On Monday I made a little road trip. Over in Little Rock a few racers gather each Monday afternoon for a "sandlot" race, and I'd gotten a message from Phil Capel encouraging me to join them this week. I hadn't left Memphis since February, and Little Rock is close enough to Memphis (about 140 miles) that it seemed like a trip I could make without too much exposure to lurking viruses. So I decided to go on over there.
It seems like every time I go to Little Rock in the summer months, it's a few degrees hotter than Memphis (and Memphis is plenty hot in the summer). Monday's high in Memphis was around 88 degrees Fahrenheit, but as I was driving into the Little Rock area the temperature display in my car was reading 93 degrees.
I exited Interstate 40 onto I-430 and crossed the Arkansas River. Then I exited at Cantrell Road and followed River Mountain Road to the Little Maumelle River boat launch, where I found a group of paddlers preparing their craft for some racing. Among them were familiar faces like Phil Capel, Phil's son Andy, Andy's wife Ashley, Karen Kesselring, Stephen Lynn, Lou and Charlie Payton, and Robert Orr.
Our course was an up-and-back circuit on the Little Maumelle River, which flows into the Arkansas River just above the I-430 bridge. There was no current to deal with because the water was backed up behind Murray Dam about a mile down the Arkansas. We would start and finish beneath the Two Rivers Park pedestrian bridge, and the turnaround spot was a tree in the middle of the Little Maumelle approximately two and a half miles up.
We did a staggered start, with slower racers going first and quicker ones going last. Soon it was just Andy and me sitting beneath the pedestrian bridge, and when we agreed it was time to go, we went!
We sprinted out for the first 150 meters or so and then settled into a pace a little over 7 miles per hour. I spent most of the first half of the race on Andy's stern wake, trying to conserve energy for some surges later on. Around 3000 meters in I moved up onto Andy's left-side wake, and as our turnaround tree came into view I took the lead so I could make my turn without any unexpected mishaps.
I threw in a surge coming out of the turn, hoping I could open a gap, but Andy covered the move and held onto my stern wake. So I led for a while, trying to paddle as efficiently as possible while the sun beat down. Eventually the Two Rivers Park pedestrian bridge came back into view, and it looked "right there," but knowing it was still at least a mile off, I kept paddling steady.
With maybe 800 meters to go, Andy moved up onto my right-side wake, and took the lead a minute later. I settled onto his side wake and pondered when to make my big move. The local rowing club has a dock about 400 meters out from the finish, and I decided to go as soon as we reached it. I began to paddle hard and pulled even with Andy. Andy responded and I knew I had a real fight on my hands. I dug deep and began to move into the lead an inch at a time.
Once it was down to about 30 meters to go, I had built almost a half-boatlength lead and finally began to believe that I had him--but only if I kept the hammer down. Meanwhile, my body was screaming "Stop! STOP!! I can't take another ten seconds of this!!!!" Somehow I ignored those inner voices and got myself across the line. My G.P.S. device measured the course at 7700 meters (about 4.78 miles), and my time was 39 minutes, 33 seconds.
After racing Andy three times last year, I mentioned in this post that he was getting a little bit harder to beat each time. That trend continued Monday, with Andy finishing just five seconds back at 39:38.
The other racers produced the following results:
Robert Orr 43:28
Dave Grundfest 44:46
Frank Walker 47:45
Jillian Elwart 47:48
Phil Capel 49:51
Karen Kesselring 50:40
Lou and Charlie Payton 56:40
Ashley Capel 59:02
(Stephen Lynn flipped and was unable to finish.)
The water was bathwater warm, but I flipped my boat anyway. My feet could feel cooler water five feet down. After a while I remounted and paddled back to the boat ramp, and returned my boat to the top of my car. I'd now done two races in three days. It felt good to get back to some racing even in an informal setting.
After a bit of conversation I embarked on the trip back home. It was pushing 7 o'clock--suppertime--and I was reminded of one of the main challenges of road-tripping in Pandemic Times. I'm feeling pretty skittish about going into restaurants these days, and I-40 between Memphis and Little Rock doesn't offer many good choices even in normal times. I ended up getting a burger and fries at a Wendy's drive-thru in Forrest City... not what I consider much of a meal. I think if I go to any future Monday afternoon sessions in Little Rock, I'll pack a sandwich or something on my own.
I got up Tuesday morning and did a round of the strength routine (again with no dips, as I'm still having this puzzling achiness in my upper arms). Then I met Joe, and our relaxed loop of the harbor felt good after all that intensity. On Wednesday I enjoyed a well-earned day off. Yesterday I was back in the boat doing a typical 60-minute paddle that included a set of three 8-stroke sprints and some messing around out on the Mississippi.
This morning I did another round of the strength routine. The summer solstice occurs tomorrow, and it looks like we'll have a hot weekend to go with it.
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