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Archive for May 20th, 2008

Not content with just being on land, I decided it was time to be on the water as well. I ended up doing something rather unexpected and went kayaking last night on Lake Wylie. There was a Moonlight kayak tour so Donna and I headed out with the small group to paddle around as the sun was setting.

As soon as I slipped away from the boat ramp a flood of memories came back to me. It’s been decades since I went kayaking, but the last time I did was in Australia when I was perhaps 12 or 13 years old on a 3 day camping trip for school. There were about 6 of us and we would paddle for several miles during the day and then camp for the night.

It was a huge kayak, or at least it seemed huge to me at the time, and it was stuffed with several days work of camping gear in the front and the back. It was a great time, paddling along, looking at the scenery, the wildlife, camping out “in the bush” so to speak and as I slipped a few feet from shore and took my first couple of strokes with the paddle I remembered that little adventure.

And while last night was only a few hours it compared very nicely. We paddled along at an easy pace watching the Heron’s, Osprey, and what I hope were the splashes of some large fish.

It was only a foot or so deep, but as it began to get dark it certainly felt like the open water. We headed down to the rookery where the Heron’s would nest and I noted at least three sitting in the high perches watching us go by. Several others circled overhead and the sight of them kept making me think Pterodactyls were going to swoop down on us.

I was pretty much getting the hang of everything and I kept remembering all the kangaroos, goannas and galahs I saw when I was down in Australia. And as the darkness blurred the landscape it looked pretty much the same to me.

For the final stretch we came around the shoreline and stared full on into a full moon. It was a brilliant moment, to sit there in the dark, on the water, with the soft sound of the water slapping the side of the kayak or the gentle paddling off distance as people moved to take in the full view. It was such a clear view and I sat there floating along thinking this was a pretty cool thing to do.

Well, it’s not like riding a bike, it is riding a bike. For the past month I have been making time to go bike riding in the evenings and on the weekends. So far I have done pretty well. I’m able to go 10 miles without too much trouble, 15 miles isn’t too bad with a break or two, and 20 miles can be done, but it takes a little while. The rides after work usually hit around 10 miles or less. On the weekends I go all out and try to go as far as possible.

I’ve had my mountain bike for years, so this isn’t a new purchase, but like so many others I’m sure, it’s been collecting dust for several years and has only recently seen the light of day again.

When I first got it I went riding after work with some friends. We went pretty frequently and for that year I put some good miles and some good scratches on it. Then the cold weather came and the bike hit storage with the idea it would be brought back out as soon as the weather was good again.

Well, the weather was good, but I wasn’t, and the bike stayed in storage.

Then I got a completely screwy schedule with work where I was putting in 60 hours a week and getting on the big was the last thing I wanted, even though I needed it.

But so far I have made amends. I have been diligent with my riding. It’s a goal of mine to actually start riding to work and leave the car at home. It’s about 12 miles to work, but it’s not the distance, but the condition of the roads that has me concerned. No sidewalk, no shoulder and rush hour traffic don’t mix, so there is some doubt this will actually happen. I haven’t given up on it, I just need the right route.

I have some cycling adventures coming up so we’ll see how many miles I can put behind me.

Peddle on!

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