Ice-capades

Right now the greater Memphis area is in the grip of its big winter storm of 2015.  But I'm happy to say that in this part of the country, most winter storms aren't all that bad.  A few hours of steady sleet on Monday resulted in a sheet of ice perhaps a half-inch thick outside, and by the time I was heading for the river yesterday morning, the streets were reasonably passable as long as one took it slow.

Down on the riverfront, paddling my boat was the easiest thing I did.  The most treacherous task I faced was getting down the ramp to the dock beforehand, and back up it after:

Once I was on the dock, it took me a while to untie the ropes securing my boat to its rack, for they were encased in ice.  Getting the boat out of its cover was an ordeal as well, for the same reason.  The cover remained frozen stiff even after I got the zipper and the straps undone:

It was all quite a hassle, but what mattered was what you can see in the right-hand portion of the shot: the harbor was in a liquid state.  In fact, aside from the cold (mid 20s Fahrenheit), it was an ideal day for paddling.  The wind was light and the sun was out most of the time.

After warming up, I did my three 8-stroke sprints and then did 40 minutes of ultra-short race pace training.  After it was over I put my boat back on the rack without fooling with the frozen cover; the boat will just have to take a day or two in the sun.  I made my way, with much difficulty, back up the icy ramp, and drove the thawing streets back home.