Dickerson Open at Long Last!

It has been a long time now, but this weekend will be the first weekend that we have been able to paddle the course in a long while. We just got word about 330 pm this afternoon so you can imagine that my afternoon has been a little extra busy. Fortunately Aaron Mann came by to get a BCE card and stuck around long enough to make cards so that I could continue to juggle last minute pool rolling requests.

Here is the word on Dickerson: Open for now, weekends only, escort down to the course from the guards. Especially this first weekend we would like to go in there and make a good impression. If you are a LAKS paddler and BCE member, join me this Sunday at 1:30 -4pm at the course. Sign up online on our registration page to join or email me at the office to join the workout. Make sure you bring a Mirant Waiver with you to the course. We will enter together and leave together like we did before. We want a couple smooth weekends, then we should be back to normal.

Pablo McCandless to Lead Slalom Workouts!

Some of you are no stranger to Pablo and others could use a brief introduction. Pablo grew up paddling as a camper learning from Tom many years ago, then trained as a slalom racer, and became a kayak instructor at camp and occasional trip leader for Tom. Pablo has raced and represented the US as a slalom racer and most recently competed in the Olympics where he represented the Chilean National Team. He currently is taking a bit of a winter break after a long summer competing and running summer paddling programs at the US National WW Center in Charlotte. While here visiting the folks, you all get the opportunity to learn from Pablo in our slalom for riverrunners workouts on Saturday mornings at the Feeder Canal.

We are pleased to have him here teaching again, if only for a short while. Pablo is a highly skilled instructor and paddler and a joy to learn from. Here are a couple of links to some more on Pablo, he is fun go Googlestalk. I love the article mentioning his bothers store as eclectic, that is about the best adjective for Pablo.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Our slalom workouts are designed for the low-strong intermediate paddler looking to hone their river running skills by exposing themselves to slalom work on the gates. You will become a smoother more efficient paddler. Your river running kayak is all you need and a few light paddling layers. Workouts are at 10am at the Feeder Canal and are 2 hrs in duration. Try one for $50 or sign up for 3 for $135, these are are Fall/Winter season prices.

Dates are Nov 7*, 14, 21 and Dec 5, 12, 19. Sign up to join on our registration page.

*please note that Nov 7 Tom, Sarah or I will run the workout as Pablo will be competing in the Green River Narrows Race. Video Link.

**If there is interest we can provide an advanced level workout.

Pool Rolling at the Lab School Starts Nov 14. Season Long Pool Pass Available.

Care and Feeding of Your Cold Weather Gear

Happy in our Dry Gear Dodging Ice Flow in Potomac!

Leaves have begun to turn, there have been a few cooler days, the parking lot at Anglers is mostly empty, and MD Chute is at 3.5. Oh, no there is a tear in my dry top gasket! How did that happen? I haven't used it all season. Or, I get lightheaded when I wear my dry top. These two scenarios can be prevented with a little maintenance and know how.

Drywear Storage and Care

• Store indoors in a cool dry place
• Use 303 spray to protect and preserve your gaskets
• Remove rings and watches making sure they don't tear your gaskets
• Preemptively replace your gaskets when you start to see small nicks and tears
• Hang to dry with a coat hanger and limit or eliminate drying in the sun
• If you have space, have a drying room with a fan or dehumidifier
• Reapply 303 spray often
• Do not use heat on gaskets
• Every season or so reapply a DWR to your garment, there are wash in and spray on treatments available, use hairdryer to activate, or use dryer if you are needing new gaskets anyway
• Replace your own gaskets or send things to IR or Amigos Drysuit Repair.
• When removing garment, do not pull the gaskets off, roll them off.
• Treat the Zippers on your Drysuit and store them unzipped

These tips will help to prevent damage to your gaskets and help increase their lifespan.

As for what to do with that new drytop or suit. Consider the following.

• Train your gaskets by applying 303 and then stretching them overnight with a cup for the wrists and bowl for the neck, a reinforced traffic cone works well
• After the overnight stretching and a couple of outings, if things are too tight, consider trimming gasket.

