his crew did a wonderful job organizing the race and providing information and support. The mandatory gear list available on the web site was minimal but just right for the race.

Things that worked well:

My bow light. I used an Underwater Kinetics Sunlight SL6 dive light duct taped to a shaped piece of closed cell foam with Velcro to hold it to the deck of the kayak. The light was very bright and compact and would survive a dunking although the beam was narrow and I had to change the batteries after about 5 hours. I also used a Petzl Tikka XP headlamp for map reading and scanning side-to-side for currents and snags during the night.

Maps and GPS. I printed the race maps on water resistant Adventure Paper before the race. At the pre-race meeting we received the race packet that already had better topo maps on Adventure Paper so I just wrote the checkpoint hints on the maps to simplify night navigation. The Garmin eTrex Legend CX GPS traced the route and I could match the route shape with the shape of the river on the map to find the checkpoints pretty easily.

Food. Although I brought too much and would change things, I liked what I had. I primarily ate Hammer Gel and Gu with cashews and Larabars for some protein. I just drank water for hydration.

Things I would do differently:

Better, lighter hydration system. I had no support team and thought I'd just pack everything in the kayak. Big mistake. Carrying 3 extra gallons of water added way too much weight. I should have taken advantage of the free water/food shuttle offered by the race volunteers. Next time I'll also use Hammer's HEED and Perpetuem to make the whole nutrition system more effective and efficient.

Pack less food and gear. Being a sea kayaker my minimum gear list for solo paddling is pretty large, and I have a bail-out bag with flares, matches, extra food, duct tape, a Leatherman, extra clothing layers, etc. This was a supported race down a river in which you can most often stand up, so I didn't need all that stuff and should have left it in the van. With all that water, extra food and gear my kayak was way too heavy. The minimum gear list (plus GPS) and getting resupplied with food and water along the way would have worked much, much better.

The road trip.

I also had to get there. It took about $700 in gas for the 5500 mile road trip but it didn't cost much else. I saved a lot by eating cheaply and sleeping "on the road" in hospital parking lots and truck stops and showering at state parks. I also got to see some beautiful country!

 

The 100 Miles Of River

I learned SO much about river paddling during this race. I was surprised right off at the "standing start", allowable because the river was much shallower than I had imagined. The shallow warm water also affected my decision not to wear a PFD during the race. I ALWAYS wear a PFD when I paddle but in this case the risk of getting the PFD snagged underwater in a "strainer" was greater than the risk of drowning in a river where I can usually stand on the bottom.

Another surprise was that I never got bored over the 100 miles. The river is wonderfully natural. Tall dense trees line both banks providing beauty and shade and the challenge of paddling close to or beneath branches without getting swept by them. Songbirds and kingfishers flitted around the shore. Large gar fish splashed at the surface when startled. And cows occasionally made their way into the water to drink.

I was able to follow other racers for many miles before finding myself alone on the river. By then I was learning how to enter a current and ride it around the outer bank while avoiding "sweepers". (Sweepers being the trees that lean over the bank and sweep everything on the surface of the river.)

Fellow paddlers and checkpoint volunteers were all friendly and extremely helpful, especially when they found out it was my first time on the river and I'd come from so far away. They made me want to stay in touch and come back next year. Many thanks to one of them for taking and posting a photo of me arriving at the Lagrange checkpoint after 62 miles. (Just above the night shot at the left.)

The river was so gentle and winding and almost too shallow in places that navigating well made a huge difference in one's speed. During the day I learned from other racers to use my eyes to avoid the weeds of the shallows and find the faster channels that swept across the river to the outside cut banks. During the night I followed the shadowy shapes of the trees to see the bends in the river. At night I also used my ears much more, paddling toward the faster gurgling water, avoiding the loud water at snags, and avoiding the shallows where frogs were singing.

In retrospect, the phase of the trip that I both feared and enjoyed the most was the solo night paddling. Navigating the last 15 miles alone in the wee hours of the morning in a place I'd never been was a wonderful and surreal experience. There were no lights on shore for miles at a time and the eye shine of river critters would blink back from the bank. The trees took on fantastic shapes of claws or castles or giant bunnies playing soccer. At one point near the end of the race dense low fog rolled across the surface like a spooky movie. And throughout the night the sound of crickets and frogs filled the thick night air, warning me of the shore and the shallows.

Finally at the finish in Columbus, a crowd of cheering and encouraging people were staying up all night to greet paddlers as they finished, pulling their boats up the bank, helping wobbly legged paddlers up the steps, and getting snacks and drinks into exhausted bodies. I paddled surprisingly hard the last mile or so to stay ahead of three boat lights closing in the distance behind me. At each bend I kept NOT seeing Columbus so the finish sprint kept going and going. When I arrived at about 3:30AM I was a bit delirious from the long sprint at the end. The Coke and banana I started to eat started to come back up and and I began to pass out, so I set myself down on the bank. Pretty soon my head cleared and I wandered back to the van for some sleep, relieved and excited and content.