tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72992277211958809472024-03-05T00:57:46.501-05:00Busy Living LifeI'm just busy living life and these are my
musing, ramblings and other nonsense.Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.comBlogger286125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-19542016659381355472011-12-06T09:15:00.000-05:002011-12-06T09:15:09.461-05:002011 Slide Show<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fjmkizer%2Falbumid%2F5681647038794686721%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br />
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Our favorite photos from 2011Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-21303639290098286852011-11-09T14:11:00.000-05:002011-11-09T14:11:48.643-05:00Beach2Battleship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dfM7emYKVkCSPtDdfDPNfBJT4rByCqfyTELlUfVHN0nTy4Nksg-GLFAQ3C-3U-jn00KN5e6rcitpZBRNeIhMNDZK2_SV1vGhmqF4x8iqntkYqjDLn6VuDd_PDQWkHRTXtAMxpuGT4Bas/s1600/B2B2011+036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-psJtymoTaYhKhztroQJbMtky_4kgKqESLcF3D1JCHq4pM1c3OA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-psJtymoTaYhKhztroQJbMtky_4kgKqESLcF3D1JCHq4pM1c3OA" width="200" /></a>Beach2Battleship on October 29, 2011 was my first iron distance triathlon. An iron distance event is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run for a total of 140.6 miles. Athletes typically have 16-17 hours to complete the event, depending on the race director. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before the race </span><br />
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We drove to Wilmington from the Raleigh area on Thursday morning after dropping off Emma with the pet sitter. We got to the UNC-W area by about noon and stopped to get some lunch. Then we headed to Greenfield Park for a little course recon. I remember that that I felt like I was in the park forever during the half last year and I wanted to walk the park section to get some landmarks in mind. Also, I wanted to take a good look at the trail since I would be running at least one section of it in the dark. All of the sections along the road were in very good shape as were the bridges. During the race I'd need to pay closer attention to the few sections that went away from the road. <br />
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After the park, we headed to the Hilton to park, check in and walk two blocks to packet pickup on Thursday. On Thursday night went to Fish Bites for a steamer and then I put gear into various bags (a project unto itself!). <br />
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We met Ron and Alex for a short swim on Friday morning -- the last 800m or so of the course from channel marker 16 to the finish. This was a good refresher to sight on channel marker 19 and then on the SeaMist. <br />
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After the swim, we visited with Ron, went back to the hotel, had a late breakfast and headed over to the athlete's meeting. Then checked out the layout at the Battleship/T2 area and headed back to Wrightsville for bag/bike drop off (I kept my T1 bag as well as my morning/after bag). Then we went to the swim start for a viewing. <br />
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We relaxed for a few hours on Friday afternoon and had an early-ish dinner at Mellow Mushroom before going back to the hotel to watch the Carolina Hurricanes game. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Race morning </span><br />
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On Saturday morning, I got up at 4:20, lubed up liberally and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of CamelBak Elixir. Caught the bus to T1 at 5:00 am. <br />
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I uncovered my bike (had drive train covered due to forecasted light rain), filled my aero bottle and put on a disposable sportscap water bottle (both with CamelBak Elixir), loaded my Bento box and mounted my Garmin. Then I went to body marking, dropped off my T1 bag and got on the bus to swim start.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Swim</span> <br />
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After all of the athletes arrived at the swim start area, we made our way onto the beach for the start. The announcer said that the Coast Guard had given the OK to start in three minutes. He started to count down. We had a mass start -- 750 athletes entering the water at the same time -- to Eminmens "Lose Yourself." <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity </i><br />
<i> To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment </i><br />
<i>Would you capture it or just let it slip? </i></blockquote>The swim was great! I started about 2/3 of the way back on the left just as I planned. I swam more or less straight out and the current pushed me around the start buoy as expected. The swim was more congested than I expected which is good because it meant I was swimming faster and was with people! Woo hoo! About a 1/3 of the way into the swim I was kicked in the right goggle. Goggles stayed in place so all was well. My zipper pull was looped when I started and became dislodged at the start. The long tail thing annoyed me the entire way. Towards the end of the swim, I realized that my neck was getting a wetsuit hicky. At that point, I just wanted to get out of the wetsuit. Thankfully, the docks were in sight. Channel marker 19. SeaPath. Go for the first ladder. Careful, don't fall. Wetsuit strippers. Shower. Mylar "cape." Carefully make my way 300-400m to T1.<br />
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I did a good job with Body Glide/Aquaphor on the underarms and heart rate monitor areas but I totally missed the back of my neck which is what caused the chafing on my neck.<br />
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I wore a sports bra and tri shorts under my wetsuit for the swim. They had wetsuit strippers and I used them. The wetsuit strippers pull the neoprene wetsuit off of you which is much faster than doing that yourself. I changed to dry tri shorts and added a bike jersey, arm warmers and vest for the bike. Of course socks, headsweats, gloves and helmet. Port-a-john stop and then on to the bike. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The bike</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlTa7lLBysc1qKzDAWJoI3YyGQ83HcLGslTd-QJJcWbqFy3Tarbr2DjCUphZI_X8g7jAprqV8ovJnNgqLCLI9I71xxinHV3EVCPi1t75_kxwFmW4Q69JHWOz_P3OaUe-7ghJoJbZJy5Ob/s1600/BEA_B6847.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlTa7lLBysc1qKzDAWJoI3YyGQ83HcLGslTd-QJJcWbqFy3Tarbr2DjCUphZI_X8g7jAprqV8ovJnNgqLCLI9I71xxinHV3EVCPi1t75_kxwFmW4Q69JHWOz_P3OaUe-7ghJoJbZJy5Ob/s320/BEA_B6847.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>Last year I did the half iron distance event here and I wrote, "The bike was good. I loved riding on 140. It was FAST!" This year someone wrote, "I-140 will forever be known as the highway of death, cold, and misery." What a difference a year makes!<br />
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I did more or less the same thing as for the half last year. One bottle of fluids done before the first aid station, refill with bottle from cage, drop empty at aid station and get a replacement bottle. <br />
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I stuck to my nutrition plan pretty well. After I was on the bike for a few miles and had settled in, I had a Fig Newton. Then at the one hour mark and the two hour mark I had a Clif bar. At about 2:45 into the bike I decided I wanted a Honey Stinger Waffle. Then at 3:30 and 4:30 I had a Clif bar. After this, I got worried about the waffle and the calories on the bike and stopping solid food with one hour left in the bike, etc. This was a little bit silly on several counts (I routinely have fig newtons and honey stinger waffles before running being the main one) -- but my original plan had been for five Clifs on the bike. Then I did the triathlon math and realized that 200+100 > 240 so I'd be fine having a Fig Newton with on hour left and a Hammer Gel just before the last aid station (so I could dump the sticky wrapper). That puts me right at 1600 calories on the bike. I had about 4.5 bottles of water (about 90 ounces) plus two bottles before the race started. <br />
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One thing that I did was use a label maker to make a label that listed the mile markers of each aid station. I stuck that on my aerodrink bottle for easy reference. This came in handy.<br />
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Regarding the actual riding, 140 was the worst with gusty winds and nothing to break them. 421 was better but still bad. After getting on Blueberry Road at least we had trees to break things up a bit. For a while on 210 my hands were really cold but that cleared up after 20-30 minutes which is handy because it's really hard to open wrappers when your fingers are still. I had on fingerless gloves because have no hope of opening wrappers (even pre snipped ones) with full finger gloves. The main thing on the bike was that I was just trying to get to mile 70 (well, 73). I kept on telling myself get to 70. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIvfFVKplSenoulQF1H0NdroEkAwK0CqkpB6gq0T0IFD8lQtbJ8B3SXxBjVTqdTdxbzH8sCRzefSat7X48-ZPcL_VDshWquOLlfDoXzoMuS898WnSlgcVnWwDniTYHBh-uyKOpyVxnif9/s1600/B2B2011+020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIvfFVKplSenoulQF1H0NdroEkAwK0CqkpB6gq0T0IFD8lQtbJ8B3SXxBjVTqdTdxbzH8sCRzefSat7X48-ZPcL_VDshWquOLlfDoXzoMuS898WnSlgcVnWwDniTYHBh-uyKOpyVxnif9/s320/B2B2011+020.jpg" width="212" /></a>I knew I'd have a tailwind after getting back on 421. The only time that I stopped was at mile 73. I had to pee and I was unable to completely void my bladder without stopping. <br />
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As expected, the final 40 miles was fast! 15+ mph tailwinds will do that for you! <br />
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My meteorologist friend Ron said, "winds were 12-18 mph with gusts to at least 23 mph for the morning, but peaked at 25 mph sustained, with 33 mph gusts around 2pm. There was a slight lull in the wind from 11am-1pm when most half-ers were on their way back, but the strongest winds were after that, when full athletes were coming back."<br />
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Forgot about the dismount line! Thankfully the volunteer there ordered me to stop and I made it!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The run</span><br />
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Took off arm warmers and vest, swapped CBC cycling jersey for CBC tri top, changed from Smartwool cycling socks to Balegra running socks and cycling shoes for running shoes. Added my running hat, hit the port-o-johns and I was off!<br />
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In the months leading up to the race, I knew what to do on the run but this did not solidify for me until I read <a href="http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/run/the-ironman-runwalk/" target="_blank">http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/run/the-ironman-runwalk/.</a> I knew that I needed to walk the aid stations because that's the only way I can get fluid in without carrying it. For me, dixie cup + running = spillage. Very little actually makes it down untils I walk a few stops to drink. This article really helped because it laid out some rules that I could live by: (1) Run through the aid station to the last water, gel, coke, sportsdrink guy/gal, whatever your needs are for that aid station and (2) Giving yourself permission to walk the aid stations, beginning with Mile 1, becomes a reward for continuing to run between the aid stations. The mental conversation becomes “Body, STFU. Keep running, don’t slow down, and I will reward you for that effort over the next mile by letting you walk 30 steps at the next aid station. That’s the deal and we only have to play this game for another 6-8 miles. Suck it up.” <br />
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That is what I did with a few exceptions. On the second loop, I walked up the hill on Ann Street. I had pretzels about three times and I found that while they settled my stomach, I could not run and eat pretzels at the same time. Finally, on the second loop, I got broth at the final aid station. The cup was full and it took more that 30 steps to drink it. I was partway up the big bridge. I had been thinking about walking the big bridge on the final lap and I decided to go ahead and walk the rest of the way up. <br />
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I started the run at 3:07 pm according to my Garmin. This is important because it means that if I did a five hour marathon, I'd finish after 8pm and sunset was at 6:15. Some was someone sunny -- especially compared to that morning when it was overcast and misting/raining. I wore my tri top and sunglasses. I was comfortable for the first bit but by mile 10 or so, I the cold wind was starting to make me feel chilly. I ended up counting down, 3 miles until I get my long sleeve tee, 2 miles until I get mu long sleeved tee. Needless to say, I really wanted that shirt! At run special needs I pulled on the long sleeved tee, and gave my sunglasses to the volunteer to put into my run special needs bag. I hit the port-o-john *again* (I was well hydrated!) and was back on course just like that. <br />
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Overall, I was happy with my run. Before the race, the run was my biggest concern -- the biggest variable for me. I was hoping for a 5 hour marathon but that was based simply on the "open marathon time plus 30 minutes" formula.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiiVNBZGJddrXoMN8gPhkoQsO8RYIEAHkaqDWDUr5s8zZNgh9NLo5e0o5dtg1Gqea9PHNnJZzYAlPnQyCXukta5EIB_TwB_ycTpdyj4IGsKrMMYkqwJyKB6Ll5WDx7ac8ezqXT2-_8Bfo/s1600/BEA_F5309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiiVNBZGJddrXoMN8gPhkoQsO8RYIEAHkaqDWDUr5s8zZNgh9NLo5e0o5dtg1Gqea9PHNnJZzYAlPnQyCXukta5EIB_TwB_ycTpdyj4IGsKrMMYkqwJyKB6Ll5WDx7ac8ezqXT2-_8Bfo/s640/BEA_F5309.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><br />
I was very pleased to finish Beach2Battleship in 12:42:09, finishing first in my age group.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImUvV0RL8FzpXfSwCTeRz0BpoIBKU7EWb4kDyWQgHFpzFy5_mhdpsiPLr03kBzsSKICw6xhxcKn6z56fdalYjG_PkrRiLq7FAXm0UjSsGOj2dO3GIc_jKfIXYVAaXr9Fidc0FFf-edv6x/s1600/IMG_5219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImUvV0RL8FzpXfSwCTeRz0BpoIBKU7EWb4kDyWQgHFpzFy5_mhdpsiPLr03kBzsSKICw6xhxcKn6z56fdalYjG_PkrRiLq7FAXm0UjSsGOj2dO3GIc_jKfIXYVAaXr9Fidc0FFf-edv6x/s320/IMG_5219.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dfM7emYKVkCSPtDdfDPNfBJT4rByCqfyTELlUfVHN0nTy4Nksg-GLFAQ3C-3U-jn00KN5e6rcitpZBRNeIhMNDZK2_SV1vGhmqF4x8iqntkYqjDLn6VuDd_PDQWkHRTXtAMxpuGT4Bas/s1600/B2B2011+036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4dfM7emYKVkCSPtDdfDPNfBJT4rByCqfyTELlUfVHN0nTy4Nksg-GLFAQ3C-3U-jn00KN5e6rcitpZBRNeIhMNDZK2_SV1vGhmqF4x8iqntkYqjDLn6VuDd_PDQWkHRTXtAMxpuGT4Bas/s320/B2B2011+036.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Post race</span><br />
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Find husband! Get Crocs. Pizza, two slices of pepperoni please! I started to get cold shortly after eating the pizza, I started to get pretty cold. There as a band and some other activity but I was chilly and I really wanted a shower so we headed out to the shuttle bus area and went back to the hotel. Kevin went to Front Street Brewery and got take out for me and we watched the end of the Carolina Hurricanes game. I called my mom and my coach while Kevin was getting food.<br />
