Topics

1

Flatwater and Touring / Great surf and turf weekend

« on: July 12, 2013, 12:19:32 PM »

My husband and I went up to Lake Placid last weekend to check out the course for the ADK 80k mountain bike race at Mount Van Hoevenberg and get in a little paddling.  It was fun to bike on the trails that we often x-c on and see what is under all of that snow.  A real bonus was an early-morning paddle at Lower Saranac Lake.  It's now one of my favorite lakes.  We saw 5 loons (one was a tiny baby) and one bald eagle.  We watched the rain come in and obliterate our view of the mountains.  It was an amazing experience to be out there in the misty rain.  Here are pics:  http://www.pbase.com/j_harvey/lake_placid__summer.

Anyone else out there have some great surf and turf experiences to share?

2

Random / SUP Dreams

« on: December 12, 2012, 05:00:20 AM »

I had my first SUP dream last night, but I woke up before I was able to get on the SUP  .

In my dream, I was driving to an institution on Lake Ontario.  I noticed that the waves were crazy and people were trying to surf them and falling all over the place.  I had my SUP on the car and was trying to decide whether to join them.  The waves were much bigger than I'd ever paddled (I'm a flatwater paddler) and I had to figure out how to keep my SUP from crashing on the rocks.  I woke up just after I made the decision that I was going to go for it.

Anyone else have SUP dreams?  Hopefully you got to paddle in them.

3

Flatwater and Touring / Black Friday Paddle with Fellow Zoner

« on: November 24, 2012, 08:15:28 AM »

I can't think of a better way to spend Black Friday than paddling with Don and fellow Zoner Ichabod Spoonbill.  Ichabod was up in my neck of the woods visiting family.

We ventured out on the Hudson River to brave the biggest waves and strongest winds I've SUP'd in.  The plan was to paddle upwind as far as we could (given the strong head wind), then do a downwinder.  Gusts were so strong at times that I couldn't get enough forward momentum to keep the wind and my paddle stroke from turning me sideways.  Ichabod, a strong paddler, was pulling away and Don was at least able to make forward progress.  I decided to try to make myself small, got on my knees and choked up on the paddle.  It worked!  I was able to gain ground.  We took a break and paddled in the glassy water of a small stream, then went back to the Hudson for our downwinder.  What a blast! 

We went into another small stream for some more flat water paddling, then braved the river crossing again to our cars.  All three of us went 'swimming' in the 42 degree water.  The temperature wasn't as shocking as I expected, but Don and I were told that we stunk when we dropped by a friend's store on the way home.  What fun!  Thanks Ichabod for a great paddle.

Here are a couple of photos.  For more, visit http://www.pbase.com/j_harvey/paddling_fall_2012. 

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Flatwater and Touring / I won the race!

« on: November 19, 2012, 05:07:56 AM »

My husband challenged me to a race to the train bridge.  I had to do a lap around the island because he was taking it easy due to pulling a muscle last weekend paddling against a big headwind.  I had no chance......BUT, my husband got mesmorized by the reflection of the train bridge in the water and decided he wanted to get a pic of me with the bridge reflection.  So he waited by the shore for me to go by.  He totally forgot about the race.  I took advantage of the situation and paddled hard to the bridge and yelled 'I win' when I reached the bridge.  What a great paddle!

My friends think I'm nuts going out to paddle when it's 45 degrees outside.  I think they're nuts doing a 50 mile bike ride starting at 6am when it's 23 degrees out.  Who'se the nuttier one?

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Flatwater and Touring / Let's see pics of your favorite flatwater places

« on: October 13, 2012, 04:10:05 PM »

Just beat the storm to the dock