Monday photo feature

Joe Royer took this picture several years ago on the Mississippi River up near Shelby Forest, some fifteen miles above downtown Memphis.  I believe he and his wife Carol Lee were taking the "Mississippi River Challenge," Joe's term for an endeavor he dreamt up: you leave a bicycle at Harbortown Marina on the Memphis riverfront, drive with your boat up to the Shelby Forest boat ramp, paddle down to Memphis, put your boat away at the marina, and ride your bike up a section of the Mississippi River Trail to retrieve your car at Shelby Forest.  Reasonably fit men and women can complete this circuit in around four hours.

I haven't done the Mississippi River Challenge in years--sometime back before my road bike got stolen.  But I do love this photograph.  Our river is most definitely beautiful.

Overcast and lovely

I paddled the surf ski for 60 minutes today out on the big old river.  The weather today was cool and drizzly.

Other than a couple of barge rigs way upriver, I saw no motorized craft on the water today.  That's a perk of paddling on something other than a beautiful sunny day: you tend to have the river to yourself.  Nothing like some inclement weather to weed out the riffraff.

Paddle, don't worry

Today I went down to the river for the first time since Sunday.  I spent all week hanging around my building, anxiously watching the guys working on it and wondering how soon I'll be able to move in.  My doing so accomplished absolutely nothing, of course, and I should have just let it go and paddled my boat at least a couple of times.

Oh well.  I spent 60 minutes in the harbor in my K1 this morning.  I did some balance drills and some sprints, and basically tried to make the most of my K1 time while the weather is still favorable.

Monday photo feature

Tammy Lundy shot this pic of me approaching the finish line of the Gator Bait Race on the 14th of this month.  Pretty day on a nice reservoir.

Surf was almost up

I paddled for 60 minutes this morning.  Paddled the surf ski out on the mighty river.  And mighty it is, even though it's quite low: today's 7:00 AM CDT Memphis gauge reading was 5.6 feet below zero.

Just like two weeks ago, there was a barge rig coming upriver as I was coming out of the harbor.  I tried to surf behind it, but the waves were moving just a little too fast and they were wide from peak to peak, not quite deep enough to get a good surf.  A pretty good north wind was blowing and I think that flattened the waves out a bit.  But I still did a lot of short, hard sprints in my effort to catch them, and I think that made for a good workout.

Still not immune to the swimmies

Yesterday saw heavy rain in the Memphis area--the first we've had in a while.  A front moved in behind it and today we had a high temperature in the 70s (Fahrenheit) with a stiff north breeze.

I went downtown this morning and paddled my K1 for 60 minutes.  There's no question I've gotten better in that boat--I actually felt quite confident nearly the entire hour today--but I'm not safe from the occasional mishap.  Today's mishap occurred when my right blade hit a waterlogged stick that was floating just beneath the surface.  It upset my balance just enough for me to go over.  As I found my footing on the muddy bottom to dump out the boat, I learned that swimming is not nearly as fun in this cooler, breezy weather as it was when it was ninety-plus degrees outside.  I guess the day will come when I'll put the K1 away for the winter.

Fish kill

The results from last Saturday's race are now posted here.

This afternoon I paddled the K1 in the harbor for 60 minutes.  I did numerous balance drills and felt pretty good in the boat the whole time.

There have been many dead fish floating in the harbor the last several days; I first noticed it when I returned from my trip Sunday and was putting my boats away at the marina.  I have no idea what the cause might be, but one guess concerns the oxygen content of the water.  When I finished paddling today there was a layer of green algae-like scum on my boat.

Monday photo feature

With Jason Salomon behind me, I enjoy a little surfing in Five Boat Hole on the lower Gauley River in September of 1994.  I don't know where the other three boats were.

Gauley season has rolled around again.  Water is released from Summersville Dam every September and October, and paddlers from all over flock to this rugged area for some autumn whitewater fun.  I went up there last year and I'd love to go back there right now, but I'm afraid there might be too much on my plate.  I'm on the verge of moving into my building, at which time I'll get busy relocating my workshop.  I've got a crafts fair coming up in less than a month.  And there are several other places I want to travel soon.

I'll get around to all these things.  But maybe not all this year.

The Deep South by kayak

The results of yesterday's race have been released on the event's Face Book page.  I'll make a note of it here when they go up on the Gator Bait Race website.

Ross Barnett Reservoir was formed by building a dam across the Pearl River upstream of Jackson.  The three races I have entered on the "Rez" have all been on the lower part of the lake, just above the dam. When I got up this morning I wanted to paddle somewhere, but preferably a place I hadn't been before; I also wanted to go someplace that would put me on a good path toward home from my motel in Brandon.  After studying the map, I decided on a place farther up the reservoir where Mississippi 43 crosses over.

The water was dead calm when I arrived, so I finally had my chance to take the K1 off the car.  As I set off on my 60-minute session, I felt relaxed and comfortable, and that continued for a half hour or so.  Then the motorized traffic began to pick up, and even though I was far from the main navigation channel, the waves that came my way were enough to shake my confidence a bit.  I was a good two hundred meters offshore at that point, and I started thinking about the long swim I would have with my swamped boat if I flipped.

The fact is I'm still spending a lot of energy just concentrating on balance, and I therefore have reservations about competing in that boat.  In order to compete well I would have many things to occupy my attention besides just the basic motor skills.  I guess it's possible I'll never do a race in the K1, and if so, so be it: I got the boat mainly for a new challenge, and there's no doubt I'll be a better overall paddler as a result.

I finished paddling before eleven o'clock.  I had some 20 miles of secondary roads to travel before catching Interstate 55, and I admired the lovely central Mississippi countryside on this beautiful morning.