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I really enjoyed this event and I will be back. Other events have a lot of work to keep up with this one!Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-28779950507595005302011-07-11T13:18:00.009-04:002011-07-15T08:26:14.276-04:00Week of Rivers 2011 - Part II<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUfcMIt4W5kLC7d3THiw-8whww7eF-YBGp78dkQw4ufbMgIZ8cAkQJljbiGw3pzK2zJUOBD4Mi9kTPj9v7SXgt9e0Qe-KMW4UyRl4MQ0MBpwO0WYJqVTgNwLFTaQMhNY5w0LxCFBT8oa7/s1600/WOR+2011+004.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUfcMIt4W5kLC7d3THiw-8whww7eF-YBGp78dkQw4ufbMgIZ8cAkQJljbiGw3pzK2zJUOBD4Mi9kTPj9v7SXgt9e0Qe-KMW4UyRl4MQ0MBpwO0WYJqVTgNwLFTaQMhNY5w0LxCFBT8oa7/s320/WOR+2011+004.jpg" alt="Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629029437769389778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday July 6 - A Walk in the Woods</span></span><br />After four consecutive days in the kayak, it was time to take a break. I decided to go to the <a href="http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&WID=280">Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest</a>, which is one of the last remaining old growth forests in eastern U.S.<br /><br />When I arrived at the forest, I was concerned. A large number of the big old trees where sheared off. The stumps had shredded shards of wood on them, so it looked like the trees were twisted off. It looked like a tornado or strong downdraft had brought down a lot of the trees. When I went further into the forest, I finally got into the giant tulip poplar trees. The poplars are up to 100 feet tall and have huge trunks.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-ELL-sCwZPj9eUwfWFEjb_KO-hT1zXkUPCjZi2JC7YUfh2K0XoIkEWlr5D-CC5JlZyHCrMvqVbcDkmZ4oqtpULHDqOtHoDIa5SK5A1XhQ1wfKy_S2ZyUI3y5kBfxDojnWSL3TvugQyu4/s1600/WOR+2011+007.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-ELL-sCwZPj9eUwfWFEjb_KO-hT1zXkUPCjZi2JC7YUfh2K0XoIkEWlr5D-CC5JlZyHCrMvqVbcDkmZ4oqtpULHDqOtHoDIa5SK5A1XhQ1wfKy_S2ZyUI3y5kBfxDojnWSL3TvugQyu4/s320/WOR+2011+007.jpg" alt="Rhododendron Flowers" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629029926373398834" border="0" /></a><br />The hike was nice since you cross a stream and the Rhododendrons were in bloom. It was hot and steamy like a greenhouse however.<br /><br />I had a picnic lunch and then went for a scenic drive through the mountains.<br /><br />Before heading back to the campground, I stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for dinner. I was going to cook up the meat in tube form I brought with me and I needed side items.<br /><br />I kicked back in my lounge camp chair and read for awhile. It was a perfect way to relax and recharge the batteries.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thursday - Don't Be Expecting Gas Money</span></span><br />On Thursday Rick and Larry were leading a group of first timers on the Ocoee. Usually the "kinder gentler" trip for first timers has people put in below the entrance rapid (to skip Grumpies) and all of the sneaks are taken. I offered to help since I've been on the river many times.<br /><br />At the morning meeting we determined where and when the group would meet at the campground. To minimize the number of shuttle vehicles, Mark (another kayaker) and I rode with Gilley and David, both open boaters.<br /><br />We all met at the middle Ocoee put in and saw that the group was FAR too large. Anything larger that seven or eight is hard to manage. We broke into two groups. Several people went with Fast Fred, who is know for doing several Ocoee laps a day like Rick. Fast Fred's group consisted of people who had run the Ocoee before. The other group consisted of the first timers, trip leaders, and safety boaters. Even after the group split, the first timer group had twelve people (or perhaps eleven). This is where we made a mistake. The shuttle drivers and passengers ended up in different groups, and the groups weren't going to finish anywhere near the same time.<br /><br />The first timers carried their boats down to the put in below Grumpies while Rick, Mark, John, and I went to the main put in. We would meet up with the rest of the group on the river.<br /><br />Below Grumpies the group merged and we were off.<br /><br />We took a slightly different line at Gonzo Shoals than I normally take, but it was an easier line.<br /><br />At Broken Nose, we also took an alternate to the normal sneak line. The normal sneak is actually not that easy. It's easily class III boogie water where you have to dodge holes and rocks and keep working to river left. The line we took was much more river left and it required everyone to go single file down a small drop. This avoided much of the harder stuff and you didn't have to work to get to river left.<br /><br />When we were getting close to Double Suck, I told Rick that I would prefer to take the boof line and NOT the sneak. He agreed to do that, but only after we shepherded all of the other people through the sneak first. We both hung back to sweep.<br /><br />Rick headed towards Double Suck. Rick was too far left. He's not going to be close to the boof rock. What are you doing Rick?! Should I follow him or go to where I know the boof line is? The water is pushy and there isn't a lot of time to mull it over. The second hole is very, very bad and you don't want to get in it since it will work you over. Ok, I'll follow Rick. He knows every line on this river. We sailed right through Double Suck, narrowly missing the two holes and narrowly averting disaster. Later Rick said "There's a green line of water right next to the holes. Who knew!".<br /><br />After Go Forth Creek, Larry had me lead the group for awhile. I was to stop before Table Saw.<br /><br />We gathered in an eddy above Table Saw and we explained how to run it. Table Saw looks scary, but it's really a big water roller coaster. It's import to not flip in the first wave/hole, stay loose, and keep the paddle in the water. I ran the rapid, then continued on through Diamond Splitter.<br /><br />I eddied out and then noticed that a kayak was stuck on rocks above Diamond Splitter. It was Terry's, one of our first timers. Apparently she swam in Table Saw. The boat was not in a spot that you could easily get to. John paddled up to the boat and tried to get it off the rocks. It wouldn't budge, but he could turn it a bit. That was enough for the current to pop it loose a couple of minutes later.<br /><br />Accelerator is a fun rapid towards the end of the run. It really does accelerate you. A lot of people like to run it backwards. The person in front of me was going backwards, I was going forwards. I was talking and wasn't paying attention and was flipped. Not a problem since it was easy to roll back up there.<br /><br />We got to the take out and carried the gear to the cars. Now where is Fast Fred's group?! Gilley left the passenger door on his pickup unlocked, which really annoyed me since my WALLET was in my short's pocket. However, it also meant that we could change into our dry clothes.<br /><br />It was getting close to 3:30 and the water would be shut off at 4:00. Rick, Larry, and John took off so that Rick could get another solo run in (he can do a full lap in 45 minutes, so he had barely enough time to ride the bubble of water).<br /><br />Mark and I sat in the hot sun along the side of the road waiting for Gilley and David to show up. Terry and Tom were also waiting, but they were in a different vehicle. Their car was locked, so they were stuck in their wet gear.<br /><br />A half hour goes by. Allen then shows up and says that we can load our gear into his truck and he'll take us to the top. Here's where the next shuttle mistake was made. Terry and Tom also loaded gear and rode up with us. As we drove up the highway, we saw Fast Fred's group STILL on the river and Rick had nearly caught up to the on his second lap.<br /><br />We get to the put in and met up with Larry and John. Now what do we do? Terry and Tom by this point were cold and tired of being in their wet gear. Even though we could spot them money for dinner, they wouldn't want to go to a restaurant dressed in stinky kayak gear. The logical thing for Tom and Terry to do would be to meet back up with their driver. I asked John if he could drive them back to the take out, which he did.<br /><br />After dropping off Tom and Terry, John picked Mark, two guys from Texas and I up at the put in. Our gear would get back to the campground in Allen's truck. Mark said "Gilley better not be expecting any gas money." I kept saying "I should have driven..."<br /><br />We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Copperhill. I wanted BBQ at Herb's but was out voted. When we came out of the restaurant, it started to rain really hard. Unfortunately, the rain was very localized, so it didn't help rivers like the Tellico.<br /><br />We got back to the campground and I claimed my gear from Allen's truck.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Friday - A Grim Situation and the Auto Flip Feature in Rooster Tail</span></span><br />On Friday we decided to head out the Nolichucky again. The level was similar to what it was the previous Saturday or perhaps slightly higher. We wanted to leave before 8:30 am to keep the group small and because it's a long drive.<br /><br />Larry drove and John, Allen, and I rode with Larry. Casey met us at <a href="http://www.unclejohnnys.net/">Uncle Johnny's</a>. Uncle Johnny's is a hostel for Appalachian trail hikers and kayakers and you can hire shuttle drivers at Uncle Johnny's.<br /><br />Our driver introduced himself as "Grim". He had hiked the entire Applachian Trail, so we assumed that this was his trail name. Grim said that he was from Savannah, but really liked Erwin Tennessee and decided to stay awhile.<br /><br />On our way to the put in, Grim started his tour guide spiel: "During your entire journey on the Nolichucky, you will be in the Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests. The Pisgah and Cherokee National Forests did not allow alcohol or illicit drugs. If you have alcohol or illicit drugs, give them to me for disposal because I am a recreational substance disposal expert."<br /><br />When we got close to the Tennessee/North Carolina state line, he says "Tennessee doesn't have a sense of humor. However, North Carolina does." When we crossed into North Carolina, we saw the 55 MPH speed limit sign. "We call this the double nickels of death.". If you even go above 35 mph, you would fly off of the twisting mountain road!<br /><br />We went though all of the big rapids at the start of the run just fine: Entrance, On the Rocks, Jaws, and Quarter Mile. I still portaged around the entrance to Quarter Mile. Why have a bad day?<br /><br />We came up to Rooster Tail, the last big rapid on the river. Rooster Tail has a curler wave, and if you are too far right, it WILL flip you. John calls this the "auto flip" feature. Larry goes first and sets up to take video of us running the rapid.<br /><br />Of course, I go too far right and flipped. I was banged upside down for awhile, but I was waiting a bit for things to calm down before rolling. Now! I blew the roll. I knew another big drop was coming, so I bailed out of the boat. I managed to shove the boat into an eddy, then I swam into an eddy. John asked if I knew what I did. I said "Yes, I was too far right". Later Allen tells me: "Thanks for going that way. I was thinking of doing the same thing and you showed what would happen."<br /><br />Later Allen swims in an odd place. I thought he did it to make me feel better.<br /><br />We got to the take out and Larry's truck was waiting for us. We got into dry clothes, loaded up gear, and headed towards Asheville. In Asheville, we stopped at <a href="http://asianagb.com/">Asiana Grand</a> for dinner. Asiana Grand is a large Chinese buffet frequented by kayakers.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saturday - The Clown Car and the Drive Home</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBiFzllcJZsfiKmZ47rgOVaoi4GAg7b8cSZECYJ4THtL4tJsngC3wM1STCLEnq9vb09n8nMkwbgM_7iUsovklNfjU4o1cRQvLiVngCTGf6trQ3yDg6FoyRdKSHEb9lMSkUMLxCHgRAvdzO/s1600/WOR+2011+022.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBiFzllcJZsfiKmZ47rgOVaoi4GAg7b8cSZECYJ4THtL4tJsngC3wM1STCLEnq9vb09n8nMkwbgM_7iUsovklNfjU4o1cRQvLiVngCTGf6trQ3yDg6FoyRdKSHEb9lMSkUMLxCHgRAvdzO/s320/WOR+2011+022.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5629031150629154482" border="0" /></a>I planned to drive home Saturday after I got off of the river. I had already packed up everything before the 8:30 a.m. meeting. I couldn't quite decide where I wanted to go. John kept pushing for a couple of creek runs that were allegedly running, but I wasn't up for something new and possibly above my skill level. If I went to the Ocoee, it's an hour drive in the wrong direction, making it a six hour drive home. If I ran the Nantahala, I would have a five hour drive and I would have time to stop at the NOC store. I looked at the group planning to go to the Ocoee. "Hmm...I don't know ANY of those people". Matt and Linda were going down the Nantahala, but planned to take their time play boating. I had to make a decision or I wasn't going to be going anywhere. Nantahala it is. I brought my dry top, so I was set for the cold water.<br /><br />Matt wanted to have ALL of the cars at the bottom. I liked this idea since it meant I could leave when I wanted to. However, this made the shuttle more complicated since I would have to hitch a ride to the put in. I brought cash with me in case hitching didn't work and I needed to pay to ride an NOC raft bus.<br /><br />Now where should I stand to get a ride? Do I need to show some leg? I walked along the road and saw another hitch hiker. After about ten minutes, a Honda Odyssey mini van pulls up. We all got in. We had nine people and three kayaks stuffed into that thing. It was a clown car, but I appreciated the ride.<br /><br />As promised, Matt and Linda played on just about every feature on the river. That was fine since I learned a couple more play spots. Matt is an instructor, so he got into instructor mode a couple of times. He had me practice eddying and to get the maximum number of eddies in one section of the river.<br /><br />We came to the falls. I eddied out in truck stop eddy, then took off. I wasn't close enough to the top hole, so I was going into the bottom hole. I didn't turn quite fast enough, so I was on my side for several seconds. I was able to right to boat back up by doing a hip snap, which caused cheers from other boaters. My core exercises paid off!<br /><br />I was parked after the slalom course, so I ran the slalom gates that were set up.<br /><br />I got off of the river and loaded up the gear. I had a car load of wet camping and paddling gear that had been in the hot sun all day. Whew!<br /><br />I called Janyne to let her know I would be home at a decent time (I was off the river at 3:30 pm and it is a five hour drive) and I headed onto the highway. The view of the Smoky Mountains was spectacular while I was driving towards Asheville.<br /><br />I had a great time at Week of Rivers and have wonderful memories. I'm looking forward to Week of Rivers 2012!Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-3036148135224043052011-07-11T12:17:00.008-04:002011-07-13T22:38:08.554-04:00Week of Rivers 2011 - Part I<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyNTQz_AxLt2pWruGDfC9GaInCCv6IvSSbCa8j8QbF8bW8clNV_HOL-bA4Xze-drwlTIgfW7ltK4Em61CMpa3gZ-GrQJX8eiEZYCo3ES4dZJ2J26gMSzCNV0l_eYhQbB2f2hOR3hOt_cN/s1600/WOR+2011+002.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyNTQz_AxLt2pWruGDfC9GaInCCv6IvSSbCa8j8QbF8bW8clNV_HOL-bA4Xze-drwlTIgfW7ltK4Em61CMpa3gZ-GrQJX8eiEZYCo3ES4dZJ2J26gMSzCNV0l_eYhQbB2f2hOR3hOt_cN/s320/WOR+2011+002.jpg" alt="Smoky Mountain Meadows Campground" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628595091637576274" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Creek Side Campsite - Score!<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Week of Rivers is an annual event for <a href="http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/">Carolina Canoe Club</a> members. The club takes over the <a href="http://www.smokymtnmeadows.com/">Smoky Mountain Meadows campground</a> in Bryson City North Carolina, which becomes the base of operations for the event. Every morning at 8:30 a.m. the club meets and river trips are organized. If you don't get with a group at the meeting, you are stuck at the campground (there are also "private" trips that aren't announced, but you have to be invited).<br /><br />I usually camp in the open field. You don't need a reservation and it's cheap ($7/day). A Facebook and paddling friend Wendy posted on Facebook that some of her frie</span><span style="font-size:100%;">nds were not going to make it and was looking for people to share her shaded, creek side campsite with her and Amy. I quickly replied "yes!", and it was a great decision. When I arrived Friday evening, they already had my parking pass ready. Wendy already had a pop up tent over the picnic table, and Wendy and Amy helped set up my tent. For Week of Rivers I use a <a href="http://www.rei.com/product/748023/big-agnes-big-house-4-tent?cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-gpeLink-_-product-_-748023&mr:trackingCode=89817AF1-E390-DE11-B4D4-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&s_kwcid=TC%7C13029%7Cbig%20agnes%20tents%7C%7CS%7Ce%7C7317668285&mr:adType=pe&ctype=2&gclid=CIGI7_Gk_akCFQWA5QodZnAHzQ">larger tent</a>, which I only use a couple of times a year. It's easy to set up (color coded!), but I appreciated the help. The pop up tent over the picnic table was great since it rained several times during the week, so items under the tent were dry. Wendy also provided hangers to hang up gear to dry from the tent. The babbling brook next to the site was also nice. All of this made the site worth the extra cost.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Saturday July 2, Nolichucky</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8YDtXIXuyXGQIYFzcRvYuvHwE4MMzvMwTCacVj8mMOVCUSkt23Ct2AvTad8nd0GWlyvmU0QO9i2VAGh9JgG9fDUCW66Ctm2VpKiLlA-2Xw4kvy8ylGmTj6aaHKKjNH79XgZr15Bsu2Qk/s1600/100_0009.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD8YDtXIXuyXGQIYFzcRvYuvHwE4MMzvMwTCacVj8mMOVCUSkt23Ct2AvTad8nd0GWlyvmU0QO9i2VAGh9JgG9fDUCW66Ctm2VpKiLlA-2Xw4kvy8ylGmTj6aaHKKjNH79XgZr15Bsu2Qk/s320/100_0009.jpg" alt="Nolichucky River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628595938641235234" border="0" /></a>The Nolichucky is a natural flow river that goes through a beautiful, undeveloped gorge in the Pisgah and <a href="http://fs.usda.gov/cherokee">Cherokee</a> national forests. The run starts in North Carolina and ends in Tennessee. The river was at 795 cfs, which is a very nice novice level. At higher flows the Nolichucky is a class III-IV river, but at 795 it is more like a class II-III river. We joked that the rapid named "Jaws" was more like "Piranha". We wanted to head to the Nolichucky since it's best to hit natural flow rivers during Week of Rivers if they are available.