..still waiting, might as well go ride

The weekend did bring a little wind, but I had other things going on and couldn't get to the beach.  At least Sunday I got out to Kanata Lakes with my brother and Andrew.  We had a sweet ride - the temperature was cool and the bugs were'nt bad.  Ran into Tonya & Dusan on the trail..what are the odds?  Did the camel back drop - no probs..got most of the climbs.  Can't believe how low all the swamps are for this time of year.  Heard what sounded like a machine gun - turned out to be a pileated woodpecker hammering an old wooden hydro pole by the railroad tracks...mega loud.  Mike and Andrew kept up the pace nicely, except Andrew had a few chain issues.  Left Marlow at home, poor guy.

need some wind

No sessions lately.  This spring has brought sporadic wind and weather so far...now it's really hot - like 34 degrees expected for tomorrow.  However, it looks like some kind of system will disrupt things by the weekend...so maybe Sunday or Monday....stay tuned. 
Might as well keep track of mountain bike outings here while I'm at it.  Yesterday I got an early ride in (7am) at Kanata Lakes.  I wasn't sure if I should bring Marlow or not, but he looked like he wanted to go.  It was going to be a hot day, so it had to be an early ride for Marlow's sake anyway - he can't take the heat at all.
The trails were pretty quiet - got a glimpse of one other rider in the forest.  I didn't feel as out-of-shape as I thought I would but I kept the drops to a minimum to go easy my recovering tennis elbow.   Geez, my heart sank when I reached the outback trail near the railroad tracks...they're doing clear cutting there and it looks like a road may be going in.  That sucks ass.  At least for today the trail resumed on the other side of the clear cut but it looks like it's all slipping away into urban sprawl.  We continued on but although I was having a good ride physically, Marlow wasn't doing that great - his spirit was in it, but he just couldn't keep up the pace -he mostly walked and the heat was getting to him already.  He took a few dips in the swamps, but we had to call it quits.
Today Marlow was beat.  He was pretty pokey on his morning walk...he's either just out of shape, affected too much by the hot weather or just plain getting old.  His trail running days may be numbered..hope not!

Session #2

It's Mother's Day, so of course it's windy. There was snow on the ground this morning! Super windy too. Managed to sneak away for a quick half hour session at Britannia - would have stayed longer but my hands were frozen. Nobody else was there - I could see a couple of sails up at Shirley's bay - probably a cleaner launch there today. A lot of North in the wind - almost right on shore. Sailed the 5.2 nicely powered. My left shoulder felt strained after a few jumps and cripes was it cold!!

Made the paper..hope boss doesn't see!

A photographer from the Citizen got a shot of me!

Session #1

No work today...there's way too much wind for that.
Hit Britannia beach around noon - wind was from the west at around 20knots. Sailed 5.2 and 4.2 all afternoon. Not bad for my first session of 2010 -water is pretty warm- totally comfortable. Other sailors: Craig, Steve, Danny, Alex, Jim...a few kiters ... even a guy with a surfboard!

Slow Start

I decided to summarize each windsurfing outing I have on this blog. It's not really for the public, it's just a way for me to try and remember what I did and when on the water.
I finally made it down to the beach yesterday, but the wind wasn't really on. Didn't matter, I somehow forgot to pack my harness anyway. Craig and Steve were there in the parking lot checking conditions out. A couple of sails on the water - no kites oddly enough. It was nice and warm, but from the southwest and flukey. Everybody is in Hatteras this week...wish I was too.