KeithWikle.com

I spent last Saturday in the pool in my sea kayak. It was a frustrating couple of hours relearning skills. I considered myself someone who spent the time in the seat working on their skills. And there I was having to relearn some of the harder rolls I thought I’d already mastered. I hit maybe 5 forward-forward hand roll attempts out of 20. I could not cross arm roll at all, my spine roll wasn’t even close.

Needless to say, I will have to get back in the pool again after Christmas and work hard towards regaining lost ground.

Headed down the backside of Westnedge hill this morning all suited up and raring to go on my morning commute. I got to my big scary downhill run and began riding the brakes to slow down before the descent. I unfortunately immediately locked out and slid on to the side of my bike and then proceeded to slide all the way down the hill on my side. It felt sort of cool actually like a dirt track racer, skidding down the entire hill on my side. After all the rain we had yesterday, and then the following cold temperatures, I decided that today it was ok to drive. If you crash less than a mile from your home on ice on Dec 12th, I’d say you toughed it out right. Or am I a giant weenie for driving?

Problem is- Westnedge hill is indeed a hill at all four points of the compass in Kalamazoo. You have to descend the hill at some point to get anywhere. The streets to use off the hill where there is little traffic ironically also have the issue of no salt, and no traffic to keep them clear. So my morning commute in winter consists of a white knuckled descent into a hairpin turn onto Burdick. In summer it’s sweet. I cruise down the hill, hit the turn at full speed; balls out to the wind, slow for traffic and then high tail it to work. In winter it’s a technical descent on a sheet of ice. Once you make it off the hill the streets are usually clear. I suppose I could walk my bike to the bottom. But that just seems silly.