<br /><br />Matt and his wife Linda were leading a private trip that I was invited to join. I always enjoy paddling with Matt and Linda so I join their trips whenever I can.<br /><br />While I was quickly gathering up gear and preparing my lunch, my friend Stefan showed up with another friend John. Apparently Stefan asked for me and John knew where I was camping. We were leaving in a few minutes so I needed to hustle.<br /><br />I asked Stefan if he could go on a long day trip (the Noli is more than two hours from the campground and it's a long run). He was camping with his wife and daughter and I didn't want him to get in trouble for getting in late. Stefan said that he could go, so I quickly took him over to Matt. I asked Matt if he could add one more person. Matt said no since we would need another shuttle vehicle.<br /><br />I told Stefan to quickly follow me to another group that was going on the Nolichucky (everyone was leaving in a few minutes), and that group included John. I went up to Kathy, who was also in the second group and one of the drivers. "Can you take one more person?" Kathy at first thought that I wanted Stefan to ride with them and then join my group at the river, a logistical nightmare. "No, no, Kathy. Can you take him and have him be a part of your group?". Kathy replied, "Oh, sure".<br /><br />I rode with Karen, who drives a Honda Fit (Janyne also has a Fit). It was funny seeing a big open boat and a kayak on top of a Fit. It worked and we got great mileage.<br /><br />The shuttle for the Nolichucky is really long. Most people pay $20 for a driver to drive their car back to the take out. It turns out that Matt doesn't like other people driving his car, so we set up our own shuttle. This turned out to be a pain at the end of the day since it added an additional hour to retrieve the cars at the put in. We also didn't take out at the Nolichucky Gorge campground since the owner charges $3 a head to use the take out. We had to paddle further downstream.<br /><br />It was a drama free day on the river. There were no flips or swims in the group. I was very happy to have a clean run down the Nolichucky. On my previous trip I had an ugly swim through most of Quarter Mile rapid. I did portage around the entrance to Quarter Mile since that bad swim was still fresh in my memory.<br /><br />Murphy's ledge is at the of Quarter Mile rapid. At the low water level, it was disconcerting since it was a drop of several feet over ledge. Sarah went first over the ledge and then guided people where to go. She raised her arms and all you could see were her hands. It turned out to be an easy boof over the ledge.<br /><br />When we got off the river, we changed into dry clothes. The drivers then went off to retrieve the cars at the put in. While we were waiting, we saw Stefan's group drive by. doh!<br /><br />We got on the road and had dinner at a restaurant in West Asheville called the <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/universaljointasheville/">Universal Joint</a>. It got its name from the fact that the restaurant used to be an auto repair shop. The restaurant had a great selection of local micro brews and a varied menu. It has a lot of nice vegetarian and non vegetarian options. I went for the ribeye sandwich.<br /><br />I asked Karen if $10 would be sufficient for gas. She said that I didn't need to give her gas money if I drove from Asheville back to the campground. She wanted to sleep. Deal!<br /><br />We were getting low on gas, so I planned to stop in Dillsboro. The gas stations in the mountains close EARLY (10 pm). It was ten minutes after 10, and the gas station in Dillsboro was closed. Of course the low fuel light came on. I had to drive into Sylva to find an open gas station (turns out some of the station keep the pumps on and you can use a credit card, but it's hard to tell when all the lights are off).<br /><br />It was a long but great day. We didn't roll into the campground until 11 p.m.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunday, Upper Green. My that Diesel is Heavy!</span></span><br />Wendy asked my if I would like to join her, her cousin Ben and his fiance Sarah, Diane, Scott, and Jamila on a trip to the Upper Green. The upper Green is a beautiful class II-III run, so I joined the group.<br /><br />We were supposed to meet Ben and Sarah at exit 59 on I-26 9:45 "ish". Lee Thonus was also organizing a trip on the Upper Green and was going to have a shuttle already set. The take out requires you to have a key since it is on private property. Lee had a key, so it would be good to have him help set shuttle. We also had to hurry since the normal release is only from 10 to 12.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FHusmjhwmtRzq-0cDdIlLGqfANBW6_e7B9u_GHKzBk4P-al7NAO216PuFDZ1M9jK4zbZaembIrDgvlYlpuCMp0qXp4Mcf7o3rTmKZbLeMoSdrZdbj-EZVhbbLkGzjaBLGTkcrqB3Sogm/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+Tue+Jul+12%252C+11+11.08PM.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FHusmjhwmtRzq-0cDdIlLGqfANBW6_e7B9u_GHKzBk4P-al7NAO216PuFDZ1M9jK4zbZaembIrDgvlYlpuCMp0qXp4Mcf7o3rTmKZbLeMoSdrZdbj-EZVhbbLkGzjaBLGTkcrqB3Sogm/s320/Screen+shot+2011-07-12+at+Tue+Jul+12%252C+11+11.08PM.png" alt="Kevin running Bayless Boof on the Upper Green" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628668717554532066" border="0" /></a><br />Ben and Sarah showed up a little before 10. We then headed out on I-26 towards Spartanburg since Diane thought Lee said that we were meeting at exit 63. I called up Lee to let him know we were en route and to confirm the exit number. "Lee, to confirm, what exit are we meeting you?" "53, but we'll wait for you at the off ramp on 54" "crap! We're heading the WRONG WAY". Of course the next exit wasn't until 67, and THAT was another four lane divided highway. We had to go several more miles before we could turn around and Ben had to follow us. The incredible thing is, Lee waited for us the entire time! The convoy merged and we headed to the put in.<br /><br />We put on and entered the gorge. The Upper Green is a beautiful gorge and several waterfalls flow into the river. The rhododendrons were in bloom.<br /><br />We came to the first big rapid, Bayless Boof. We all got out to scout it. It looks scary, but it's an easy slide down the rock, which launches you into the air and you land in a pool at the bottom. The rock wants to turn to the right when you launch, so you have to have some weight on your left butt cheek. If you go to the right, you may hit a submerged rock below. One person did that a year ago and smashed in the front of his boat, which was a Diesel similar to mine.<br /><br />I came down the rock slide, went into the air a bit, then landed in the pool below. What a great ride! Lee had gone first and was taking photos.<br /><br />We all came up on the second big rapid, Pinball. Lee gave us long involved instructions. Pinball is a double drop. You go over the first drop and have to avoid a rock, then you turn to make the second drop. It's hard to see exactly what line people take because they disappear when they go over the first drop.<br /><br />I ran the rapid fine even though I didn't think I was quite on the right line. Woo hoo! That's when I noticed the carnage. Scott's kayak was upside and stuck on rocks in the river. Doug, an open boater, was swimming. Apparently the instructions needed to be simplified.<br /><br />After Pinball, Lee led several of us on a short hike up a creek. We then came to a beautiful waterfall.<br /><br />We then reached the take out and now it was time for the dreaded 2/3 mile carry up to the parking lot. The first 1/3 is a steep goat trail, then the rest is a jeep road. Rather than mull about the schlepp, I sprinted up the trail with my gear. I made it to the top and broke out my lunch. It took several minutes for the next person to trudge up the hill.<br /><br />After everyone was back to the take out with their vehicles, we discussed where to go for lunch (second lunch or dinner for me). Ben mentioned the horrors he saw at the interstate exit: Cracker Barrel, Waffle House, McDonalds, etc. Wendy mentioned that there is a nice sandwich shop in Saluda, but she wasn't sure if it was open Sunday. We'd give that a try.<br /><br />We came into <a href="http://www.saluda.com/">Saluda</a>, but the sandwich shop was closed. However, a really nice restaurant was open. Saluda is a cute old railroad town (Saluda has the steepest standard gauge railroad in the U.S.) with a lot of restaurants and shops. The shops featured art from local artisans such as hand blown glass.<br /><br />After our early dinner, we headed back to the campground.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monday - Chattooga section 3.5 1.48 feet - Lightening and Thunder, Oh My!</span></span><br />Monday we got a group together to run section 3.5 of the Chattooga. The group included: Larry, John, Steve, Allen, Jamila, Conrad, and myself.<br /><br />The Chattooga is a designated wild and scenic river and parts of the movie Deliverance were shot on the river. Because it is a wild and scenic river, there's a quarter mile carry to the put in and from the take out. That's still better than the Upper Green!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNVHrm0l_S6zOpwe1UfbT9kqUMLFsPQFjAXYrFpMa6fYoRbn9QBYo2c_ghlz9MnMW-316qZYK24P6Q01LL4kVOt7rkpOKVJkuzHWNVPD4DxoUTxL_lD1OcExyYIuqdQ4alRPiR9o3CMNq/s1600/P7040025.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNVHrm0l_S6zOpwe1UfbT9kqUMLFsPQFjAXYrFpMa6fYoRbn9QBYo2c_ghlz9MnMW-316qZYK24P6Q01LL4kVOt7rkpOKVJkuzHWNVPD4DxoUTxL_lD1OcExyYIuqdQ4alRPiR9o3CMNq/s320/P7040025.jpg" alt="Chattooga River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628669686206576946" border="0" /></a><br />It started out as a beautiful day on the river. Then it started to rain very hard, then there was lightening and thunder. We stayed on the river close to shore. The rain then stopped for awhile.<br /><br />We all got out to scout Bull Sluice. There are two main lines: the double drop on the right and the boof line to the left. The rapid is intimidating, but the left line is actually not difficult.<br /><br />John had my video camera and was going to shoot us running the rapid. Then the deluge started up again and there was more lightening and thunder. We went for cover and waited it out for awhile. Allen used his kayak as shelter.<br /><br />We all then ran the boof line fine. Larry got out and took the camera to shoot John running the rapid.<br /><br />After Bull Sluice we kept kept running into the same group of kayakers. Many of the boaters didn't seem to be in control of their boats. They would come through our group, then would stop so they never moved ahead. Conrad referred to them as the "monkey troop". If you're going to play through, play through!<br /><br />Larry is an instructor and taught everyone how to eddy hop when creeking. We did this in the rapid named Screaming Left Turn. When creeking, you go one at a time down a rapid and communicate to the person behind you what eddy to go to next, many of which may only hold one or two boats.<br /><br />We got to the end and it was time for the quarter mile carry. I again picked up my gear and rapidly went up the trail to get it over with.<br /><br />We all then went to a pizza restaurant near the river called <a href="http://www.wildwaterrafting.com/chawellhouse.php">Humble Pie</a>. The owner was trying to close the restaurant for the Fourth of July holiday. He still let us come in and said "I have three large pizza doughs left and salad, which should feed you." We all discussed the available standard pizzas, and we agreed on what to get. Everyone except Allen that is. Allen just went and ordered what he wanted for one of the pizzas. Everyone looked at each other and went "WTF?" It all worked out since Allen's topping choices weren't too scary and we were hungry. He seemed surprised that people were eating "his" pizza.<br /><br />Later that night Amy broke out glow sticks and we had a rave at the campground. One partier fell into the creek (not me). I was getting too loud for our neighbors, so we received complaints. I blame the top shelf tequila Wendy broke out. Everyone was surprised to see me tooling around the campground early the next day.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> Tuesday - Pigeon Gorge and lower Pigeon</span></span><br />Tuesday I joined a group going to the Pigeon, aka "The Dirty Bird". We had John, Jamila, Allen, Rick, Steve, Kathy and Kathy's husband Kevin. The Pigeon gorge is a short run, so we were going to also do the lower Pigeon. The lower Pigeon is class I-II, but has some fun play spots (and long stretches of flat water).<br /><br />We weren't sure what the release would be. The normal release is 1200 cfs, but on the previous Saturday it was 2200 cfs. The extra water caused a lot of carnage. When we arrived at the put in, we saw that it was a normal release.<br /><br />We then had another shuttle mishap. The first problem was that Allen nearly ran out of gas and we had to stop. Kathy pointed out that one of the shuttle rules is that you gas up the night before.<br /><br />The next problem dealt with how to go to the take out. Should we take River Road to the take out or I-40? Kevin said "I-40. I remember River Road being full of pot holes" This was a BAD plan. As soon as we got onto I-40, we immediately hit construction. The road narrowed down to one lane and there was a lot of traffic. Luckily we stopped for gas BEFORE hitting the traffic. I have never gone that way to the take out and didn't know what exit to take. Of course the group got separated trying to merge. At the end of the run, we took River Road. It had hardly any pot holes.<br /><br />We got to the put in and we took off. The run was drama free until we got to Lost Guide. John was leading Jamila through the rapids since it was her first time on the Pigeon. He eddied out, but didn't expect Jamila to also go into the eddy. Jamila flushed out of the eddy and went backwards into the hole at the bottom of the rapid. I had already run Lost Guide and was watching. I thought to myself "TURN AROUND" since you could predict the outcome. Jamila flipped in the hole, but immediately rolled back up. Later that night Jamila apologized for all of the "carnage" she experienced. Rick and I both looked at her and said "WHAT carnage? You were never out of your boat."<br /><br />When we got to the lower Pigeon, we played on a lot of the ledges. I was surfing my Diesel and Steve yells out "HEY, what you doing playing?!" On the Chattooga Steve play boated a lot and I only surfed a couple of times.<br /><br />Rick then decided to make the run more "interesting" by using hand paddles. He got stuck surfing on a ledge and flipped. One of the ledges is sticky, and I've been flipped on it before. He tried rolling three times and failed. I went over and bumped my bow on his boat so that he knew that could use it to flip himself up. He was not happy since he didn't "ask" for a rescue and I got in his way. He ended up swimming. One of his hand paddles came loose, but we were able to retrieve it. Steve watched the whole thing and said we would have done the same thing.<br /><br />We got to the take out and went separate ways. John had to go back to Raleigh to teach a class. Allen and Steve took off back to the campground. Kathy, Kevin, Rick, Jamila, and I went to dinner at <a href="http://lulusonmain.com/">Lulu's</a> in Sylva. At Lulu's we ran into a lot of kayakers we knew like Barb and Len.<br /><br /><br />Part II of the blog will be in a subsequent posting...Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-54319785046176705592011-06-21T08:01:00.000-04:002011-06-21T08:01:58.938-04:00June Kayaking VideosDouble Trouble<br />
Middle Ocoee<br />
June 11, 2011<br />
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<hr />Split Screen Nanty Falls <br />
June 18, 2011<br />
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<hr />Nantahala Falls<br />
