zenrider

Good luck! Sounds like a blast.

bring it home Zen

Good luck!

Good luck Zen!!!!

You da man Zen! Give them hell!!!

So maybe I will die trying. Almost died laughing. After workout last night, a Dr that goes there regularly asks what I was doing differently. I was soaked. I told him I am working on my aerobics because I never do that.
Forget about it , he says, you cannot do that.
But I am racing now, I must build up capacity.
Forget about it, that is for 20 and 30 year olds, he says.
Well the 50 yr old guys do very well at this, I told him, some of the better paddlers are in my age group.
I bet they are very skinny, he says.
Well yes, the good ones are.
That is why they can do aerobics, you have too much muscle, you will never become aerobic, he says. Look at you, your arms are great big, your chest, you have big pecks and your back is just huge. (I am somewhat embarassed but also my poor head is swelling.. ha ha)
Your legs are thick too and no matter how much oxygen and blood you pump, it will immediately get sucked up by your upper body and you will not gain anything from aerobics, just forget it, go back and lift weights, you are doing very well, he says.
How long have you been bodybuilding, he asks?
About 10 years, but I am not that big.
You would have to loose all you gained in ten years. You are big, aerobics is for skinny little girls, he says.
Yah, das for leetle guurls, I told him... ha ha ha..

Now when I see these little skinny guys on the starting line, I will think of them as little girls and laugh and laugh. I hate aerobics. At least when I get to the finish line, I can help the little girls throw their boats on their cars... still laughing.

First time out in the Speeder kayak today. Practiced up and down West Branch of Tuna. That thing is a bit shakey but got my confidence level up. Takes some attention to keep it going straight upstream and some major horse power when she starts heading around. Managed about an hour or more of steady sweating. Sure felt good to be back on the water. Lots of logs and bottles and a basketball and ice burgs to miss. If it comes up more tomorrow, might have to take a timed run down through town. Folks aren't used to seeing that here. I paddle right past pedestrians and they don't even notice lots of the time. Can only float the creek a few days per year. Tomorrow might be a day. I can't wait for the starting gun.

Well lets hear it. How did you make out ?

Just did a little research on that race. I did the Memorial day run from Shawville to Karthus 5 years straight. What an amazing place. Loved to camp on the right side of the river where the cold water creek feeds in. Their is a huge stone chair in the camp sight if you have ever investigated that area.

Well the first two races of the season are under the belt.

The Red Mo was very exciting and sadly ended in tragedy for one man. My run on the Mo included three swimming sessions in water of the 35 degree range. The first exit was actually the worst as there were zero other boats around and zero safety crew. I floated about 500 yards or more fighting the strong current and getting pummeled by my boat until I bounced off enough rocks to swing my body and boat towards shore. My breathing was loud, full force panting when I finally made it to shore. I was frozen so badly my hands could not even move. They were completely numb. I warmed by scrunching into a ball and let the sun beat on me. I could not believe I restarted the race. Within two miles I was trapped again behind a boulder and just a couple boat lengths upstream of a death strainer. There was no way to get the boat up and around the canyon walls. My choice was to try to flush back out into what was basically a water falls and under the clearance end of the strainer. I made it out of there as three boats rounded the corner so if it went wrong, at least they could maybe help. I crashed again at the finish line. Came across the line with my head bobbing and boat still crunching on a famously named boulder behind me. I believe it is call Chickos Rock. I barely managed to get to shore on my own after dismal performance by the safety crew to provide any help. My boat continued down river and out of sight while I think it hit every possilble river obstacle available. Fortunately, someone retrieved my boat well below the rescue area. I am just glad it wasn't my body at this point. As I got to shore I found the bad news that the man before me had just perished in the exact spot I had just crashed. I got the race results today and they listed me as DNF! Apparently, you have to finish in your boat. I was sure disappointed to learn that as I would have swam back out to my boat, hauled it above the line and drifted across. I stood at the finish line and raised both arms to the scorers to ensure they saw my number and I had finished. But I promised I would finish even if it was just my body. Sadly, I did not realise how close to reality that statement was. That was the scariest water I have ever been in. Way too scary to not try it again next year. I don't live on the sidelines.

My fund raising efforts for the Red Mo race to raise money for Disabled American Veterans resulted in approximately $400 in sponsorships that are still arriving. I am very pleased with that effort.

Next race was in a canoe with my partner Jim at the Cameron Canoe and Kayak Classic. We pretty much kicked azz most of the day. We led our group early and stayed there until we were brutalized by a less than gracious competitor. We slammed boats and paddles through a narrow chute for at least a minute before I just pushed them away. A fatal race error right there. We never got back around them. We saw their boat was beyond regulation for our class and had assumed it was not in our class and not worth tangling with again. At the end we found out that several illegal boats were running in our class. Our official objection apparently fell of deaf ears. We took home the second place trophy and actually did an outstanding job. We were only passed by three boats the entire race. We passed entire classes of boats that started in some of the heats before us. Our finish time put us second in class for Masters (40 and up) and second in class for the open age group. We were in the top five of 17 out of 22 classes. Were were in the top three 13 of 22 classes. I would say that is pretty good to set a podium finish effort for over half of the classes run that day. We were extremely pleased with our performance. A couple of odd wind gusts and two drags in the shallows pretty much took our first place chances from us. We almost passed the illegal first place boat a couple of times. No prisoners in future races. Be fair warned all. You get within paddle reach and we will use your boat, your paddles or your face to propel us downstream.

Next race is the Allegheny Clarion Classic in Emlenton, PA for me. Not sure if I am kayaking or canoeing with Jim. I have very little info on that race. This should all be flat water and I expect a rather uneventful race, except for maybe winning whatever class I enter. Lots of time to practice and shake out the winter stiffness. Let the blades fly.

Racing at Karthaus, PA 5/1/10. It feels great to be getting comfortable with the Speeder finally. Averaged over 9 MPH last evening in a short sprint practice. That is fast folks. I have no idea what to expect at Karthaus. The race is on an 11 mile section of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The finish is at the Karthaus bridge. If you happen to be that way and want to see what canoe and kayak racing is about, come on down. I believe there are classes for everyone so bring your back yard boat.

Race start is at State Route 1011/Rolling Stone Rd at the bridge. Registration starts at 8 AM and race starts at 11 AM. Get off I-80 at the Kylertown Exit and head north. Watch for Rolling Stone Rd right away off Rte 53.

The Karthaus race was great. I managed a second for class and 4th overall. I have never been on the West Branch of Susquehanna. It is a beautiful river. Would have been nice to observe, but concentrating on good lines was the order of the day. I lead the race briefly which is a first for me in any class. Within a half mile I was torched by the winner. Then some bad choices got me behind another. I battled for quite some time to remain 3rd, including some heavy contact that almost sent me overboard, my fault. Finally, I blew by the guy and figured I had him cleanly trounced. Wind at the end of the coarse had me making way too many corrective strokes and wouldn't you know he gets by me again. I wore way too many clothes, overheated and ran out of water half way through the race. I didn't have anything left by mile 8 and just went into survival mode. Moshannon Falls was the biggest obstacle on coarse and I made it through there rather gingerly, but gained some time only to lose it down coarse by making some bad line decisions. Note to self: Never try to out river the locals. Each time I followed the leader and just ground him down, I would decide to out maneuver him. Bad mistake. He obviously knew the hot lines. Next time I will ride the leader and smoke them in the last 1/4 mile. Gosh that sounds easy when reading it.

Next race June 19th, Tiadaghton Elm on WB Susky near Lockhaven.