Bungee Balls

It seems that I managed to pull a muscle in the lower back while digging out the potato patch last week. A muscle was quite painful and stiff most of last week preventing me getting in the boat until this Monday. Lots of ice and stretching seems to have got it working again so I pushed off with a seven mile trip knowing that I might have to cut it short if it started to play up again. It went quite well and I managed the trip which included a portage at Pyrford lock without any adverse effects. Unfortunately I didn't get a timing as I must have tripped the Garmin accidentally as it seems to have stopped itself at the lock.

I put in another five miles today over the usual course to Pyrford and back. I tried out the Bungee strap for the first time on this trip. The purpose of which is to load up the resistance to paddling by causing a high drag through the water. I didn't expect it to be quite so effective as it proved to be. As I set off initially I could hear a loud gurgling noise behind me as I moved forward which was the turbulence behind the boat created by the Bungee balls. After half a mile I had slowed to the point where I seemed to be barely moving and the effort I was having to put in was far too much to get up to Pyrford. I pulled over and removed the balls, just leaving the strap to create the drag. This was quite enough by itself as I could still feel the resistance and when I arrived at Pyrford I found that my time up to there was more than five minutes slower than usual, even taking into account the stoppage to remove my balls.

For the return I took off the strap as well and travelled clean, not wanting to overdo things again. The good thing about it was that it felt easier and faster, and at the end I found that I'd got the overall time back down to the usual 1 : 18, which meant that I'd made up the five minutes on the return trip. So it looks as though the Bungee might well make a bit of difference over time.