June 18, 2011<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/CkaLe819CLw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-39412532587783058472011-05-09T10:14:00.019-04:002011-05-10T23:44:37.602-04:00Nolichucky Swim Team<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaxw5nV08ORHDypXDTD90IGVmP2sTATVKUPRIDt415etiiFbBL9IN9IqOslenBEQisEYdPSIkThPZQliFvbiZg4hpmnXpbn-4-56XeS5W-OeEgLu4iRPre6C0H2spVfKsm5nZPo4QzV4L/s1600/100_0007.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaxw5nV08ORHDypXDTD90IGVmP2sTATVKUPRIDt415etiiFbBL9IN9IqOslenBEQisEYdPSIkThPZQliFvbiZg4hpmnXpbn-4-56XeS5W-OeEgLu4iRPre6C0H2spVfKsm5nZPo4QzV4L/s320/100_0007.jpg" alt="Nolichucky Gorge Campground" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604913619756929554" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Have Gun Will Travel</span></span><br />My kayaking friend John was a trip coordinator for a paddling trip on the Nolichucky over the first weekend in May. The Nolichucky is a class III-IV river in North Carolina and Tennessee. It is a long eight mile run, parts of which are challenging. The toughest parts are in the first two miles, so if you have problems, you could have a long day. The Noli is also remote. Once you start, you are committed.<br /><br />I told John that I wanted to join the trip since I had a new <a href="http://www.wavesport.com/product/index/products/north_american_products/river_run_us/diesel_us/diesel_70_us/">Wavesport Diesel 70</a>, a much bigger boat than I had the one other time I had run the Noli. The Diesel can handle fairly big holes, which would be very helpful on the Noli.<br /><br />I also carpooled with John. When I arrived at his house, as a joke he showed me a pellet gun that he wanted to bring (back story: on recent trip, a guy I carpooled with was seriously thinking of bringing a real handgun. What the heck FOR?!).<br /><br />Since John didn't have the roof rack installed on his car, we loaded up my CR-V. We were on our way in record time, all loaded up and on the road in under 15 minutes.<br /><br />We hit horrible bump and grind traffic on I-40 around Greensboro and Winston Salem. Even with the bad traffic and a dinner stop, we still got to the <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/tn/nolichucky/index.html">Nolichucky Gorge Campground</a> a little after 9 pm. This made the campground manager happy since he doesn't like people to arrive too late at night.<br /><br />We selected a camp site on the river. This was the first time John had a river side site in the campground. It worked out well since it would get sun in the morning.<br /><br />It was a mostly clear night and I saw a shooting star (it was supposed to be a peak night for a meteor shower). There was a crescent moon over the river and you could see the entire sphere of the moon. A clear sky meant that it got cold. Everyone knew to bring ear plugs since frogs were making a lot of noise and the coal train runs throughout the day and night. The train's brakes make horrible screeching sounds when the train comes around the bend.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Saturday Noli - Introducing the Swim Team</span></span><br />The paddling group was going to meet at 11:15 am on Saturday. This would allow people to drive up in the morning if they didn't want to camp Friday night. John and I went to McDonald's in <a href="http://www.erwintn.org/">Erwin Tennessee</a> to have breakfast and to use free Wifi. We couldn't believe the LONG line at the drive thru and that a lot of the people waiting in the drive thru were puffing on cigarettes.<br /><br />When we went back to the campground, I killed time by reading, gathering up gear, and making my lunch.<br /><br />The Nolichucky was around 1300 cfs, a perfect level. Our group on Saturday consisted of: Rich from Asheville, Ken from near Columbia SC, Jim and Kat from Raleigh, John from Durham, and myself from Apex.<br /><br />The shuttle for the Nolichucky is very long. Normally paddlers pay $20 to hire a local shuttle driver. We couldn't fit all the boats, people, and gear onto one car, so we needed two drivers. One person in the group said "So, $40 divided by 6 is...$5 each." Well, not really.<br /><br />When we got to the put in, we had to negotiate sucking mud and gnats. Luckily the gnats were not an issue once we were on our way.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1y4YY7axXKTn2nh1Ys9uzIRkx00DxbVRG2uIfNCCO7_7-ffZPp_QsBZfCj7IP8HmYubKr04KctoSl5IF7zZeTUSyxvdGcSZRjL9mQ2UOIc7EyXqqGmnCDXin48fmv0Lcs1sIhWHGZSnzw/s1600/100_0019.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1y4YY7axXKTn2nh1Ys9uzIRkx00DxbVRG2uIfNCCO7_7-ffZPp_QsBZfCj7IP8HmYubKr04KctoSl5IF7zZeTUSyxvdGcSZRjL9mQ2UOIc7EyXqqGmnCDXin48fmv0Lcs1sIhWHGZSnzw/s320/100_0019.jpg" alt="On the Rocks Rapid, Nolichucky River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604921078330394002" border="0" /></a>Entrance rapid and On the Rocks were not problem for me and my hole munching Diesel. It was going to be a great day!<br /><br />Rich, however, swam at On the Rocks. I got his paddle and threw it on the bank on river right. Rich was out of the water on river right and Jim pushed his boat to the bank. We yelled at Rich to GRAB his boat since it the current was taking the boat. We weren't really in an eddy and the next rapid Jaws was just ahead. Rich then fell into the river, so he had to be rescued again. Rich's boat also went downstream. Jim and I corralled Rich's boat on river left, Rich was on river right. Using a carabiner I loaned to Jim, Jim towed Rich's boat across the river. John had to go upstream and retrieve the paddle I tossed on the rocks.<br /><br />Ken also swam at On the Rocks, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Jacked By Hungry Jack</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlC1Enc5PaQOCXpD33tR9gy1hXzTsuBd0mgpKTwQh_I0YkcfKyr75lE9TQsDKI99W9rMynisNn6HD_lIBaW6ShZmvmKdNoy-jl3UNimlBwgtjciSGzFc15PBFljPK0y99m9H6K5q0aVVI/s1600/100_0031.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlC1Enc5PaQOCXpD33tR9gy1hXzTsuBd0mgpKTwQh_I0YkcfKyr75lE9TQsDKI99W9rMynisNn6HD_lIBaW6ShZmvmKdNoy-jl3UNimlBwgtjciSGzFc15PBFljPK0y99m9H6K5q0aVVI/s320/100_0031.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604914314015321922" border="0" /></a>We all got out to scout Quarter Mile rapid. The tricky part is the entrance, the rest is mostly class III boogie water (about a quarter mile long) where you dodge rocks and holes. The very end is Murphy's ledge, which is a three-foot river-wide ledge. At the entrance you have to get on a tongue of water and eddy out, then you can line yourself up and continue with the rest of the rapid. John got in his boat and showed us how to do it.<br /><br />I got back into my boat and started off. I was too far left and missed the tongue. I was quickly turned around and flipped. I was bounced up and down while upside down and I was going right for Hungry Jack, a large hole you don't want to be in. I wasn't in a good spot to roll, so I bailed out of the boat. <more><br /><br />John was the only person in his boat and came out after me. Both my boat and I went into Hungry Jack, which luckily spat me out and didn't recirculate me. John said that this was the first place I yelled "OW" since I was smacked against a rock. This is also likely where my boat was dented. John said my boat went into Hungry Jack, came up on its stern and then was smacked on a rock.<br /><br />For almost the entire rapid I was bounced off of rocks and went into and out of holes. See the human pinball! My knees were banged up pretty bad and at the end, were bruised and swollen. John kept coming over so that I could grab the back of his boat. I did NOT want to go over Murphy's ledge. We got separated several times and John was in parts of the rapid he really didn't want to be in. I kicked, but the current was strong. Eventually I got to shore, at the <span style="font-weight: bold;">last</span> eddy before the ledge.<br /><br />John then chased after my boat. After spending a few minutes crawling over rocks and trying to avoid poison ivy on the shore, I eventually walked up the rocks to the railroad tracks. When I saw John and my boat, I scrambled down to the river. That's when I saw the huge dent in my boat.<br /><br />After seeing what happened, the rest of the group carried their boats over rocks to avoid the entrance move.<br /><br />On Sunday I met a rafting group at the take out. One guy asked "That was you swimming yesterday?" "Yes" I said. "Oh, we felt bad for you. That had to hurt.".<br /><br />Since both the boat and I were banged up, I decided not to deal with Rooster Tail rapid. I got out before the rapid and climbed up the bank to the railroad track. It was a tough portage.<br /><br />No one swam in Rooster Tail, but John did his usual line on Rooster Tail: he flipped and rolled.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5Bcc9WshjcakjG0nPKjXSHoF5eTH3I3-grbiJBR5L2UxhhZBNBvuZi9gwwrGkrkmE9RA1Y0Lk2AVSESH0Fsa9T3B_DDqaERa8UhlRVnYKe_XVvtLvuQZTun9YtpotZEMJnLtC5XA65yK/s1600/100_0032.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh5Bcc9WshjcakjG0nPKjXSHoF5eTH3I3-grbiJBR5L2UxhhZBNBvuZi9gwwrGkrkmE9RA1Y0Lk2AVSESH0Fsa9T3B_DDqaERa8UhlRVnYKe_XVvtLvuQZTun9YtpotZEMJnLtC5XA65yK/s320/100_0032.jpg" alt="Rooster Tail Rapid, Nolichucky River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605297426091840082" border="0" /></a><br />By this time I discovered that my choice of paddling clothes was poor. I wore Neoprene shorts and top and a spray jacket. I was in the cold water a long time, the wind was kicking up, and it became cloudy. I was COLD.<br /><br />At the take out, John said I was a "trooper" for paddling it out to the end in a banged up boat. I said "Did I really have a choice?"<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">User Error</span></span><br />When we were back to the campground, I called the dealer where I bought my boat just six weeks before: <a href="http://www.endlessriveradventures.com/">Endless Rivers Adventures</a>. It looked like my boat was ruined, so I wanted to see what might be covered under a warranty. I identified myself and said that I recently bought a boat AND signed up for their Thanksgiving Costa Rica trip. Ken, one of the owners, said that this was a "user error". This is ironic since I am a software tester! My coworkers laughed and said "Gee, even on weekends your defects are returned".<br /><br />Ken dismissively said that "No material could withstand that sort of impact." Too bad. How sad. "If you put it in the sun, it MIGHT pop out". I didn't believe it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Local Cuisine and Audry Saves the Day</span><br />For dinner Saturday, Jim recommended a local restaurant that has home cooking (translation: tasty, but expect a lot of calorie bombs). I was drawn to the "pan fried" chicken, which was very good. I lessened the damage by having a salad and baked potato rather than mashed potatoes or the various fried side items. I don't think green beans really count as a vegetable if they are cooked in fat back.<br /><br />After dinner Jim had us going all over Erwin Tennessee. He kept telling us a story of how in the past an <a href="http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html">elephant killed a man and they hung the elephant as punishment</a>. Several of the stores were supposed to reference this event, but we never saw anything.<br /><br />We then got lost on the side streets. I drove, so I turned on "Audry", the GPS. Audry took us right to the campground. Everyone laughed when Audry said "arriving at Noli Gorge Campground". "She SOUNDS like a paddler (Noli is the nickname for the Nolichucky. I didn't want to type Nolichucky into the GPS).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Shuttle Driver</span><br />I woke up Sunday morning feeling like someone beat me with a rubber hose. Jim offered to switch boats around so that I could use John's Diesel, but I didn't want to damage someone else's boat. I was bruised and sore, so I figured it was best to be conservative. This was a good call since there were seven swims in the group Sunday, three of which were at at same time.<br /><br />Jim graciously fed us all ham and eggs. I showed Kat the wonders of a French Press, which made better coffee than her instant coffee.<br /><br />Bob Wiggins and his son Bob from Asheville were joining the group Sunday. Bob has a huge ancient diesel Suburban that seems to be held together by rust. But it's the perfect paddling shuttle vehicle since Bob said he could fit ten boats on it. Since I decided not to paddle Sunday, I would drive shuttle. Everyone appreciated it and jokingly asked if I wanted $20. "Nah, paying it forward with karma points." Driving the beast up the mountains was quite a challenge. The seat couldn't be adjusted and I could barely press the gas pedal. It was so loud, people would look when I went by. I brought Audry along to make sure I didn't get lost on the mountain roads.<br /><br />I went into town to have lunch and to use the Wifi at McDonald's. I dried out gear, napped, etc.<br /><br />It was getting to be about 4 pm and I was getting worried. The group was on the water at 11:00 am. Where WERE they?!<br /><br />Finally Kat and Jim showed up. Kat shook her head and said "It was quite an adventure". Bob had broken his wooden paddle at Jaws and swam, plus there were many other swims.<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br /><br /></span>Throughout the day, I had my boat out in the sun on my roof rack. I had the dented part exposed to the sun. Nearly 90% of the dent popped out by the time Kat showed up. I asked if she believed in miracles and showed her the boat. Everyone was amazed by the self healing boat. It's battle scarred with scratches, but at least it can be used.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Conclusion</span><br />It was a really fun group to paddle with. At some point we will have a reunion of the Nolichucky swim team and run the river again as a group. John said that I would have the award for the "longest" and "ugliest" swim. In total there were five swims on Saturday, seven on Sunday.<br /><br /><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/kizerkevin/NolichuckyMay2011?feat=directlink">Click here for more photos.</a><br /><br /></more>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-52369750839203626192011-03-24T17:17:00.003-04:002011-03-24T17:17:00.481-04:00Gator HalfDH and I drove to Florida last Friday. When I was packing up all of my gear for the <a href="http://www.gatorhalftriathlon.com/Home_Page_QPB5.html">Gator Half</a>, I started to wonder how the heck I'll get my cr*p to <a href="http://www.vineman.com/triathlon.htm">Vineman</a> next year. We left very early and made it to Sarasota in time for packet pickup on Friday evening. I also did a short ride to keep loose after the 12 hour drive and to make sure that the bike was fine. Then we proceeded to my in-laws' place in Englewood. <br />
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On Saturday morning, DH, his dad and I drove to the race site. We timed the drive from Englewood and made sure we were clear on where everything was. We talked to a triathlete doing a pre-race swim and checked out both the bike and run course. We also scoped out Sherpa Eating Locales so the guys had something do to while I was on the bike. On Saturday afternoon, I had a short swim at the in-laws' place and on Saturday evening we went for pizza (Mama's Italian Restaurant in Englewood), my traditional pre-race meal. <br />
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On Sunday morning, I got up at 4:50, lubed up liberally and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of Camelbak Elixir. We headed out to Ackerman Park in Sarasota for the race start and arrived at about 6 am. That allowed time for timing chip pick up, body marking, transition set up, pre-race meeting...<br />
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There was an interesting collection of people at this event. I talked to someone who did Ironman Arizona last year and is doing Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Florida this year (and he did the world duathlon championships in Edinburgh last year as well). I saw people with Clearwater 70.3 national championship gear on. I also talked to several people for whom this was their first half iron distance event or first Olympic distance triathlon. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The swim</span><br />
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The first 200 meters or so was rough for me. I started to feel like I was going to choke. I was breathing to the right which is generally my faster side. I switched to the other side and got more comfortable. I made the first turn and and decided to try breathing to the right again. Apparently, I do not swim straight when breathing to the right. Fortunately my spot forwards were good and I was able to make a correction before I got too far off line.<br />
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DH said that the safety kayakers had to go and get some people who were way way off course in the middle of the lake. Whoops! <br />
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I continued around, breathing to the left (figuring that it was best to stay on course!) and made the next two turns. Then I was heading to where we started and the sun was higher. I could <u>not</u> see the buoy at all. I could see the picnic table there and headed toward that. Good plan. I finally saw the buoy when I was right on top of it. It was one of the giganto buoys too!<br />
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The second lap proceeded pretty much the same way, except my goggles started to leak. I specifically chose to use my older goggles because they've never leaked (instead of the new goggles that I'm still getting adjusted)! Again, it was disconcerting to swim into the sun and not be able to see. After passing the start area for the second time, I continued a little further to reach the swim exit.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZovtwycEI/AAAAAAAAGXI/MnhihF_kYpc/s720/IMG_3748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZovtwycEI/AAAAAAAAGXI/MnhihF_kYpc/s200/IMG_3748.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZov5n06lI/AAAAAAAAGXQ/ZloKOwhkBnA/s720/IMG_3746.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZov5n06lI/AAAAAAAAGXQ/ZloKOwhkBnA/s200/IMG_3746.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZpH3ToAqI/AAAAAAAAGYY/R8gd40gRfic/s720/IMG_3759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZpH3ToAqI/AAAAAAAAGYY/R8gd40gRfic/s320/IMG_3759.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The bike</span><br />
<br />
