Hermann Training Run – 6/8/2014

Jo and I planned a long training run from Hermann MO to St. Charles on a Saturday. One of the few when we could both get together for race training. I posted to the race forum, but didn’t get any direct replies. I did receive a call from a gentleman who’s name I can’t remember that was interested in going with us (I really should write these up closer to when they happen). Few people can resist the lure of a free shuttle for training. 

Of course, finding a shuttle driver is always interesting. Lucky for me, Jackie was up to the task! We all met at the Blanchette ramp early and loaded boats up on Jo’s van. From there, we took a nice drive up to Hermann Missouri. When we got there, there was a bit of a surprise waiting for us. The river was high with too much debris to enter the river. We spent lots of time looking to see if there was a pattern that would let us launch. However, no matter how many ways I looked at it, launching boats seemed too risky. One tip on the debris would have made for a very bad day!

So we did what any smart paddler would do, head down the road to the next available ramp. I should mention that we saw the river at the take out (Blanchette) and knew that as of the morning, the river was free of debris. New Haven is about 16 miles downstream.

At New Haven, the river was clear and perfect for paddling. We decided to put in before all of the junk caught up with us.

While we were getting our gear together, some Harley dude came in and walked down to talk with us. Super nice guy, but he sure liked to talk. We probably spent 15 minutes with him before we continued on our way!

After tons of gear being added to the boat, we were ready to shove off to the river to see how our gear did for us.

This training was great to help us see what worked and didn’t work. You can see the blue table on the left side of the photo above. Jo made this for me to put my stuff on. After having it in the boat for a few minutes, I had to remove it as I felt cramped with it in. It was a great idea, but just not what I wanted right in front of me.

Hogan Haake