Kayaking...

Sunday, May 7, 2006

The day started out very wet and I had to put off cutting the grass. Instead I took Egan for a walk in the rain and then washed my MTB. I discovered a nice slice in a tire that I just bought last year and will have to replace it this week when I get my bike checked for the race. By lunch time the weather finally started to clear up although it was still very windy. I was meeting LM at Ocean River at 2PM for our first and only kayak outing before the race. As kayaking is not a big component of the race I wasn't too worried, but I did want to get a session in with LM as she hadn't been in a double before.

When I got there they weren't sure that they were going to let us go out due to the high winds in the gorge, but I convinced them that we knew what we were doing. As we were going out in a double which is pretty stable, they agreed to let us go. The kayak we rented was a Passat, the same one we are racing in and the fastest double you can get. I'm hoping it will make up for our lack of skill. The wind was stronger than I thought it would be and we really had to angle the boat to go in the right direction, however it was good experience for the conditions we might meet in Ucluelet. We did two laps of the gorge in about 1:15 and after an hour we were both starting to feel it. We met one of the guides from Ocean River out with a class and he asked if we were doing the MOMAR Ucluelet race as he couldn't think of anyone else who would be doing laps in those conditions. It was a good paddle and assured me that we would survive that part of the race.

When I got home the grass was dry enough to cut the front. After dinner Shelley and I took Egan for a long walk in the park. For the rest of the week I am going to work on getting lots of sleep, nutrition, hydration and have a couple of very easy workouts just to keep the legs loose. I also might try to get in a session with my massage therapist.

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