This paddleboard has pedals
People are used to seeing stand up paddleboards in Gellatly Bay, but when Christopher Cruz takes his stand-up pedalboard out on the water, it turns heads.
Cruz, of AMC Tours, had been chair of the Greater Westside Board of Trade in 2016. His life changed suddenly six years ago after he had a blunt trauma accident when the hood of his car fell on his head, leaving him with C1, C2 and C3 vertebrae issues in his cervical spine
He couldn’t talk for a good month and was put in a cervical collar.
Cruz was on pain medication for a few years.
“Unfortunately that wasn’t a life to live,” he said. “I was just basically existing, but not thriving.”
Cruz said he knew if he ran for an extended period of time, his body would release natural pain killers, so he started running, which allowed him to reduce his medication.
Cruz was running up to 35 kilometres a day when his doctor advised him it was not great for his knees.
“I needed a better way of exercising to alleviate my head pain,” said Cruz.
Cruz found a place just outside Victoria that rented Hobie pedalboards.
People use a stepping motion to engage underwater fins to propel the board forward.
Cruz compares it to an elliptical or a stair master with zero impact.
“You can go as hard as you want on the water,” he said.
It’s easy to balance, there are handlebars for stabilization and a rudder so boarders can steer right or left.
Cruz got his first Hobie Mirage Eclipse 12-foot pedal board last July.
Doctors say Cruz is about 60% recovered from the accident.
He has grown out his hair and his beard as he fights his way back.
Cruz enjoys being out on the water and launches his pedalboard from Gellatly Bay three to five times a week, with his faithful 17-year-old dog Naya wearing her lifejacket onboard in an open crate.
“It’s great exercise,” Cruz said, estimating he pedals 25 to 30 kilometres each outing.
The tourism industry was hit hard by COVID-19 and then the fires of 2021, so Cruz decided to offer pedalboard rentals through AMC Tours to motivate people to get outdoors.
Cruz has a couple of 12-foot and one 10.5-foot pedalboards available.
The pedalboards make it fairly easy for people to come enjoy the water.
Cruz said his 65-year-old mother, who has never ridden a bike in her life, learned how to ride the pedalboard in about two minutes.
People’s leg muscles are stronger, Cruz said, so they can move a pedalboard faster than a paddleboard and don’t tire out as quickly.
On a perfectly calm day, self-powered, Cruz said the average person will probably reach 8-10 km/h on the pedalboard.
To rent a pedalboard, go online to amctours.com.