It’s been 7 long years since Mike has been hardshell whitewater kayaking, but he gave it a go with an expert lesson at the US National Whitewater Center, perfecting his technique with Eskimo Rolls (where you flip underwater and back up). He paddled down the man made river only to return by the stainless steel conveyor belt. Only one close call – when he did a face plant on a rock underwater during a roll, but he gave the river one more paddle around after his spill to shake it off.

Statistics on this place? There are 12 million gallons of water running daily, treated every 24 hours with UV light. There are 7 huge pumps (pictured behind the kayaks) that each weigh 12,500 gallons each, and each one moves 536,000 gallons of water a minute. That’s enough collective power to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in 20 seconds.

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