Cascade Distance Race Report

Last Saturday I took a Cadence to the race. Unfortunately, however, I ran out of time the night before trying to fabricate and install a better rudder and install the smaller 16 tooth sprocket. The end result was that the boat was raced with the smaller sprocket and the same rudder as at the last race, but with some of the trailing surface area removed.

The temperature was a rather cool 44 degrees F, foggy and with a light S-SE breeze blowing onto the lake.

I launched early to make sure that I'd be ready to go at the scheduled 10 AM start, pulling the boat onto one of the floating docks at the Renton Boathouse.

As I had done this race many times I more or less ignored the pre-race meeting and registered. It was good to see and talk with all the folks with whom I had raced over the years.

The few minutes I was at the meeting were spent taking photos.

After the meeting I got myself ready for the short race and launched. It was quite foggy out on the water.

The lake was empty for quite a while. A couple of boats finally appeared - and disappeared into the fog as their occupants warmed up. Where were all the other boats?

The fog slowly began lifting. I took some pictures of my boat's wake at 4 mph and 6 mph, noting that my heart rate was only 90 beats per minute at 4 mph. Very interesting. I suspect that most casual users of the boat would probably find this gear ratio and the effort level to be quite agreeable.

As for me, it wasn't too bad, though it took a bit of getting used to reaching hull speed within a couple of revolutions of the cranks.

The rudder seemed to work better in its cut down state. There was still a pull to port, but it did not seem as strong. Maneuvering at slow speeds was not very good, however. Oh, well - back to the drawing board!

Eventually the 15 minute warning was given. Quite a few boats were now on the water.

About 10 minutes later the 15 minute warning was given - again! Weird.

Having been on the water for nearly 40 minutes my bladder announced that it was getting rather full. I started pedaling quickly back to the dock at the boathouse.

The 5 minute warning was given. Oh, no!

After taking care of matters I sprinted back to the boat, got in and headed for the starting line. About halfway there the starting signal was given - and they were off!

Rats! This must be the 3rd year in a row that I've missed the start of this race!

Watching my heart rate monitor settle at about 144 bpm I headed west down the course. The gps was reporting a speed of around 6.5 to 7 mph, and the water was definitely gurgling quite a bit behind me. Not having a cadence readout on the Cadence, and my watch being occupied with displaying heart rate info, I can't say for certain what my pedaling speed was. However, it certainly was not as smooth over the entire cycle as it is with the smaller gear.

Most of the other boats were ahead, and the leading boats were stretching the distance even further. There was quite a bit of milfoil around the boathouse as well as around the mouth of the Cedar River, so I stopped a couple of times to clear the propeller. That seemed to help improve the speed and pedaling effort a bit, possibly increasing the speed by 0.5 mph with the same pedaling effort.

The sun had come out and I was getting extremely hot. The air temperature had reached the upper 40's, but the wind had become a tail wind. There was no apparent relative air movement. Dipping my hands in the cold water helped a bit, but it also slowed me down. As I was now just wearing two shirts, shorts, socks, shoes and PFD, there was not much I could do to get cooler. Yes, I was also wearing leg warmers, but those had been pushed down to my calves and doing so made no difference anyway.

I managed to pass a couple of boats as we approached the Atlantic City boat ramp buoy at the far end of the short course. Quite a few boats had already passed the buoy, either continuing on towards Seward Park for the 13 mile long course or returning back to the start to complete the 5.2 mile short course.

Soon the turn buoy was behind and I was heading back to the finish. The tailwind was now a light headwind, which helped dramatically to cool me off. Whew!

All the way out to the buoy my pulse stayed around 144. My respiration was somewhat measured, but nowhere near its limits. On the return segment my pulse started creeping upwards, primarily due to my cadence increasing. My legs just wanted to pedal faster.

Since my legs weren't complaining nearly as much as I thought they would be by this time I decided to maintain a rate of 152 to 155 bpm. I caught and passed a mixed double racing canoe, after exchanging pleasantries, of course.

There was a fast laminated strip kayak ahead that I wanted to catch, so I pedaled a little harder. My pulse increased to the low 160's and I was breathing a bit harder, but still not at my limit.

Another patch of milfoil caused me to stop and remove it, giving up some of the distance I had gained. Sigh...

I continued pedaling at the 162 bpm rate until we were about half a mile from the finish. At that point I pedaled harder, pushing the pedals as fast as I could. A glance at the heart rate monitor showed 170, and the LCD of the gps was not able to be seen due to the angle of the sunlight. Rats! I'd have to wait until after the race to see how fast I was going.

I was gaining on the kayak but ran out of course. He crossed the finish about 10 seconds before me.

My time for the 5.25 mile course was 49:37, which is a personal best. My maximum speed was 7.8 mph.

After a bit of a cooling down period I tried a couple of short sprints. The top speed during those sprints was about 8.7 mph, which is still almost 2 mph lower than my personal best in a Cadence. Maybe there were some weeds fouling the rudder or propeller, or perhaps I was a little tired from the race. It is possible that both things were true.

After the race Dan Henderson, the race director, served freshly grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, chicken, salads, etc. It was all very tasty!

Photos are available at the Sound Rowers web site.

GPS tracks are available at my web site.