Nice Intro to the Season

 I've been itching to get back on the ocean in my kayak now that I'm vaccinated.

Bug was occupied all day Saturday, so it was a perfect day to get out. I e-mailed TM to see if he was up for an easy paddle.

We decided to do a paddle out of Bay Campus and head north. It is ocean, but protected. Perfect for a first paddle.

TM got to the beach early and did some pre-paddle noodling about. Apparently he had spent the previous day bending over a kayak doing some boat repairs and tweaked his back.

Once on the water, we took it nice and easy. We mostly chatted about kids and retirement.

It was a very nice way to get the paddle muscles warmed up.

Back at the beach, I did some noodling about and practice some skills in nice safe water. I also wanted to prolong my time on the water as much as possible.

All was well and feeling good until I started working on reverse sweep turns. I must have edged over a little too far or caught the edge of the blade just wrong. One minute I was happily spinning around backwards, the next I was talking to the fishes.

I quickly set up up for a roll; a little too quickly. I got about two thirds of the way up and flopped back into the water laying on my back date.

I briefly considered resetting, and then pulled the plug.

The swim back to shore was refreshing. I was glad to have a dry suite.

Sitting at Fuel after the paddle was almost normal.

There is hope for 2021.

When Everything Seems Off

 On the mt. bike yesterday, things were just off. I knew from the the first downhill that it was not going to be a stellar ride. The back tire was bouncing around too much; the edge of the track was too close; the turns were jaggy. It was a tough trail, but one I had ridden plenty of times with no issues.

The bridge jumped out of nowhere and I had to stop to make the turn. The low rock wall sprouted new rocks and caught the front tire. The steep, but short, hill turned to scree under the back tire.

My legs were like rubber; my reflexes two seconds slower; my balance was wobbly.

At every "screw up" or missed feature, I was faced with the choice of beating myself up, finding the quickest way back to a paved road, and giving up. There was the voice in my head saying "you're too old for this" "you were never good enough to do this trail" "you're not going to get any better" "hang it up and stick to the safe stuff".

It is easy for me to fall pray to that voice and then the other voice that says "you are not only physically weak you are psychically week" gets its chance to play.

The hard choice is to look the bad ride in the face and make the best of it. Acknowledge the difficulties, make an honest assessment of what could have contributed to the difficulties, and if nothing fits just accepting that we all have bad days. One bad day is not a sign of decline or failure; it is a bad day.

That was the choice I made yesterday. I kept on going. I accepted the missed features, the slipping back tire, the occasional abrupt stop.

There were stretches that were better than others and even the bad parts were better than sitting in my jammies at home trudging through another day of monitoring a bunch of robots process words so the rich can get richer.

This is the lesson I try to impart to the child when she gets mad because she "lost" a skill or spends too much energy comparing herself to kids who have more skills.

We all have off days. At 10 you rarely "lose" a skill (at 50 you might). With practice you can get the skills. If you love doing something , do it.

Do your best not to listen to the voice that puts you down and if you forgive yourself and get back up.

Life is rarely easy. The only way to make it enjoyable is to keep on doing the things that bring joy into the world - particularly on days when it is all a struggle.

Dining with the Vaccinated

My in-laws are fully vaccinated. To celebrate they decided a family dinner was in order.

After a year of wearing masks everywhere and only eating with H and Bug, it was weird. They seemed perfectly comfortable, but then again they are vaccinated. We are no danger to them. For at least some period of time the vaccine means their chances of getting gravely ill are close to zero.

But could they be a danger to us? The jury is still out on that question. The preliminary data seems good, and they are not really mingling with the general population. We also are one dose into our vaccinations which give us some protection.

How close do you sit? When do you put your mask after eating? Do you mask up as soon as you finish? Or do you wait? Do you eat quickly? Do you stay for coffee?

I guess this is how things will be for a while as we readjust to mingling. Everyone will be a little awkward and a little unsure. Eventually, we will get used to seeing people inside without a mask again. We will share meals with family and friends without thinking too much about it.

At least I hope that is true.

The Greenway

I decided today would be a good day to loop the Western Greenway. The weather was pleasant and I needed a good ride to clear my head. I set out on what I think of as the reverse loop. I usually head from my house, past Our Ladies, behind the soccer fields, and then across to the big woods. Today, I went down towards the Y, the high school, and out to the Payne Estate.

The section from my house down to the high school is a tricky ride. It is mostly downhill, so it is not physically taxing. However, it is very rocky and twisty. Riding it is sort of like the old joke about the roller coaster; I was scared the whole time, but loved it. It is still early in the season so I am still getting my legs under me and my nerve up. I probably took things too slow which probably made it harder to navigate.

Swinging up past the high school and into the Payne Estate is a nice climb. Not too steep or technical. The only real issue is that I don't know the trail and spent a lot of time looking for the signs.

The ride down Forest St. is pretty boring. Lock the front forks and shift into a nice cruising gear....

Once back in the woods, I headed around the water tower hill and out to rock meadow. I made sure to take a bunch of the side trails on the way down.

The loop around rock meadow is always a nice gentle ride. The only hard part was having to keep pulling up my mask. It is still cool enough that my glasses fog up when I keep it on.

Once across the bridge and back into the woods I went the opposite way back to the parkway as I took on the way in. Again I looked for as many side trails as I could. It was a good time.

The other side of the parkway is a familiar ride for me although going backwards does change it up.

I forgot how challenging the ride up from Our Lady's is when going up hill. It was made even more difficult because there were a lot of hikers out on that section of trail. Momentum is your friend...

The Greenway is a great resource and I am lucky to have such easy access to it.

Maybe next time I'll go the right way round.

On the Trails at Last

 Ah the glories of early, probably short lived, Spring weather!! I took advantage of the sun and warmth to get the Mt. Bike out of the garage and hit the trails.

I've been hitting the indoor trainer pretty consistently, so I assumed I'd be in good shape for a real ride. Oh was I wrong.

Strange how riding on a stationary bike, spinning at a reasonably consistent cadence with a predictably smooth resistance curve does not map to riding on rutty, rock strewn, muddy paths on changing terrain. I forgot how much work, and how much fun, it is to control the bike and make rapid adjustments for hills or rough patches.

Yes, there are $1000 "smart" trainers that can simulate more dynamic riding conditions, but I doubt they can do justice to actual riding.

Anyway, I don't have $1000 dollars to spend trying to turn my basement into a virtual reality theater. I'm much happier to keep my basement a basement, so that I am always motivated to get outside.

I am sore and the ride was shorter than planned, but it was glorious to be outside again.