My favorite baseball team has gone home for the winter. They were eliminated from playoff contention yesterday, and so today's season finale was meaningless for them. In light of what I wrote this past week, you could say the same thing about the final race of my season that's coming up next Saturday. But I'm trying to stay upbeat about it.
Yesterday started foggy but the sun was coming out when I got down to the river. The Fahrenheit temperature was in the mid 70s, rising to a high in the low 80s.
Paddling from the marina to the mouth of the harbor, I warmed up and did three 8-stroke sprints. Then I paddled out onto the Mississippi to see what was going on. A coal-laden barge rig coming downriver in a hurry is what was going on. It was producing some of the biggest waves I've ever seen from a downstream-going vessel. I knew I should take it easy after Thursday's hard workout, but opportunities to surf don't present themselves every day. So out I went. But a lot of hard sprints and a couple of near-flips later I couldn't boast much in the way of good rides. The waves were a little too big and moving a little too fast. I eventually gave that up and paddled a steady pace for the rest of my 70-minute session.
Today we had some chamber of commerce weather: clear sunny skies, warm temperatures, and a pleasant breeze. I went down to the river starting to set my mind on next Saturday's race. After warming up I did six 12-stroke sprints and then paddled mostly easy. Again I was tempted by a couple of towboats coming downriver, but I restrained myself.
The Mississippi is still quite high for this time of year. Having dropped to around 18 feet on the Memphis gauge, it's now rising again toward a crest of some 22 and a half feet. This morning the level was 20.4 feet while I was paddling.
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