Author: Paul Tomblin

Overdid it a bit. Or a lot.

I went paddling today. This time I didn’t have anybody with me to moderate my paddling, so of course I went out too fast and went too far. I got to the point where Vicki and I turned back on the weekend, and it only took me about 20 minutes (Vicki and I took about an hour there and back). Just past there the creek doesn’t seem to get any narrower, but it gets very shallow except for a deep channel on the outside of curves, so the current gets very strong. Also, it gets pretty twisty with overhanging trees upstream from there, so you spend a lot of time pausing to read the river and sweeping on one side or the other.

That’s where I noticed something that I’d mentioned last year some time – sometimes when I’m going around the inside of a corner where it gets shallow, my wake will hit the bank and bounce back and push my stern out, helping me around the corner. Also on straightish sections, the boat seems to hunt around for the deep part – it’s hard to figure out exactly what’s going, but I think the wake is bouncing off the bottom or something.

There were a fair number of people out on the river, including three racing canoes hammering downstream in close formation. It was just that sort of day where you had to leave work early and enjoy it. As well as the canoes and kayaks, I saw my first swan of the season, plus it appears that the female redwing blackbirds have finally come to join their males. I also saw a couple of nests in the reeds – sort of basket-like and up high. I think they must be last year’s.

According to the Google Maps Pedometer, I went 4.3 miles, and it took me about an hour and five minutes. It took me about 35 minutes to get up to Browncroft Ave and 30 minutes to get back. I guess that shows how much I overdid it – in spite of the strong current I couldn’t go downstream much faster than I went up.

One strange thing – last time I paddled, I found a lump of dried blood on the side of my left leg and a small scab. My legs get a bit numb when I’m paddling, so it’s easy to imagine me cutting myself without noticing. This time, same thing. Dried blood in the same place, and some on the floor of the cockpit. I can’t tell if I re-cut myself or re-opened the same wound. I looked very hard to find something I could have cut myself on in the cockpit, and I can’t find it. I’m going to have to remember to put on a bandaid next time.

My elbows are throbbing now, but I’ve taken some Alieve and I’m hoping it will get better.

Second paddle of the season

This is my first real weekend off in nearly three months. Last weekend didn’t count because I was sick, although I spent half of today napping and reading in bed, so it’s not like it’s any different when I’m well… But it looks like the crisis is mostly over, and I might be able to start keeping regular hours again. It will be nice to come home in the evening and have time for more than eating and going to bed.

Vicki and I took advantage of the glorious sun and went for a paddle on Irondequoit Creek. My second of the season, Vicki’s first. The water was WAY higher than it had been for my first paddle, but surprisingly the current wasn’t too strong. Vicki’s favourite kayak, a Hurricane Tempo, was just sitting there on the dock. On the other dock, there was a carbon fibre racing canoe with a carbon fibre racing paddle in it. Oh, how I wish I had the knees and elbows to give that one a spin around the block! We couldn’t find any unoccupied staff around – one guy was building new canoe racks, and somebody else was showing some people around the kayak sale racks. So Vicki signed the form and waiver, and grabbed the Tempo. But first, some guy there was rather perturbed that she was taking it – it seems that he had just returned from renting it, and had wandered off to find somebody to help him put it away and let him pay. We assured him that we were renting it, and he should just relax and enjoy the fact that he didn’t have to put it away.

While this was going on, a guy who’d been standing around our dock not saying or doing anything went over to the other dock and took the racing canoe, heading downstream to the bay.

We went up to the weir and a little bit further – exactly the same place Rob and I turned around last time. The weir was a total non-event with the river so high. Except my hat blew off and I had to go back and get it. Coming down, we crossed the weir just as the guy in the carbon canoe was coming up. I said something complementary about his canoe, and he told me that according to his GPS he was making 5.5 mph upstream. That’s pretty impressive, but not exactly world championship speed. He asked me if I’d ever though about racing, which of course I have, and he told me about a race he organizes on the Genessee river, with an amateur 3 mile race and a pro 10 mile race. I’d love to give the 3 mile race a shot. Unfortunately I didn’t get most of the details, but he said he was going to be putting flyers in the Bay Creek shop in the next couple of weeks. I suggested he also post it to the flowpaddlers.org chat forum.

It was a fun little paddle, and my elbows only hurt a little. Last time I was given some suggestions about seating position to stop my legs from falling asleep, and it helped a little but not entirely.

Ouch

Paris-Roubaix. The Hell Of The North. One of the most classic of the one day Spring Classics. Long stretches of “pave” (cobblestones) that test man and machine. You expect crashes and you expect upsets. And this one didn’t disappoint.

First you had race favourite and defending champion Tom Boonen isolated in a 15 man break-away with no team-mates, but all his big rivals there, including George Hincape who had two team-mates with him to help. Things were looking good for George Hincape, until suddenly you saw him sitting up with his hands not on the handlebars. Of course he crashed – you can’t ride no-hands on pave. Then they showed the replay and it was obvious that the reason he didn’t have his hands on the handlebars is that they’d broken off!

Then that leading group broke into chunks, and Boonen wasn’t in the lead group of one, or in the chasing group of 3 (which included Hincape’s two Discovery team-mates). But then another disaster for Discovery – a train crossing barrier dropped in between the single leader and the group of three. But they obviously had their eyes on the leader rather than the rulebook, because they went through the barrier. The race mashalls stopped the next group with Boonen, which is just as well because the second they stopped the train went through.

Boonen was fuming about the stop, but it was probably the best thing that happened to him in the race, because after the finish they disqualified the three who went through the barrier, and so Boonen ended up second.

Well, that’s bike racing.

Hey, that looks pretty decent

Decal on the kayakLast fall, I bought a decal to decorate my kayak. It arrived soon after my wrist went into a cast, so it was late in the season before I put it on. It was a sunny day, about 55 degrees out. The instructions said to wait until it was 60 degrees out, but I dragged the kayak out to the sun and thought that would be good enough. It wasn’t – the paper got all wrinkled up. But I decided to leave it to see if it got any better.

Decal on the kayakIn the spring, when I brought the kayak out for the first paddle, the paper actually had flattened out. But I couldn’t seem to get the paper off without pulling off the vinyl. But yesterday I managed to get the paper off – it turns out that the isn’t any vinyl under the paper around the edges, only where the black stuff is. For some stupid reason I expected clear vinyl with ink, not just black vinyl. A few little chunks of vinyl came off, but on the whole I think it looks pretty good.