Fun course! Scenic, flat, few turns, mostly very good road surfaces as compared to North Carolina roads. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ht8iOKGOT_Y/TYua3LdTPrI/AAAAAAAALLI/gLglggIvcq0/s1600/IMG_4478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ht8iOKGOT_Y/TYua3LdTPrI/AAAAAAAALLI/gLglggIvcq0/s200/IMG_4478.JPG" width="200" /><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vQVKRu5MCfs/TYfpK3BloII/AAAAAAAAKgs/xXhrTQ9kgZA/s1600/IMG_4476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vQVKRu5MCfs/TYfpK3BloII/AAAAAAAAKgs/xXhrTQ9kgZA/s200/IMG_4476.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br />
I had a some fig newtons almost as soon as I got onto the bike. The bike has been pre loaded with my nutrition so I ate when planned and drank frequently. I picked up a plain water at the first bottle exchange near mile 20. I tried to pick up a second plain water at the second bottle exchange. I said water but got Heed. Probably my fault. It was warmer weather than I have been training in. I went ahead and had the Heed rather than get dehydrated. It was fine. I ate more than I did at Beach2Battlehsip but I was in better shape afterward than I was at the <a href="http://busylivinglife.blogspot.com/2010/11/beach2battleship-half-iron-distance_10.html">B2B HIM</a>. By the end of the bike it was starting to get hot.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The run</span><br />
<br />
When I previewed the course on Saturday, I thought to myself, well, the bike is scenic. The course was through an office park and around a lake/retention pond. That makes some amount of sense since there would be pretty much no traffic on a Sunday. As it turned out, I really liked the course. There was a tiny bit of shade through the office park and there was a breeze around the pond. There were enough water stations to keep cool and it was nice that we did two loops because we went by DH twice.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZpeNPw42I/AAAAAAAAGZw/Fh0ucJ-n4bA/s720/IMG_3766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TYZpeNPw42I/AAAAAAAAGZw/Fh0ucJ-n4bA/s320/IMG_3766.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First lap of the run.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
I had a Hammer Gel just before the mile 1 water station and then again at about mile 5 and mile 10 (always just before water stations). I had at least one dixie cup of water at each water station and often two cups (volunteers started to hand out water two cups at at time). I ran the whole course -- except walking water stations to drink rather than spill. I did get progressively slower during the run but overall I am happy with how I did. When I got to the car, the temp said 88 degrees. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the half ironman, with medal and gator jambalaya in hand</td></tr>
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I enjoyed this event and I'd certainly consider coming back and doing it again another time.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_YVOJqHxSWcE/TYZJ4nfF5WI/AAAAAAAAK_c/t_OYnjrap-o/s640/Swims%20with%20gators.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_YVOJqHxSWcE/TYZJ4nfF5WI/AAAAAAAAK_c/t_OYnjrap-o/s200/Swims%20with%20gators.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gator Done medal and 4th place plaque</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-47985723111592254342011-03-16T07:46:00.002-04:002011-03-16T07:48:01.843-04:00Hannah<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="messageBody"></span></h6>Hannah is gone. Good bye, sweet girl. You will always be in my heart.<br />
<br />
Words cannot do my feelings justice. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table style="width: 194px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="center" style="background: url("https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/transparent_album_background.gif") no-repeat scroll left center transparent; height: 194px;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jmkizer/HannahThroughTheYears?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="160" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_YVOJqHxSWcE/SJe0oFYOXJE/AAAAAAAAKQU/1QZLVQG9FJ0/s160-c/HannahThroughTheYears.jpg" style="margin: 1px 0pt 0pt 4px;" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/jmkizer/HannahThroughTheYears?feat=embedwebsite" style="color: #4d4d4d; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Hannah through the years<br />
August 5, 1994 - March 15, 2011 </a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-79006336884459107892011-02-16T21:34:00.000-05:002011-02-17T10:28:01.524-05:00First marathonDone<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTGO5pMxcAzjN6i_e47SprFnKF-wFef__H1pZboCMqhGJINHdYpmOku88hfGPp708PqPbHFX70AE9h3r1sgBql-XbwicgRNMDgAtW1_P3oPmIJDYyXDK72mQtGZyDaE2WGLR-0U-aAmH2V/s1600/donna_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTGO5pMxcAzjN6i_e47SprFnKF-wFef__H1pZboCMqhGJINHdYpmOku88hfGPp708PqPbHFX70AE9h3r1sgBql-XbwicgRNMDgAtW1_P3oPmIJDYyXDK72mQtGZyDaE2WGLR-0U-aAmH2V/s320/donna_logo.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br />
Completed<br />
<br />
Successful<br />
<br />
<b><u>Friday</u></b><br />
<br />
DH and I took the day off and drove down to Jacksonville for 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Saturday</u></b><br />
<br />
On Saturday, we went to the race expo and checked in. The expo was very good. Check in was quick, the race shirt is really nice and the volunteers were cheerful and helpful. DH and I also did a little bit of reconnaissance -- confirmed where the bus from the hotel area to the race start was, confirmed that the beach was hard packed as advertised and so on. My parents and my in-laws were both coming into Jacksonville for the race so we gathered some course info for them as well.<br />
<br />
On Saturday evening, we went Mellow Mushroom for a pre race meal. Pizza, as usual!<br />
<br />
<b><u>Race Day</u></b><br />
<br />
On Sunday morning, I got up at 5:00, lubed up liberally in an effort to avoid chafing and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of Camelbak Elixir to get some electrolytes into my system. I had a little bit of coffee from the hotel lobby and I walked across the street to get a shuttle bus to the race start. I got into line at about 5:30 and we arrived at the Mayo Clinic for the race start at about 6:00.<br />
<br />
At about 6:30 or a little before, they herding us to the corrals. They had four corrals. The half and full marathon runners went in together according to color codes they had on our bibs. In other words, 4 hour marathoners and 2 hour half marathoners were mixed together.<br />
<br />
The race started a few minutes late. They were obviously checking with police to make sure that the roads were clear and we started as soon as the organizers got the all clear. It 40 degrees when the race started (60 degrees when I finished).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizjzODtwqiFK8H2DoqGEeRohSMS35-24rtMpQH_PweSM8xP94_dYX831AtocZi5SQJ56zbkRQoCzXoK-ZHrBPJ4FXQ9xiakQycV_7d6PmmQCKG5WhXmjUY9C1qYgJ-uRhbrkHurl6efRG/s1600/0008t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizjzODtwqiFK8H2DoqGEeRohSMS35-24rtMpQH_PweSM8xP94_dYX831AtocZi5SQJ56zbkRQoCzXoK-ZHrBPJ4FXQ9xiakQycV_7d6PmmQCKG5WhXmjUY9C1qYgJ-uRhbrkHurl6efRG/s1600/0008t.jpg" /></a></div><br />
It was also neat that the start of the race was broadcast on TV. My peeps watched the TV coverage and then went outside and saw me. (This is where it helps that the event is <i>26.2 with Donna</i> and Donna is a news anchor on a local station and Mr. Donna is a weatherman at a local station. As a result, the races has excellent media coverage.)<br />
<br />
The course started at Mayo Clinic and crossed the intracoastal waterway in the first two miles. The first (and last) three miles were on a (closed) expressway. By mile five we were on the beach.<br />
The run out to the beach was fun and included highlighted by helicopter flyovers for TV and plenty of cars honking in support of the thousands of runners. The spectator support was amazing! The 2.5 miles run on the beach were beautiful.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVnYZBNE-2I/AAAAAAAAGLU/RfmL0OtAnBY/s576/DSC_3762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVnYZBNE-2I/AAAAAAAAGLU/RfmL0OtAnBY/s320/DSC_3762.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the beach just after mile 7</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
The hotel that we stayed at was on the course near mile 7 and mile 19. I saw my family on the beach just after mile 7. They cheered and I waved. That was neat. Throughout the race I kept on counting down when to have Gu or when I would see my family during the race.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVndvJw9HTI/AAAAAAAAGMk/QRIdaUpdDPM/s576/DSC_3806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVndvJw9HTI/AAAAAAAAGMk/QRIdaUpdDPM/s320/DSC_3806.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just after mile 19</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
The run went really really well until mile 16. Then my legs started to complain a little bit. About this time I started to dislike the marathon relay teams. I mean <i>really</i> dislike them. The relay people looked so fresh and perky, having run about one mile since the exchange at Mile 15, and my legs were feeling somewhat less than fresh and perky. I kept on telling myself, less than 30 minutes until I see my peeps again (at mile 19). Then it was less than a mile to the next Gu. 10k to go. Back onto the expressway to the finish. With about 2 miles to go I could see the finish. There's Mayo Clinic. Right there. The finish. Up the bridge. It's all downhill from here. The finish should be just around the corner. I hope the finish is just around the corner. There it is!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVngEYhK5mI/AAAAAAAAGNQ/NrwgtcbcFbE/s576/IMG_3726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVngEYhK5mI/AAAAAAAAGNQ/NrwgtcbcFbE/s320/IMG_3726.jpg" width="213" /></a><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVngO0_jTJI/AAAAAAAAGNU/r9R51AChqiU/s576/DSC_3828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVngO0_jTJI/AAAAAAAAGNU/r9R51AChqiU/s320/DSC_3828.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVngXYo7_-I/AAAAAAAAGNY/c7LrBZyvCqM/s576/DSC_3830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TVngXYo7_-I/AAAAAAAAGNY/c7LrBZyvCqM/s320/DSC_3830.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
I checked the race results and over 1600 marathon runners finished, along with over 4000 half marathoners plus 214 marathon relay teams (5 people per team).<br />
<br />
I thought that the organization and crowd support were <b>superb</b>. The expo was great as was the runner support on the course. Water stations were well stocked, port-a-pots plentiful, Gu available, etc.<br />
<br />
I would <i>definitely</i> do this event again. I would definitely recommend it to a friend.Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-71909665980853541412011-02-01T21:43:00.000-05:002011-02-16T09:36:13.625-05:00<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2061362.The_Septembers_of_Shiraz" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266505273m/2061362.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2061362.The_Septembers_of_Shiraz">The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/517477.Dalia_Sofer">Dalia Sofer</a><br />
<br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/143961725">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
<br />
This book was excellent. I had a hard time putting it down. It is beautifully written. In some ways, this book reminds me of <i>The Namesake</i> by Jhumpa Lahiri -- language and style, caught between cultures.<br />
<br />
The story takes place in post-Revolutionary Iran and tells the story of a Jewish family -- Isaac, Farnaz, Shirin and Paviz -- living in Tehran. Told in the voice of each of these family members, this suspenseful story begins when Isaac, a gemologist with associations to the Shah, is arrested by the Revolutionary Guard. Early in the book, "Back in his cell, Isaac thinks of Rez and the thousands of revolutionaries like him -- men and women who thought they were part of something big, much bigger than their daily lives -- who thought they were changing the course of history. And here they are, having replace crowns with turbans." (101)<br />
<br />
Isaac is an educated man with knowledge of both Persian and Western literature. When he was in prison, he thought of poems, including The <i>Lake Isle of Innisfree</i> by W.B. Yeats and the <i>Teachings of Hafiz</i> (239) -- interestingly, Hafiz (also known as Hafez) was born in Shiraz.<br />
<br />
(from <i>The Lake Isle of Innisfree</i>)<br />
<br />
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,<br />
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made...<br />
<br />
(from <i>Teachings of Hafiz</i>)<br />
<br />
Can drunkenness be linked to piety<br />
And good repute?<br />
Where is the preacher's holy monody,<br />
Where is the lute?<br />
<br />
Later in the book (294), Isaac recites another section from the <i>Teachings of Hafiz</i>. This time he recites to his father<br />
<br />
<br />
Be not too sure of your crown, you who thought<br />
That virtue was easy and recompense yours;<br />
From the monastery to the wine-tavern doors<br />
The way is nought<br />
<br />
from <i>The Divan of Hafiz</i> (337)<br />
<br />
Not all the sum of earthly happiness<br />
Is worth the bowed head of a moment's pain<br />
<br />
The book also has other art and religious themes throughout. For example, the theme of the ghazal, a form of poetry. "Five couplets, at the minimum, but no more than twelve usually. The first couplet establishes a rhyme followed by a refrain, a scheme repeated by the second line of each succeeding couplet. Each couplet should stand on its own, but must also be part of the whole. At the end, the poet often invokes himself...'So what happens at the end, Baba?' and he had said, 'There is no end, Shirin-jan. That's the first thing you should learn about ghazals. There is no resolution. Imagine the speaker simply throwing his hands in the air.'" (178-179)" <br />
<br />
Farnaz borrows a sixteenth-century miniature painting from an antique dealer. She asks the dealer about the history of the piece. "'That's the sad part of the story. In 1962 an American collector bought it, and he had the audacity to rip pages out of the book and sell them individually. He sold some to a museum in New York, others to private collectors.'<br />
<br />
"She looks at the orphaned leaf, its counterparts spread around the globe, each adopted by one museum or another, or locked in a cabinet of a European or American collector who picks it up once in a while or looks at in his dime study..." (217)<br />
<br />
Do the "orphaned leaf" represent Iranians spread around the world like pages of the book? Does it represent American disrespect/misunderstanding of Persian culture?<br />
<br />
This is only the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot going on in this book (alcohol: banned after the Revolution, Isaac's father was an alcoholic -- apathy, fermented and distilled (106), Isaac's brother Javad was a bootlegger; Why didn't Farnaz send Parviz the money Isaac promised him? She gave $10,000 to Javad and nothing to her son.; fundamentalist Jews and fundamentalist Islamics; 'worship' of Western culture)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2953856-janyne">View all my reviews</a>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-5511225240567787522010-12-31T08:50:00.008-05:002011-01-01T12:34:57.985-05:002010 Reading ListI read 75 books this year. My favorites were <i>The Lovely Bones</i>, <i>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing</i>, <i>People of the Book. </i><i>The Lace Reader</i><i>, Shadowland</i>, <i>The Likeness</i> and <i>Sarah's Key</i>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://content-1.powells.com/cover?isbn=9780140293241" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266447885l/536.jpg" width="123" /></a></div> <i> </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<i>The Lovely Bones</i> by Alice Sebold. This book is not really a thriller but does have some of the suspense that murder mysteries contain. The book is well written. The author manages to take a disturbing subject and make it, in the end, healing. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://content-1.powells.com/cover?isbn=9780140293241" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://content-1.powells.com/cover?isbn=9780140293241" width="123" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<i>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing</i> by Melissa Banks. This novel is about the working-girl heroine, Jane Rosenal. This is a coming of age book about awkward Jane that skips to various points in her life. For me, this book is best described as <i>Catcher in the Ry</i>e meets <i>Bridget Jones's Diary</i>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1239820658l/1379961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1239820658l/1379961.jpg" width="123" /></a></div><br />
<i>People of the book</i> by Geraldine Brooks. This novel is about a book manuscript conservator Hanna Heath is hired to work on. This religious manuscript, the Sarajevo Haggadah, is 500 years old. The novel covers both Hanna's 20th century restoration and the history of the book itself as Hanna discovers a series of tiny artifacts in the codex. This novel is very well done and this Pulitzer Prize winning author does not disappoint.<br />