I often get questions about what to wear in the winter. This often leads to much debate, but you should try what I am saying, I am rarely wrong :).

• You have heard it before, dress in layers and no cotton. Shoot for 3 layers, wicking, insulating, then your drysuit. This system helps push moisture away from your body and out of the garment.
• With a drysuit the fleece union suits are the way to go. They can be worn alone, but work better with a wicking polypro layer underneath. Ideally, go polypro, unionsuit, then drysuit. If you are still cold after this, consider not paddling.
• For drysuits, make sure you don't neglect the feet, fleece socks are great.
• Other great layer combos are splash pants and a dry top. I try to stay away from the pants with latex on the calves. They trap water and decrease blood flow. A unionsuit is great here but you can do fleece pants and top and a poly bottom and top.
• Hydroskin pants are nice on the bottoms sometimes, but aren't great when it is windy or for hiking about. Hydroskin and neoprene are not good underlayers. You want to trap warm air next to you with fleece under the drywear. Neoprene is designed to trap and warm a layer of water.
• Don't forget the gloves, pogies and head beanie, these can make a huge difference.

Here are a couple of links to tips from other folks on the subject and a couple of brands to try out.

• Immersion Research - Gasket Replacing
• Amigos Drysuit Repair
• NRS Gloves - Love these gloves
• Best Pogies Ever
• 303 Protectant - Use it, love it
• Revivex - Retreat your garments factory DWR
• Zipper Stuff

The paddling season is NOT over!

Fall Feeder Slalom Classic
BCE's annual fall slalom race is coming up on October 24th at 1pm.
Open to all, the course will be an 18 gate novice-level course. New
this year: the Scott Parsons Combined Trophy. Add your best run in
canoe (C-1 or C-2) and kayak, and win some great prizes! Times will be
normalized between classes.

Entry form => http://bce-racing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2009fall-classi...
Contact dana@telecamfilms.com for more details

Liquid Adventures Biathalon
On Sunday, October 25th at 10am, run 3 miles and downriver sprint down
Little Falls for advanced paddlers, or on the Feeder Canal for
novices. This year the race is open to both seniors and juniors. Race
is followed by a lunch, awards, and a raffle for all competitors.

Entry form => http://bce-racing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2009biathalon-e...
(Note: There is an error in the entry form. It should read "Sunday,
October 25)
Contact Tom@liquidadventures.org for more details

Catching up with In Between Swims:OR Review

Catching up with what happened - or didn't happen - at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. And what that means...or doesn't mean...for whitewater.

Didn't make it to the show this year so I catch up with Bryon Dorr, buyer for Next Adventures in Portland to talk about what it's like to be a retail buyer for whitewater. David Weber and I do our annual half empty/half full analysis of what it's all about.

And, there's a swim....

Thanks for listening!

~jeffmc

************
Find it at - http://www.inbetweenswims.com

Download it direct - http://media.libsyn.com/media/inbetweenswims/Not_OR_Final.mp3

On I-tunes, it can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=216032223

Boats Now on Sale

Liquid Adventures will now be selling off our 2009 instructional boats. Most of these boats are one season and have been used in our rolling and river instructional classes. Here is a brief listing of the boats available.

Liquid Logic

3 Remix 59's - $550 each (all orange)

3 Remix 69's - $550 each (yellow, white, blue)

3 Remix 79's -$550 each (orange, white, white/flames)

Jefe Chica - $550 (white)

Jefe Grande - $550 (white)

Dagger

2 Mamba 7.5 - $550 (red, lime green)

1 Mamba 8.0 - $550 (yellow/red)

2 Mamba 8.5 - $550 (red, red)

2 Nomad 8.1 -$575 SOLD

Equipment

Aquabound Paddles - $90

IR skirts - $70

Shred Ready Helmets - $40

Extrasport lifejackets - $40

We have a smattering of other boats, Fluid Flirt, Logic Big Wheel, Dagger RPM, and various others. Make an appointment to drop by the office to look about.

To be fair with everyone, we will not be reserving any boats, first come, first served. You may however call in with a credit card and purchase a boat over the phone. Thank you and happy shopping.

Liquid Adventures