Some great paddling and some so-so riding

I took the weekend off from fighting the rudder-line wars.  So two of my three surfskis remain out of commission, maybe permanently for one of them.

I took a bike ride Friday morning, following my usual route out east on the Greater Memphis Greenline, around the lake in Shelby Farms, and back home via the Greenline.  I felt sort of tired and didn't push the pace.  But it was a beautiful day: the whole week had been muggy and rainy, but those storms early Thursday brought in some cooler, drier air, and Friday was sunny with a high around 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

It was sunny again yesterday, and warmer, but still not so humid.  I had a rather delightful time out on the river.  As I paddled out of the harbor there was a barge rig coming upriver, and I went to inspect the surfing possibilities behind it.  The waves were moving fast, and they were a bit confused because the towboat was turning to line itself up with the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, and so surfing wasn't easy.  But I did get a handful of decent rides, and even linked a couple of runs (hard to do with barge wakes).  As the waves started to peter out I paddled down below the Harahan Bridge and then up along the Arkansas bank, most of the way to the HDB.  As I started my ferry back over toward the harbor's entrance I found some good residual waves from that same rig I'd been surfing behind earlier--it was now well north of the HDB, but for some reason waves seem to linger longer around that bridge.  I got to do some more nice surfing.  After that I returned to the harbor and did a couple of strong surges back to the dock.  So all my energy systems got some work during my 80 minutes in the boat.

I couldn't paddle this morning because the handbell group I play with had its last gig of the season.  And then I went to lunch with my mom--it is Mothers' Day, after all.  So my whole Sunday routine was out the window, and by mid afternoon I was feeling utterly lethargic.  It was a reminder of why I prefer to do my athletic stuff in the morning.  Finally, around 4 o'clock, I got myself out on a bike ride, and I rode for a good half-hour before my body finally started to embrace the idea.  After a 70-minute ride, I was still feeling a bit sluggish, but glad to have gotten some blood flowing.

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