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<i>The Lace Reader</i> by Brunonia Barry. Set in Salem, Massachusetts, The Lace Reader takes full advantage of the witch trial history of the locale. This novel grabbed my attention at the beginning and held it throughout.<br />
<blockquote>"<i>There is lace in every living thing: the bare branches of winter, the patterns of clouds, the surface of water as it ripples int he breeze.... Even a wild dog's matted fur shows a lacy pattern if you look at it closely enough.</i>"</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<i>The Likeness</i> by Tana French. Detective Cassie Maddox goes undercover to solve the murder of a post-grad in this murder mystery with a unique twist. This was a hard-to-put-down book!<br />
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<i>Sarah's Key</i> by Tatiana de Rosnay. This well-paced novel alternated between Julia Jarmond's modern-day story and Sarah's 1942 situation. It is also story of family secrets. I found the novel to be moving and well-written. In some ways it reminded me of <i>Suite Francaise</i>.<br />
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This year I also have a few new categories.<br />
<br />
<b>Worst book</b><br />
<ul><li><i>Amarcord: Marcella Remembers</i> by Marcella Hazan. I have no idea why I felt compelled to finish this book. OK, I do. My mother loaned the book to me. <span class="readable reviewText"> <span class="reviewText" id="freeTextContainerreview78133009" style="display: none;">The first section of this book was very interesting. I enjoyed reading about Marcella's journey from Egypt to Milan and reading about her time at Lake Garda during World War II. She has some very interesting stories to share, especially the one about the skeleton. <br />
<br />
The last 2/3 of the book involved a lot of self serving name dropping and that was considerably less enjoyable. The book became a slog to read. The low point was when she devoted an entire chapter to a child-like criti<a class="actionLinkLite" href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3138185.Amarcord#">...more</a></span><span class="reviewText" id="freeTextreview78133009">The first section of this book was very interesting. I enjoyed reading about Marcella's journey from Egypt to Milan and reading about her time at Lake Garda during World War II. She has some very interesting stories to share, especially the one about the skeleton. <br />
<br />
The last 2/3 of the book involved a lot of self serving name dropping and that was considerably less enjoyable. The book became a slog to read. The low point was when she devoted an entire chapter to a child-like criticism of famed food editor Judith Jones.</span></span></li>
</ul><b>Biggest Train Wreck</b><br />
<br />
Have you ever seen a horror movie that was so bad that it was funny?<br />
<ul><li><i>Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession</i> by Julie Powell. The book was poorly written and the author's behavior so abhorrent that I wonder why she put it in writing. Who would want to commemorate that?! <span class="readable reviewText"><span class="reviewText" id="freeTextreview92811768">Throughout the book, I kept on thinking to myself, "She knows her mother's going to read this, right?" </span></span>This book has become a family joke. Oh look! Cleaving is now available in paperback!</li>
</ul><b>Most Disappointing</b><br />
<ul><li><i>The Postmistress</i> by Sarah Blake. Simply put, I wanted to love this book and I did not. The premise of the book was good but the characters did not develop and the book lacked heart. It was a slog.</li>
</ul><b>Most Saccarhine</b><br />
<ul><li><i>Firefly Lane</i> by Kristin Hannah. I picked this up after reading and enjoying <i>Magic Hour.</i> This book was like reading a Lifetime movie. If there was a cliche to be had, it was employed and every song, food, fad of the 1970's was referenced.<b> </b></li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<b>The list</b><br />
<ol><li>Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri </li>
<li>The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani</li>
<li>Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan </li>
<li>The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold</li>
<li>The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean</li>
<li>Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella</li>
<li>Names My Sisters Call Me by Megan Crane</li>
<li>The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation by Elizabeth Berg</li>
<li>The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank</li>
<li>Twilight (Twilight #1) by Stephenie Meyer</li>
<li>New Moon (Twilight #2) by Stephenie Meyer</li>
<li>Eclipse (Twilight, 3) by Stephenie Meyer</li>
<li>Breaking Dawn (Twilight #4) by Stephenie Meyer</li>
<li>Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding</li>
<li>We Are All Fine Here by Mary Guterson</li>
<li>Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus</li>
<li>Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession by Julie Powell</li>
<li>Look Again by Lisa Scottoline</li>
<li>The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller</li>
<li>East of the Sun by Julia Gregson</li>
<li>Dedication by Emma McLaughlin</li>
<li>Shanghai Girls by Lisa See</li>
<li>Citizen Girl by Emma McLaughlin</li>
<li>The Help by Kathryn Stockett</li>
<li>Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweetby Jamie Ford</li>
<li>Brooklyn Colm Toibin</li>
<li>People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks<b> </b></li>
<li>Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See</li>
<li>The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry</li>
<li>The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry</li>
<li>In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick</li>
<li>Airhead (Airhead #1) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Being Nikki (Airhead #2) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>The Postmistress by Sarah Blake</li>
<li>Coventry by Helen Humphreys</li>
<li>The Clique (The Clique #1) by Lisi Harrison</li>
<li>Dark Places by Gillian Flynn</li>
<li>Runaway (Airhead #3) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Best Friends for Never (The Clique #2) by Lisi Harrison</li>
<li>Jinx by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Insatiable by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is the New Black; Or, A Culture-Up Manifesto by Jen Lancaster</li>
<li>Shadowland (The Mediator #1) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>A Desirable Residence by Madeleine Wickham</li>
<li>Revenge of the Wannabes (The Clique #3) by Lisi Harrison</li>
<li>I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci</li>
<li>Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger</li>
<li>Changeless (The Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger</li>
<li>Invasion of the Boy Snatchers (The Clique #4) by Lisi Harrison</li>
<li>Ninth Key (The Mediator #2) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Me & Emma by Elizabeth Flock</li>
<li>Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah</li>
<li>Reunion (The Mediator #3) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Darkest Hour (The Mediator #4) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Haunted (The Mediator #5) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>Twilight (Mediator Series #6) by Meg Cabot</li>
<li>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson</li>
<li>The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium #2 ) by Stieg Larsson</li>
<li>The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium #3) by Stieg Larsson</li>
<li>Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah</li>
<li>The Likeness by Tana French</li>
<li>Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah</li>
<li>Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay</li>
<li>Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr.</li>
<li>A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick</li>
<li>In the Woods by Tana French</li>
<li>Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout</li>
<li>House Rules by Jodi Picoult</li>
<li>Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten</li>
<li>Comfort and Joy: A Novel by Kristin Hannah</li>
<li>Everything Must Go by Elizabeth Flock</li>
<li>Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate #3) by Gail Carriger</li>
<li>High Tea by Sandra Harper </li>
<li>Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhonda Janzen </li>
<li>The Baker's Apprentice by Judi Hendricks </li>
</ol>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-32542608314142988692010-12-24T11:07:00.029-05:002010-12-24T11:07:00.362-05:00Happy Holidays from the Kizers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsSzQcqyLN-TRi0LIXCPqu2lPaNoeLneU0aFQCjT6rWqmvgi1I6BjWMbF0MAR6DeO1JeWUz6d0vGR5UrKp11x3C43gjNwTDibClorDKL3J2XgjUWMk7xD5r1RZnPm2g1ABmogepaHPkOIK/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-12-22+at+7.56.40+AM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsSzQcqyLN-TRi0LIXCPqu2lPaNoeLneU0aFQCjT6rWqmvgi1I6BjWMbF0MAR6DeO1JeWUz6d0vGR5UrKp11x3C43gjNwTDibClorDKL3J2XgjUWMk7xD5r1RZnPm2g1ABmogepaHPkOIK/s400/Screen+shot+2010-12-22+at+7.56.40+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Fi2EqrlZeTUJiNDxZ7IUDej5_LUoqHiNnPBBWyJxbbARJISv6s7I8WwEduleC269WLYfR6_W-3jlRXV1B8l8pGtFjMWXk6jj17F6hGzrFf0_cM0J7h6sz0usncrusOEz2URL00MNOKXR/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-12-22+at+7.56.57+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Fi2EqrlZeTUJiNDxZ7IUDej5_LUoqHiNnPBBWyJxbbARJISv6s7I8WwEduleC269WLYfR6_W-3jlRXV1B8l8pGtFjMWXk6jj17F6hGzrFf0_cM0J7h6sz0usncrusOEz2URL00MNOKXR/s400/Screen+shot+2010-12-22+at+7.56.57+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8bSuqSRUdomWq3sdLYDZMq5caPRVYqtjXPe7JkgDdWLpE0CJSgsxuSMqJ1Axo-aM7pCf0GfgdaKBGzjzxtbeXQXenwztUOceT_MVl3gm_peBb8pZE0zr6ZnIo46XRy2nWM4pLNkZioFQr/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-12-22+at+7.57.06+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" color="#000000" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8bSuqSRUdomWq3sdLYDZMq5caPRVYqtjXPe7JkgDdWLpE0CJSgsxuSMqJ1Axo-aM7pCf0GfgdaKBGzjzxtbeXQXenwztUOceT_MVl3gm_peBb8pZE0zr6ZnIo46XRy2nWM4pLNkZioFQr/s400/Screen+shot+2010-12-22+at+7.57.06+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-60928975894968702212010-11-16T19:01:00.003-05:002010-11-16T19:01:01.268-05:00Beach2Battleship half iron distance triathlon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLUvLAxwxfc4pItlrERVJRmQ9ecSYXqJ5TzXLMNWEhoVuvxG5uHJNc-gOB82-jtKMugfZw_Z5InRTKTu3JDp9Zls458yduDtElId8PAH9OUkUgyAD8FjwkZ3_fIVLJUKq07wx2Rdu7Zb3/s1600/PPDb2bhalf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoLUvLAxwxfc4pItlrERVJRmQ9ecSYXqJ5TzXLMNWEhoVuvxG5uHJNc-gOB82-jtKMugfZw_Z5InRTKTu3JDp9Zls458yduDtElId8PAH9OUkUgyAD8FjwkZ3_fIVLJUKq07wx2Rdu7Zb3/s1600/PPDb2bhalf.jpg" /></a></div>DH and I arrived in Wilmington just before lunch on Friday so we stopped for lunch at McAllister's and went to pick up my packet at the convention center. There was no line for packet pickup. I enjoyed the Expo and attended the briefing before heading to check out T2 at the <a href="http://www.battleshipnc.com/">Battleship North Carolina</a> and then drop off my bike at T1 in Wrightsville Beach. Then we stopped for dinner at Mellow Mushroom and had an early night involving me going through all of my bags again.<br />
<br />
I got up at 5:30 on race morning and had a bagel with peanut butter and a banana along with a water bottle of Camelbak Elixir. Then I headed downstairs for the bus to Wrightsville Beach. We stayed at the Hilton and that is really the place to stay for this event. The bus went from the hotel to Wrightsville Beach for the start and from the Battleship to the hotel at the end. The sea taxis also went from the Battleship to the hotel. It was a very convenient location. <br />
<br />
The bags - All half participants had three bags for their gear. One bag was for before/after items. You know, the things that you want at the start of the swim but don't need again until after you cross this finish line. I had sweat pants that I wore before, a long-sleeved T for after and a sweatshirt for before, Crocs and wetsuit and other swim stuff. The next bag was T1 so bike shoes, bike gear like gloves, helmet, sunglasses, socks. The final bag was for T2 (not the same location as T1) and it had running gear including shoes, number belt, hat and socks. All of the bags went on the bus with me. (Next time, they will be pre-deployed. I'll double bag them if I am worried they will get wet from dew.) <br />
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After the bus ride I dropped off my T2 bag and went to T1 to set that up. The bikes were all checked in on Friday night so it was more of a preload the Bento box, pump tires, make a final decision on what to wear (I went with tri shorts and tri top that I wore under my wetsuit and added arm warmers and a 2 gallon zip lock bag under my shirt as a temporary vest.) I met up with Sherry and Scott from BT and I saw Jerry and Fred from CSH. Once that was all set, I took the shuttled to the swim start. <br />
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Once I was at the swim start I watched some of the full participants swim by (the full started at 7:00, the first wave of the half started at 8:30). I went to the parking lot across the street from the start where it was sunny and sat Lisa, John, Stan and Jerry C. We visited. I had a Lara bar while I was waiting. It was actually relaxing -- until the announcer started and then everyone kind of started to freak out. The water was advertised at "mid-60s." When my wave was called, I got into the water -- totally submerged myself when I got in. And it BEGINS. <br />
<br />
For me, the swim was uneventful. I thought 45 minutes on the swim was reasonable so going a minute faster was fine with me! T1 was slow partly due to cold hands and feet and the run over. I should have used the wet suit strippers. All were busy so I continued. I should have waited 10 seconds and used them though. I had some minor issues with cold hurting feet on the run to T1. The way the swim worked, you get out of the channel by climbing ladders and then un down a dock and then run about 400 yards to T1. The sidewalks were OK to run on but I did not like running on the blacktop one bit.<br />
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After <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcp7113h1og">much debate</a> over several weeks and frequently checking the weather forecast, (actual weather data: 52 when I got on the bike, 67 when I got off the bike, hit 70 during the run) I wore arm warmers and put a 2 gallon zip lock bag under my tri top for the bike. Also wore bike gloves and mtb socks. My feet felt funny when I clipped in -- like there was something in my shoe besides my foot and sock -- but I continued. It turned out they were just cold.<br />
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<br />
Great Bike! Exceeded my expectations! <br />
<br />
The bike was good. I loved riding on 140. It was FAST! Just after we got off 140, we had the first water station. My plan was to drink one bottle of Camelbak Elixir before the first water stop. Dump the empty, move bottle #2 forward and grab a water. I figured if the bottle grab didn't go well, I had another chance this way. Got the bottle with no problem. I was able to execute this plan with no problem. Shortly after the first aid station I took the baggie-vest out and put that in my pocket to drop off at the next water station. (You are not allowed to litter, the rules call it <i>abandoned equipment</i>. You can, however, get rid of trash, etc. at aid stations.)<br />
<br />
After getting off 140, we took 421 north and jogged over to Blueberry Road where we continued north. We had some headwind on the 421/Blueberry section. Then a turn onto another road for a short while before the turnaround. Ah, a little tailwind! Oh, and that was a false flat heading UP so things are GOOD! <br />
<br />
On the way back on Blueberry Road I saw a cyclist down and then I saw an ambulance. I hope the rider is OK. <br />
<br />
Overall, I was pleased with the bike segment. <br />
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When I got to T2, I remember to removed Garmin, handed bike to volunteer and headed to my gear/rack space. Shoe/sock change, hat on, kept the sunglasses. Where are the portapots? Oh, there is a line. Run to Run Out and GO!<br />
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I felt great coming off the bike. There was a line for port-a-pots in transition so ran to first aid station and went there (in other words, run time includes potty break). Ran well for the first bit and faded. There was a lot of crowd support downtown! It was great!<br />
<br />
The run course started off with crossing a Big Bridge, cross a little bridge -- the Northeast Cape Fear River Bridge which is relatively flat, run along the Wilmington waterfront and then head up a hill to Front Street to Greenfield Park. Turnaround and head back. <br />
<br />
Just after we got to mile three I was thinking, "Almost a quarter of the way done! Woo hoo!" Then a spectator said, "They have 10 miles to go."<br />