I won a gator trophy

I participated in the Gator Bait Race this morning, and finished first with a time of 47 minutes, 35 seconds on a course advertised to be 5.5 miles.  The choice of boat turned out to be an easy one, as conditions were pretty windy and choppy.  That's not so K1 friendly, especially for a paddler with less-than-expert skill level in such a boat.  I paddled the surf ski.

I actually felt better in the second half of the race, after I had emerged from the lily-pad canal and was paddling across an open section of the lake.  Although I have been in the boat only three to four days a week this summer, the sessions have been good quality, and I think that paid off today.

I try to seek out good competition and learn from superior athletes as much as I can.  But it's also satisfying to get a win.  To be sure, chasing guys who are better than I am goes a long way toward making me a winner in races like today's.

There seems to be a trend in recent years for race organizers to offer the most creative awards they can think of.  Today's event had some of the better awards I've seen; they are pictured here.  The alligator head mounted on a section of log (yes, it's a real alligator head) was given to the first-place finisher in each class.

Checking out the race site

I arrived in the greater Jackson, Mississippi, area around four o'clock this afternoon and went for a 50-minute paddle in Pelahatchie Bay, in the southeastern quadrant of Ross Barnett Reservoir.  It was quite windy when I got there, so I paddled the surf ski.

The course winds back into a wooded backwater area of the lake that feels a little like the Everglades.  It's rich in lily pads, and there's a canal cut through it by one of those boats with underwater choppers.

I felt tired in the boat, probably because I spent all day yesterday pouring some concrete countertops for my building.  I plan to turn in early and try to get some rest.

Doing what I can, when I can

I'm trying to get ready to race this weekend amid an incredibly busy week at my building.  I managed to steal away for a 60-minute K1 session yesterday afternoon and a 40-minute K1 session this afternoon.  In both, I did six 12-stroke sprints.  My concentration was not what it should have been because of all the outside distractions--one more reason I should just race in the surf ski on Saturday.  Both boats are now on my car: I plan to leave Friday morning and paddle at the race site that afternoon.

The weather here is odd these days.  We're having some of the hottest weather of the summer right now, but both yesterday and today there were scattered showers in the area.  I saw no rain yesterday even though there was some thunder and dark sky nearby.  Today it did rain, and I got soaked in the last ten minutes or so in the boat.  The rain continued for about a half hour, and water was spewing out of the storm drains into the harbor.

Monday photo feature

Roger Cotton shot this picture of me entering the harbor in the 2012 Outdoors, Inc., Canoe and Kayak Race.  I'm paddling my surf ski, the boat that I should race in this Saturday.  My other option is the K1, and even though I've had that boat for some eight months now, I don't yet have a photograph of me paddling it.

Moving into a race week

I got in two 60-minute paddling sessions this weekend: yesterday afternoon in the K1 and this morning in the surf ski.  This morning there was a barge rig coming upriver just as I was coming out of the harbor and onto the Mississippi, so I went out and got some sweet rides on its wake.

On my registration form for this Saturday's race, I declared that I would be racing in the surf ski, and I should probably stick to that plan.  While I am considerably more comfortable in the K1 now than I was when I got it, I'm not sure I'm really ready to compete in it.  But maybe I'll throw it on the car and take it down there, just in case the lake is extra-calm and I'm feeling extra-bold...

Paddling harder ≠ going faster

I paddled the K1 for 60 minutes this afternoon.  After warming up I did six 12-stroke sprints and then timed myself from the monorail bridge to the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.  My time was 2:10, and I was disappointed because my split at the HDB was 2:05 during both those pieces from the monorail to the Auction bridge that I did last Saturday.  But I've known for a long time that a law of diminishing returns is in effect when it comes to how hard you paddle, and I hope these higher-intensity paddling sessions will help my race pace later on.

A good workout with balance and stroke work

I paddled the K1 for 60 minutes this afternoon.  I mailed my registration form for the 5.5-mile race down near Jackson on the 14th, so eleven days out I wanted to push the intensity some more today.  But I didn't want to go as hard as I did on Saturday, when my stroke quality suffered from the high stroke rate.  So today I timed myself over the length of the harbor, almost: I started next to the barge mooring facility at the intersection of north Second Street and Seventh Street, and finished at the imaginary line that extends into the harbor from the center line of Beale Street.

Balancing that boat is still not second nature for me, but the lower intensity over this not-quite-three-mile piece allowed me to relax and take better strokes than I did on Saturday.  I tried to insert the blades precisely and not let them go "ker-plunk" in the water.

My splits were 12:32 at the northern edge of the Auction Avenue bridge; 15:31 at the northern edge of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge; 18:04 at the northern edge of the monorail bridge; and 22:15 at the finish.

I also did some balance drills before and after the timed piece: paddle-over-the-head, one-sided paddling, and paddling while leaning the boat right and left.

Back on the surf ski, back on the river

It was another hot, sunny morning as I went to the riverfront for a 60-minute session.  I paddled the surf ski for the first time in quite a while.  It felt big and slow compared to the K1, but once I got it out on the mighty Mississippi (where I have not taken the K1), it felt somewhat more in its natural habitat.

The low-water season has arrived: today's 7:00 AM Memphis gauge reading was 1.4 feet below zero.

I'm thinking about doing this race on Ross Barnett Reservoir outside Jackson, Mississippi, in two weeks.  I'll probably race in the surf ski because R.B. Reservoir has been known to get quite rough, and I haven't proven to myself I can go hard for the better part of an hour in the K1 yet.