Archive for May, 2006

May 23 2006

The ode to John Grady Cole

Published by kwikle under Blogging, Eskimo Rolling, Expeditions, Family, Greenland Style Paddling, Literature, Marathons, Running

I used to think that every word out of my mouth was funny, wise, or whimsically beautiful. I used to feel impervious to criticism. Participating in writer’s groups and workshops will steel you for some pretty mean shit. But the idea that you have something worthwhile to say that other people would be interested in reading would necessitate a certain amount of arrogance. But I never looked for validation for what I was doing.

Now I do look for validation from time to time. Ironically as I’ve gotten older it’s been more about the poetics of motion than verbal and written. I used to occasionally seek guidance from peers and professors for my writing.

In general as I look back at the last 5-6 years, I’ve taken myself a bit too seriously, almost to the point where If something isn’t hard to do, or learn, I don’t even care about it. I’m always attempting to break away from the pack, in my own mediocre way. Is it all an attempt to be noticed by Laura? She never cares how many new rolls I can do, or how fast my last race was, or at least she lets me think that to keep me humble.

I love the line in All the Pretty horses, (if you know anything about me, yes I mean the book, and not the movie), where John Grady Cole breaks his wild horse in the pen, and he starts to ride it, almost strutting in front of the stable fence. “Because John Grady loved to ride the horse. In truth he loved to be seen riding the horse. In truth he loved for her to see him riding the horse”.

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May 15 2006

New Dark Feeling of Dread

Published by kwikle under Cycling, Cyclocross, Gear

As some may have guessed I did buy a new cyclocross bike. I’ve been bike commuting to work since february. I got a wild hair in my butt to get an effecient, do it all bike. And ended up buying a Felt FX1.

I headed out to Ft. Custer with Mobley for the first time on Sunday We biked a series of woop-di-woop trails and up and down trails for an hour or two yesterday.

Heading downhill on a lightning quick cyclocross bike at top speed over unknown trails, with lumpy rocks and loose stones really revs up that primal pit of fear in the reptile part of my brain.

All my mind’s eye sees is trees smacking my forehead while I ride the brakes and put my butt way over the rear tire. It is fun. But a different sort of fun than surfing, that’s for sure. I have fear while heading downwave, but it is entirely managed with a sense of joy. Trail riding while clipped in to bike pedals can be quite technical, but I am not really very competent right now.

Riding up hill on loose dirt was a challenge and I had to dismount, throw the bike over my shoulder and run up hill on a couple of steep slopes where I misjudged how much speed it would take to summit. But I managed to do the dismount quickly and without wiping out, that was an accomplishment in and of itself.

Now the only problem is I have a bunch of sand caught in the pedal arm that is making a lot of noise.

I am thinking about doing some cyclocross races this fall, or “A” cross race, but I will see how the summer goes for training.

On a training and weight related note, I had a deep moment of satisfaction this morning when I discovered I accidentally packed an old belt. There were no notches near my current waist line, so I had to take a pocket knife to my belt and make a hole about 4-5 inches over. Nothing like that sort of activity to make you feel like maybe you haven’t slipped that much in your training routine.

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May 12 2006

With or Without You

Published by kwikle under Great Lakes, Surf Kayaking

I know that I wrote something about “Crazy For You, But Not That Crazy” last fall. Ok that was a load of bollocks. It just depends on how long it’s been since I’ve been surfing. If I had to pick a song lyric, it’s probably: “With or Without You.” How many U2 posts can I make?....

The surf was up to 12-14 feet, with 30 knot winds. I watched the lake cam all day at work with a mingled sensation of dread and excitement. Dread in that I knew it would be heinous with a 30 knot dead westerly wind on shore. With no northerly bent to the wind, the pier (depicted above) doesn’t shelter the wind at all so that you can break out to catch the bigger waves farther out.

I managed to get my new fins set in the slots. They are heavier and more solid than the last type. And they give a feeling of confidence rather than worry. I got set in the Boogie and waited for a surge of water to pull me out, rather than knuckle dragging it out. Once the boat was pulled out to sea (so to speak), I began the slugfest. The top paddle blade was fighting the wind on every stroke. I adjusted the feather angle on my lendal to 45 degrees, which helped some, but not enough. I could clear the first three sets of breakers by paddling diagonally to the wind in a couple of rips. But once out to the next big set of breakers ,I just didn’t have enough hull speed to get clear. So I would turn around right when I saw a big set coming in and try to catch a quick ride. I caught perhaps 3 good rides. Got a good flat spin on one. I was pummelled pretty well after only an hour. I only got nuked twice nose to tail and rolled up well both times on my offside.

Somewhere between fall and spring, the sanity left me again. I can’t wait to go out again when the wind is out of the northwest and I can catch some worthwhile rides.

I love that feeling when I’m paddling out into the wind and it’s impossible to make any headway and I’m thinking in my head, “Ok just one more good ride, just one more, then I’ll go in.”

I know I’m not unique in this way, because Jason Roon and Doug were out that day too. But perhaps the company of fellow mental people isn’t too bad. I just need to get some good rides in this spring, I feel like I’m in a rut and need that moment where the wave takes me, and I get to feel that impossible acceleration downwave and then drop the rudder in to sweep back up wave to stay in the pocket and hang on.

Seldom used alternate verses to With or Without You:

“You shine like stars in the summer night,
you shine like stars in the winter night,
one heart, one hope, one love, with or without you.”

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