<br />
I thought we would never get around the park. We got on the path and kept going and going and going. I had a Hammer gel just before the turnaround. I saw Stan, Lisa and Fred before the turnaround and then spotted John and Jerry after the turn around. Seeing my friends was really nice.<br />
<br />
I got water at most but not all water stops. My stomach started to rebel with 3-4 miles to go on the run. <br />
<br />
The run heading back to downtown seemed faster. I got over the little bridge OK. Then I saw the Big Bridge. Oh my! When I saw that last bridge <i>I wanted my mommy</i>. OK, not really. It just looked very intimidating to me and I kept on thinking that I wanted to run the whole thing so I kept on trucking. <br />
<br />
The finish chute was great! I heard the announcer call my name. As soon as I got across the line and they took my chip, I got my medal. It is really cool. Maybe even better than my <a href="http://busylivinglife.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html">Donald Duck</a>! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TOA1fvEwpaI/AAAAAAAAF9c/Q-PnOatkcRw/s512/IMG_3671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TOA1fvEwpaI/AAAAAAAAF9c/Q-PnOatkcRw/s320/IMG_3671.jpg" width="213" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TOA1tBf8KlI/AAAAAAAAF9o/45JV0GLjC70/s512/IMG_3674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TOA1tBf8KlI/AAAAAAAAF9o/45JV0GLjC70/s320/IMG_3674.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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Stan and Lisa were there and I talked to them a little bit. DH was there and that felt great! He got some nice pictures too :-) <br />
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I loved this event and I'll be back!Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-34774566502354671902010-11-13T00:01:00.009-05:002010-11-13T00:01:00.648-05:00Beach2Battleship half iron distance (before)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZnXtC1U2Tib-sEtO6worAlV6ESALJ7kRpNo7tQZhbZzc_tP5EQVCC440Ht2AqR8tR1UgZOGotdU9iq8MhkzOE5HMbLryWc5sZ1pZmEFleDpyutMTornx5x1-8XmbUl1vSINrXmes8rZ6/s1600/PPDb2bhalf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZnXtC1U2Tib-sEtO6worAlV6ESALJ7kRpNo7tQZhbZzc_tP5EQVCC440Ht2AqR8tR1UgZOGotdU9iq8MhkzOE5HMbLryWc5sZ1pZmEFleDpyutMTornx5x1-8XmbUl1vSINrXmes8rZ6/s200/PPDb2bhalf.jpg" width="133" /></a>Day of event splits are being updated by the event organizers approximately every 30 minutes. I'm number 775.<br />
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<a href="http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=1374#results-text%20">Results</a><br />
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<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h7j32Uv-IjA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h7j32Uv-IjA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-37673733765170672392010-10-23T16:20:00.000-04:002010-10-23T16:20:33.096-04:00le Tour de FemmeEarlier this month I participated in <a href="http://www.letourdefemme.org/">le Tour de Femme</a>. This is a great ride that has really grown over the years. The weekend kicks off with festivities at <a href="http://cyclingspokenhere.com/">Cycling Spoken Here</a> on Friday. On Saturday morning, there is the ride followed by a catered lunch. All of the riders are given pink carnations as they finish. Good stuff!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The presentation just before the ride</td></tr>
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</a></div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sandra, all lined up and ready to go</td></tr>
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I had a really good time on this ride. After 7 miles or so, I took my first pull and it was <span style="font-style: italic;">lloonngg</span> -- like 12 miles. I was just going my own pace and having fun and stuff. We stopped a the second rest stop to get water and took picked up some other riders (we were down to two at this point). I continued with them.<br />
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The group dropped someone on Big Woods and two riders took off while the rest of us slowed up. I don't want to drop someone right after they took a pull. That's just rude! We continued on and one person wanted to stop at the third stop. We all held up for her and the volunteers said there were two riders in front of us. Yikes! I had no idea that I was in the second group. Kinda fun ;-) Yeah, I know the Tour de <span class="il">Femme</span> doesn't exactly draw the racer types but still.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsy6-vwNeIdEXlaSe7dSV0uyhE-_QjoWAgFPYZpclugLuIV4at35moBCZUP-QUG0IfvliqijSoDtK4Crv8Z-DZcgJZ9t3Szb-8sMi_82YWBmPkmcoO6vCd3Uo696jG23Q4G1lUDJbGlVmY/s320/IMG_4087.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the ladies that I rode with!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsy6-vwNeIdEXlaSe7dSV0uyhE-_QjoWAgFPYZpclugLuIV4at35moBCZUP-QUG0IfvliqijSoDtK4Crv8Z-DZcgJZ9t3Szb-8sMi_82YWBmPkmcoO6vCd3Uo696jG23Q4G1lUDJbGlVmY/s1600/IMG_4087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-15956776601904756632010-10-21T21:21:00.001-04:002010-10-26T08:19:25.509-04:00Wilmington YMCA Sprint photos<table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyHf4mv4XIuR2HH57Ph2gPM0JOJMdHXfyMJLQ5Cmp63foBVD_ngsTgt6OsWhZtKC97GBFqwp2dx4iruwjw_dGZ7H9B8foAcyrSLPYG9pu88NRA-GpueMD95E95okfO9Bue84_REd32RK7T/s320/IMG_4059.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" height="240" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sign from Two Wheeler Dealer, a local bike shop in<br />Wilmington that hosted packet pickup</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyHf4mv4XIuR2HH57Ph2gPM0JOJMdHXfyMJLQ5Cmp63foBVD_ngsTgt6OsWhZtKC97GBFqwp2dx4iruwjw_dGZ7H9B8foAcyrSLPYG9pu88NRA-GpueMD95E95okfO9Bue84_REd32RK7T/s1600/IMG_4059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br /><table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-rBzwXWVU6j991YV8X-9UfVdiCS3q8V6Ia2xK4CgXS8691ZDhAHEPSx-4kitXHeMiWFHgguVOth4-iEjTjSzKU6AixOocbYKxA77Ap99XdZpwbC01FPtu32yyuOgAaSPV7qlZSOsBmzH/s320/Swim+with+labels.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" height="240" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of the swim course. I took this picture from<br />Sea Path, the swim finish. The swim started at<br />Blockade Runner. Note the arrow pointing to the start.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-rBzwXWVU6j991YV8X-9UfVdiCS3q8V6Ia2xK4CgXS8691ZDhAHEPSx-4kitXHeMiWFHgguVOth4-iEjTjSzKU6AixOocbYKxA77Ap99XdZpwbC01FPtu32yyuOgAaSPV7qlZSOsBmzH/s1600/Swim+with+labels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br /><table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTS3WfVxizD0GN0mnb_XA-dBNtxjPfI3B6E9zeHjNFFbiwoKvL0wLAQaur6duNDy7mxQQp-LYiO290-w3qX-4uENWT5iOt6Y-c4mgU9RxkPAMi0DwbMHxyloynOcFZMscOmH-T3_EV_Bq/s320/IMG_4068.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" height="320" width="240" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My awesome support team!</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTS3WfVxizD0GN0mnb_XA-dBNtxjPfI3B6E9zeHjNFFbiwoKvL0wLAQaur6duNDy7mxQQp-LYiO290-w3qX-4uENWT5iOt6Y-c4mgU9RxkPAMi0DwbMHxyloynOcFZMscOmH-T3_EV_Bq/s1600/IMG_4068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-82784459030342067732010-10-20T17:55:00.003-04:002010-10-21T14:41:15.023-04:00Catching up -- way past due<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TGTFETenbqI/AAAAAAAAFWk/q9Re7aAiRf8/s576/wnc2010%20005.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br /><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TJEwJYJegTI/AAAAAAAAFs8/WKKjNbl5Ks4/s576/IMG_3534.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br /><table class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><img alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TGTFETenbqI/AAAAAAAAFWk/q9Re7aAiRf8/s200/wnc2010%20005.jpg" style="height: 288px; margin: 0pt auto 10px; width: 192px;" width="133" border="0" height="100" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Janyne before the start at<br />Lake Logan</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I know that I've been slack in posting here. I've been busy but nothing seemed interesting enough to report here. I completed my second triathlon in August -- Lake Logan International. That one took place in western North Carolina.<br /><br />The course was fun and I'd go it again. In September I road in Bike MS for the sixth time.<br /><br />Also in September I completed my third triathlon -- Wilmington YMCA Sprint. That one was really fun! I had a blast! I really wanted to do the event because the swim is similar to the one that I'll be doing for B2B. There were 1500 people registered for the event -- huge compared to my first two triathlons that had 200-250 athletes each. We went down on Friday afternoon and I went to packet pickup at <a href="http://www.bikesarefun.com/">Two Wheeler Dealer</a>. There was one person in line in front of me so check in was super easy. Then we headed over to Wrightsville and checked out the site a bit and then checked into the hotel. We dropped off the dogs and went to the pre-race meeting. I'd guess 50+ people were at the meeting. Then we walked over to Sea Path which was the swim finish and checked that out along with the 300m run to transition. I found my rack in transition and we went to dinner (pre race pizza!). So, the check in process and pre-race day logistics were simple.<br /><br /><table class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_oAqsyW_AR2Y/TJEwJYJegTI/AAAAAAAAFs8/WKKjNbl5Ks4/s200/IMG_3534.jpg" style="height: 288px; margin: 0pt auto 10px; width: 192px;" width="133" border="0" height="200" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Janyne with teammate<br />David L. before the start of Bike MS</span></td></tr></tbody></table>On Saturday, the usual get up at 5:00. I ate while DH took care of the dogs. We got to the site at 5:30. Parked, set up transition, talk, potty, talk, shuttle bus to swim start at 6:30. Hang out at Blockade Runner (the swim started on the Blockade Runner water access), watch first waves of athletes start their swim (waves started at 7:00), talk to people about siting and current. My wave went at 7:55. The bike course was congested and there were no passing zones over the draw bridge. That was the only on course issue. After the race, I had a hard time finding my parents and keeping Kevin, the Girls and my parents under control :-)<br /><br />The race was good, well run, etc. I would definitely go back. This was the first triathlon that I felt like a triathlete. I hope that makes sense. The others went well enough but I guess I wasn't really in my comfort zone or whatever. I was more nervous excited that nervous what have I got myself into.<br /><br />Since then, I have mostly been busy training for <a href="http://www.beach2battleship.com/">Beach2Battleship</a> where I am will be doing my first half iron distance triathlon -- 1.2 mile swim, then 56 mile bike and finally a half marathon run. I've been working to improve my swimming and trying to keep the other pieces together as well and diligently <a href="http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/index-weekly.asp?memberid=137460&year=&month=&day=">logging my workouts</a>.Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-3030006265000847902010-09-22T08:05:00.001-04:002010-10-21T14:41:04.712-04:00CCC Members at USNWC<object style="background-image: url("http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/TZpXESfntvk/hqdefault.jpg");" width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TZpXESfntvk?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TZpXESfntvk?fs=1&hl=en_US" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>Janyne Kizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01500280520043441881noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-84172089419547364702010-08-23T10:39:00.013-04:002010-10-22T16:26:25.505-04:00Pigeon and Noli - Liquid Sunshine and Rooster Tails<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirSIwEKEIWah8zLAQ3OkfDHITt_oUJYuXSMzBWNXy5cI6tvDHV749wUyQGvF5Eg-gobOaqthOLTvKX6-SEEJNUXqxe-c1APC0FSItUZ5N2ZH5SgHs_e3QnDUa7n-LVEFLGb9F5Nc0nBA36/s1600/View+from+Barb%27s+backyard.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirSIwEKEIWah8zLAQ3OkfDHITt_oUJYuXSMzBWNXy5cI6tvDHV749wUyQGvF5Eg-gobOaqthOLTvKX6-SEEJNUXqxe-c1APC0FSItUZ5N2ZH5SgHs_e3QnDUa7n-LVEFLGb9F5Nc0nBA36/s320/View+from+Barb%27s+backyard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530564041524618610" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >The Loft</span><br />In August I was invited to go paddling with Len and Barbara and stay at Barb's mountain house near Waynesville, North Carolina. Barb's family has large vacation house that everyone in her family uses. Normally I sleep in a guest bedroom downstairs, but for the first time I was assigned to the loft bedroom. The loft is very nice because above the bed there is a large picture window with a view of the mountains and the private bathroom has a chandelier! Barb and Len's friend Steve was in the downstairs guest bedroom because he had to get up early for a cycling event, the <a href="http://www.blueridgebreakaway.com/">Blue Ridge Breakaway</a>.<br /><br />I enjoy staying at Barb's place because I don't have to camp. It takes a lot less time to load and unload for a trip since I don't have to deal with all of the camping gear. I always make sure to bring a hostess gift with me and Janyne will often bake goodies like banana bread to share.<br /><br />Barb and Len also invited other friends to stay including: paddling friends Ron, Joan, and Joan's two teenage children.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Liquid Sunshine</span><br />Saturday morning Barn, Len, and I took a walk. There are a lot of horses in the area, and they all know Barb because she likes to feed them carrots. We had plenty of time since the Pigeon doesn't run until 12:00.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiToTt0rchENFG6bgAoKUAFrbg7IWTB979Tfev_t9QgsqX_aljnrMksIFWYNkHmLJ_w_wuJQaWCj3MEwImC_Zgn_kOgpsKxXRKdfT8M5OTifwaHKkLrxL7BzSxZkWgZZGwWnt3cKnRciQAv/s1600/Pigeon+River+with+liquid+sunshine%21.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiToTt0rchENFG6bgAoKUAFrbg7IWTB979Tfev_t9QgsqX_aljnrMksIFWYNkHmLJ_w_wuJQaWCj3MEwImC_Zgn_kOgpsKxXRKdfT8M5OTifwaHKkLrxL7BzSxZkWgZZGwWnt3cKnRciQAv/s320/Pigeon+River+with+liquid+sunshine%21.jpg" alt="Pouring Rain on the Pigeon River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530560971420361682" border="0" /></a>We loaded up all of the paddling gear and headed to the Pigeon. It had started to pour down rain, which is really only a problem when you load and unload gear. I waited at the putin while the shuttle vehicles were positioned. I tried to stay out of the pouring rain as much as possible.<br /><br />The rain didn't stop until we were at Lost Guide rapid. It doesn't matter if it rains while you are on the river, but it wasn't so good for the people on the bike ride. We found out later that the park service had to close the Blue Ridge Parkway due to the rain and the fog. One of Janyne's cycling friends got hypothermia while going fast in a descent and spent some time in the hospital. The rain wasn't in the forecast, so very few of the cyclists brought rain gear.<br /><br />Before Double Reactionary rapid on the Pigeon, we encountered a young lady standing IN the river. Apparently she was part of a university rafting group and she fell out of the raft. Lee had her grab onto the back of his kayak and he tried to take her to shore. She must have let go because she ended up swimming through the rapid and was really bounced around. After the rapid, Len had her grab his boat and got her to shore. She was really upset and didn't want to go though the next, and last rapid, accelerator. The problem is, there's not a good way to walk around it, so you have to be in a boat.<br /><br />We stopped at Pigeon Gorge take out for lunch where Barb met up with us. Barb joined us to run the lower Pigeon. At the end of the run, Barb said that it seemed "easier". We told her that her paddling has improved and is more experienced, so it should seem easier.<br /><br />After running the Ocoee quite a few times over the summer, the Pigeon seemed so much easier. Of course, any river can be made more difficult by using a play boat, playing more in features, practicing more difficult moves, etc.<br /><br />We headed back to Barb's place where we later had a great grilled salmon dinner.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Getting the Bird from Roostertail</span></span><br /><br />On Sunday Lee, Len, Bob, and I ran the <a href="http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_1766">Nolichucky River</a>. This was my Nolichucky PFD (personal first descent). The Nolichucky is a class III-IV river and is generally considered more difficult than the Ocoee. On our run, the river was running between 1600 - 1700 cfs, which isn't a bad level for a first timer.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvqV1pFCPOKUmWGQClEvdNLejD2TeGCj-RQl_w21qL6YjR4tzwdEpiDEGXG1H4SUfafUNW2aDkhKvd-4pqP0Okfcb8rrrOKiRkk1hzFGtW9vkcTDd8nIVWhxKcVdLRVt0PheDWOHsQRJd/s1600/Nolichucky.