Sunday Paddle



McRitchie Reservoir



Yup, you read that right ! Sunday paddle!

But before anything else, my excuse is that I'm 41 years old

this year and I haven't been paddling for almost 3 years

(I'll explain the need for the excuse later).

I paddled Dragonboat and Outrigger Canoes for 3 years

before I discovered MTB. SPC's coach told us that we need strong

legs to 'kick the boat' when we paddle. So I bought a basic MTB

and started to cycle. Ironically, I enjoyed MTB so much, I left

paddling. 

But recently, I began to feel that my core strength is lacking

and of course those pull-ups and dips that used to be easy

before are a lot more difficult now.... and so I decided to

crosstrain and go back to paddling...

The thing is I couldn't have been more wrong in choosing

to do my paddling comeback on a T1 ! The moment I stepped

into the boat, the boat started shuddering violently! The shaking was

actually caused by me trying to balance the boat just by using my

core muscles ... which I think I no longer have :-(

...and so, the boat capsized... and during the course of the

2 hour 'paddle' I think I capsized a total of 10 times.

Hence the excuse at the top of the post :-)

At first, my two paddlemates (see photos below) helped

me empty the boat. But one canoe coach showed me how

to empty the boat singlehandedly. You sit on the pontoon and

cradle the overturned boat on your two feet. You hook your 

two feet and do leg extensions. You do this a couple of times

until all the water drains out.

So needless to say I became an expert at this and I also

got my leg workout :-)

Also, it was my first time @McRitchie and while paddling

at the reservoir, I skirted the edge of the forest. It should be a

nice place to do some trail running. I know this area connects

to Bukit Timah via a 10km trail.

That's it, I leave you these pics of my paddlemates for now :-) 

Paddlemate #1 :-)



Paddlemate #2 ... notice 6pack under the Skins compression wear