How to Stay Stoked on Kayaking by Andrew Slothower

Kayaking, one of the best sports on this earth, and maintaining stoke is often not hard, however there are two times in which maintaining stoke is harder. The first time is the off season or the mud season. Although it is easy to supplement your adrenaline with other outdoor activities such as skiing and other seasonal activities. However to stay pumped up to kayak, I often watch hundreds of kayak movies, stakeout edits and adventure videos. Also if I like it or not I can self maintain stoke by spending exuberant amounts of money on kayaking gear. The other time when stoke can be low for myself, is when I get burned out. I often find myself burned out after long stretches of freestyle only. This can become hard to just keep going to the same below average play park near my house. When this happens, I look to creeking and rivers running so I can keep kayaking. Exploring new rivers, meeting new paddlers and changing up what you do are all incredibly important in maintaining your love for the game. Even though my motivation occasionally drags. I always come back and remember why I do the sport that I love.