....stuff deleted

Now that I have taken up kayak touring, I'm asking whether a slower
cadence, with a longer power stroke is better than a shorter,
higher-cadence power stroke, or whether a low-power but high-cadence
stroke (as with a greenland paddle, I guess) will give me the ability to
paddle all day, cover long distances, but be able to actually enjoy the
area I'm paddling through from beginning to end.

Paul


Paul is onto the basic idea. Muscles fatigue for two reasons:
- overuse from repetitions at a high rate of speed
- overuse from few repetitions against force at low speeds

You can replicate these by doing the following:
- open and close your hand as fast as you can (no resistance)
- climb a steep hill (10 % + grade) on a bicycle

In both cases, you will fatigue within a couple of minutes. Depending upon
conditioning, you may be able to continue to climb the hill, but it is
unlikely that you can continue to open and close your hand after about 2
minutes. After climbing the hill, however, you will need more time to
recover from the cycling than you will from the hand exercise, so there is a
difference in the two types of fatigue (i.e. hard work against low
resistance tends to produce soreness, while fast repetitions do not).

Thus, there is an obvious mid-point of optimal performance before fatigue
sets in. Surprisingly, however, the physical studies suggest that this
optimal performance point results (for most) in a cadence that is too slow
(not a universal truth - I know a few distance cyclists who prefer a cadence
closer to 60, but most, like me, prefer a rate closer to 90). Cyclists and
paddlers will (tend to) find a cadence that is a tad faster than that
optimal performance point. The last study I read suggested that this is
because at the optimal performance point, the muscles fatigue from both
methods of overuse.

Paddlers can adjust cadence by shortening the shaft and narrowing the paddle
blade, with the short shaft having a more drastic effect (a fat blade is
similar to a high gear in that it increases resistance, and weight, making
each stroke a tad more difficult to do). In any case, the right cadence is
fully dependant upon the choice/comfort of the paddler.

Hope this helps (rather than muddies) understanding.

Rick