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvqV1pFCPOKUmWGQClEvdNLejD2TeGCj-RQl_w21qL6YjR4tzwdEpiDEGXG1H4SUfafUNW2aDkhKvd-4pqP0Okfcb8rrrOKiRkk1hzFGtW9vkcTDd8nIVWhxKcVdLRVt0PheDWOHsQRJd/s320/Nolichucky.jpg" alt="Nolichucky Gorge" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530561879629224418" border="0" /></a>Len and I drove to Bob's house near Asheville and loaded up Bob's big Suburban. The Suburban is really old and beaten up, but it can hold a lot of gear and people. The air conditioning went out years ago, but we didn't need it.<br /><br />We met Lee at the <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/tn/nolichucky/">Nolichucky Gorge Campground</a>. The campground manager, whom I've written about before, was on us before we even crossed the bridge. "$3 a head" he barked. Bob answered with "Well, we have three heads". The fee is worth it though since the campground manager arranged for a shuttle driver, the campground is the take out for the Nolichucky gorge, and we could use the campground's bathrooms and showers. The Nolichucky shuttle is very long and difficult, so it is worth the $20 to hire a driver to bring the car back to the take out.<br /><br />The Nolichucky Gorge is beautiful because the river winds between the mountains. The run is remote and quite long. The more difficult rapids are in the first third or so of the run. The water was turbid with a lot of silt, but that was due to the recent heavy rains. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but it wasn't too hot.<br /><br />My first combat roll was in the rapid "On the Rocks". I flipped and did a combat roll right away. Later Bob said that while he was watching me run the rapid and saw me flip he said "NOW would be a good time for a roll...".<br /><br />We then came to the roostertail rapid. You can't see much of the rapid until you are almost on top of it. You have to go from right to left between rocks and have the proper boat angle. I wasn't quite on the right line. I flipped in the first drop and was banged against the bottom. I rolled up, caught my breath, then was flipped all the way over to the other side. I was banged on bottom again. I rolled up and I thought I was up for good! yea! But then I was pinned against the rock I was warned about (don't get pinned THERE), which then flipped me. After being banged against the bottom a bit more, I had enough and bailed out. That may not have been the best choice because I was banged against the rocks in the swim. I lost some skin on hands and knees, but I DID have my carbon paddle in hand. Lee had me grab the back of his boat and towed me to shore.<br /><br />We all then had lunch since roostertail marks the end of the more difficult rapids. While talking at lunch, I discovered I was the youngest person in the group. I said how old I was and Bob said "42? I thought you said 32. If you were 32, I'd have you run Roostertail AGAIN."<br /><br />At lunch Len gave me a great compliment. He said that he saw a huge improvement in my paddling skills, especially reading water and boat control. I wasn't thrilled to have swum, but everyone swims at some point.<br /><br />The rest of the river is mostly read and run. Lee was in the lead and for some reason was moving really fast when we were in rock garden rapid. Rock garden is a fairly long rapid where you have to dodge rocks and holes. I tried to follow Lee's line, except for when I saw him go into holes I wanted to avoid. After the rapid, Lee admitted that he didn't have a very clean line.<br /><br />When we were loading up gear, Bob mentioned that he saw me do a couple of "practice" rolls late in the run. I flipped on a couple of minor things and rolled up. I said "Oh, you weren't supposed to see those...".<br /><br />After loading up the gear and changing into dry clothes, we headed back to Bob's place. The drive along I-26 in Tennessee and North Carolina is gorgeous. There are a lot of large mountains and it is mostly undeveloped.<br /><br />I had a great time on the river. Lee was a great guide since he knew the river well and always explained each rapid. Bob and Len also knew the river. It will take me several more runs to become comfortable with the river and to know the lines.Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-1147802095439932882010-08-20T11:12:00.020-04:002010-08-23T23:01:07.624-04:00WOO2! Weekend of Ocoee 2 - Table Saw's Revenge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnICgjgrn-AzaEkImGnYxKa1ElAXi7ZM3g3KXWS4Hi8scEh25q8Kq3XWGAul-CtaIg1Pyo4EH8TvLNrzS6_fvRsGoUDjQzs42ftWB8c4Xj684jb3HtQbFxN0cqngnKL3P6vvnJNgK5DRMA/s1600/Ocoee2-1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnICgjgrn-AzaEkImGnYxKa1ElAXi7ZM3g3KXWS4Hi8scEh25q8Kq3XWGAul-CtaIg1Pyo4EH8TvLNrzS6_fvRsGoUDjQzs42ftWB8c4Xj684jb3HtQbFxN0cqngnKL3P6vvnJNgK5DRMA/s320/Ocoee2-1.jpg" alt="Kevin at double trouble rapid, Ocoee River Tennessee" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508647561322618242" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">On the Road Again</span></span><br />I had such a good time <a href="http://busylivinglife.blogspot.com/2010/07/woo-weekend-of-ocoee.html">paddling the Ocoee in July </a>with my kayaking friend John, I wanted to go one more time before John's fall college football work schedule consumed all of his weekends.<br /><br />Friday evening John was working the Redskins game in Washington D.C. He planned to drive back to Durham Saturday morning and we would leave for the Ocoee from his place. It took him several hours just to get to Fredericksburg Virginia! As a result, we didn't get on the road until 6 pm.<br /><br />The drive to the Ocoee is nearly 6.5 hours. On our previous trip we ended up at the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/camping/ChilhoweeCampgroundVIG.pdf">Chilhowee Campground</a> because there were no campsites at the <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/camping.shtml">Thunder Rock campground</a>. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/camping/ChilhoweeCampgroundVIG.pdf">Chilhowee Campground</a> requires you to drive further down the highway, then 7.5 miles on a switch back unmarked road up a mountain, something we didn't want to do in the middle of the night. We decided to camp at <a href="http://www.smokymtnmeadows.com/">Smoky Mountain Meadows</a> campground in Bryson City. We called ahead, they told us where to set up, and we'd pay in the morning.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thunder Rock Campground</span></span><br />The Thunder Rock Campground is across the Ocoee river from the highway. Unfortunately that meant I heard truck traffic all night. I need to pack ear plugs! However, you can't beat the campground's location because you can be at the put in in under five minutes.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdqiCMq4RIxvxg4OrpobbGpsuQfg5FHe89tQRBJBM7u92aolsEPMwrXaPMjjeS-4Xr0rGyBueOBs3wIveI3VXaOUWmmhYMK3SzdKoPoOivJ35D-FXi653Tnz0B5Pt81vY81i6J7opo8OL/s1600/P8150001.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdqiCMq4RIxvxg4OrpobbGpsuQfg5FHe89tQRBJBM7u92aolsEPMwrXaPMjjeS-4Xr0rGyBueOBs3wIveI3VXaOUWmmhYMK3SzdKoPoOivJ35D-FXi653Tnz0B5Pt81vY81i6J7opo8OL/s320/P8150001.jpg" alt="Kevin's tent at Thunder Rock Campground, Tennessee" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508803236846553762" border="0" /></a><br />For this trip I upgraded my camping gear. I replaced the Thermarest with a twin sized Eddie Bauer inflatable mattress (which has the battery pump built in). I also brought along a battery powered fan since it was SO hot on the previous trip. When you car camp, you don't have to worry as much about weight.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7rsuoT22ZvnMq8MgC43naJxWuEs-Jqxonx0k_d8Pitoh6HLyDGdf8-zzHctnISn8ehWivURYxlU69UkC0dhQB4JkL1c6YMZVtHULoWSmQ4rB0eV3mZk1pMXGRFObNquTkIt3w3vJq0Ry/s1600/P8150003.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7rsuoT22ZvnMq8MgC43naJxWuEs-Jqxonx0k_d8Pitoh6HLyDGdf8-zzHctnISn8ehWivURYxlU69UkC0dhQB4JkL1c6YMZVtHULoWSmQ4rB0eV3mZk1pMXGRFObNquTkIt3w3vJq0Ry/s320/P8150003.jpg" alt="TVA information for the Ocoee dams" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508800839767104786" border="0" /></a>Behind our site ran the water that comes out the hydro plant power house. TVA was generating power when we arrived, so the water was flowing quickly. In the middle of the night I heard a noise, and I could tell that the water wasn't flowing any more. In the morning the level had dropped way down and it looked like there was no current at all.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hitchhiker's Guide to the Ocoee</span></span><br />It's not usually a problem to have only one car when paddling the Ocoee. There are so many paddlers around, you can hitch a ride back to the put in.<br /><br />After I parked my car at the take out for our first run on Sunday, I asked a group if they were setting shuttle and if could have a ride. I got a story about how they "normally" would let people ride with them, but were full and had no room. Hmm...there's PLENTY of room in the cab of the truck AND in the back (and I don't take up much space). A simple "Sorry, but no" would have been more polite. Not a good way to earn river karma points!<br /><br />It was still fairly early in the morning on Sunday, so there wasn't much traffic on the highway. I waited for awhile, only bothering to put out my thumb for vehicles with some sort of kayak, raft, or open boat (everyone else gives you a funny look and zooms by). Another paddler came over to the side of the road to hitch a ride. I introduced myself. Finally a small car from Memphis with kayaks on top pulled over. Two of us needed to share a single seat, so it was good that I already introduced myself!<br /><br />For the second run on Sunday, I ended up getting a ride in the back of a pickup truck. I rode in the back with a bunch of kids and another kayaker. Overhead was a raft, which was dripping water. That was fine since I was already wet, it was warm out, and it sure beat walking. After we were a ways down the road, the driver yells out "Don't TRUST the tailgate". So we slid away from the tailgate.<br /><br />Setting shuttle Monday was little trickier. There was little traffic on the highway and no rafting companies had started yet since the water had just turned on (and Monday would be a light day anyhow). My car was the only car in the take out parking lot. Oh, this could be awhile. Luckily a pickup loaded with kayaks in the back stopped. I rode in the back on top of the kayaks, clinging to the bottom of the open window at the back of the cab (I didn't want to get flung off on a curve). From my perch I could see the nearly empty river and saw that the water bubble had reached double suck rapid.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Buzzed By Table Saw</span></span><br />Prior to this weekend, I had run table saw rapid multiple times (several runs at higher water levels) with no problems. On Saturday, table saw decided to teach me a little humility.<br /><br />On the first run Saturday, I flipped in the hole at the top of the rapid. I ran the entire rapid upside down and was bounced up and down through the big waves. The rapid sent my kayak into an eddy on river right, where I rolled up and caught my breath. John tapped the top of his helmet to ask if I was ok, and I responded that I was.<br /><br />On the second run Saturday, I made it past the hole at the top. However, I was flipped in one of the waves lower in the rapid. I rolled and went on my way.<br /><br />Sunday I ran the rapid cleanly. Apparently the lesson was over!<br /><br />At one point John made the comment that he "Liked my style", referring to the fact that if I blow my first roll attempt, I will try several more times. He was happy that he didn't need to practice rescue techniques.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Not Kevin's Eddy</span></span><br />Flipper rapid is done in two steps. You go over the first drop on river right, eddy out river left, then go over the second drop again on the right. You do NOT go barreling down the center since there's a big drop that will likely flip you (hence, flipper).<br /><br />John was getting annoyed that I wouldn't eddy out. I would zoom on by and finish the rapid, sometimes on river left for the second drop (which isn't the preferred line). He was going to call the eddy "not Kevin's Eddy". On the second run Saturday, I flipped, rolled, and again went down the left. John said "You SURE don't want to go into that eddy! You'll do ANYTHING to not do it.". He explained how I needed to ride the curler of water, which would do most of the work of putting you in the eddy.<br /><br />On Sunday's run, I DID eddy out, so I suggested that we call it "Sometimes Kevin's eddy" or "usually not Kevin's eddy".<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Did You Know That There's a Hole BELOW Double Trouble?</span></span><br />During week of rivers, I managed to get flipped in a hole that is BELOW double trouble on river left. I wanted to avoid that hole this weekend.<br /><br />After running double trouble with no problems, I eddied out river left above the hole. I did a bad job of peeling out into the current, went right into the hole, flipped, rolled, and went on my way. John laughed. On subsequent runs I eddied out river RIGHT.<br /><br />On one run though double trouble, I almost T boned another kayaker that was playing in one of the waves. The rule is simple: the boat in the current has the right of way. If you are playing in the wave, you yield to whoever is coming downstream. This play boater waited until the very last second to peel out, so I missed him by inches. I didn't want to change my boat angle or speed since that would cause me to flip.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Captain of the Swim Team - First Ocoee Swim</span></span><br />Have I mentioned that there's a hole in the center of power house rapid?<br /><br />I flipped in Hell Hole, which is just before power house rapid. I then took too long to set up for my roll. I rolled up on my first attempt, but went right into the center of power house rapid. I made it through the first part of the rapid, but I flipped in the bottom hole. I was chundered upside down for quite awhile. I couldn't get a good roll, so I bailed out. I picked a PERFECT spot for my first Ocoee swim since it was after the last rapid and in flat water. Perhaps I should have held out for ten more seconds and tried to roll once I was ejected out of the hole. The hole will chunder you for awhile, but it doesn't keep you.<br /><br />On Monday I also managed to get flipped in power house rapid, but but at least I WAS to the right of the center hole. I was getting tired, so it did take a couple of roll attempts to get up. But I was determined. I was NOT going to swim again.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monday - Having the River to Ourselves</span></span><br />Monday was a regular Ocoee release, but there wasn't a raft in sight. We wanted to get on the road as soon as possible, so we arrived at the put in before the water came on. When we started, we were the first kayakers on the river.<br /><br />John suggested I take a video of the river filling with water. I used my new video camera and stood on the ramp holding the same shot. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy_zvka-L7Y">Click here for the video</a>, which is sped up to 4X actual speed.<br /><br />It was a really fast run. We didn't really play anywhere, there were no rafts in our way, and smaller groups go faster. We were off the water by 11:30 am and on the road by 12 pm.<br /><br />We stopped at <a href="http://www.endlessriveradventures.com/">Endless Rivers Adventures</a> on our way back so that John could visit with the owners and buy a river knife. I picked up a nice pair of earrings for Janyne that were made by a local artist.<br /><br />We had decided to stop at <a href="http://www.asianagb.com/">Asiana Grand</a> Chinese buffet for lunch/supper (lupper?). Kayakers rave about the restaurant, but I had never been there. They had a huge selection of items and it was worth the stop (even though the scale may not agree with that).<br /><br />After that it was time to get home and hang up the gear to dry for the next paddling trip.Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-36390001957018160202010-07-26T11:49:00.017-04:002010-08-02T15:36:54.150-04:00WOO! Weekend of Ocoee<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxzWsGWPm80pmhvuwoRSedbUILhDZH3OFX_CCl05z99OwRfkvgQsQyKRZ799igcQjfe56RQda7S-YDKtGgDrwictUzEMq8DpzHuvts64rGe1sWvN15BDZ-gn1Hl_0PZkxB4yd4ufp7WCd/s1600/2072_35555_DSC_0405.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzxzWsGWPm80pmhvuwoRSedbUILhDZH3OFX_CCl05z99OwRfkvgQsQyKRZ799igcQjfe56RQda7S-YDKtGgDrwictUzEMq8DpzHuvts64rGe1sWvN15BDZ-gn1Hl_0PZkxB4yd4ufp7WCd/s320/2072_35555_DSC_0405.JPG" alt="Kevin going through double trouble rapid on the Ocoee River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498688014942819010" border="0" /></a>My kayaking friend John posted an Ocoee trip on the <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/camping/ChilhoweeCampgroundVIG.pdf">Carolina Canoe Club's</a> trip list for late July. The trip would only consist of John and I on Saturday and possibly additional people on Sunday. I had been able to get on the Ocoee three times during week of rivers and I wanted to become more familiar and comfortable with the river.<br /><br />John and I carpooled since there wouldn't be a problem running shuttle on the Ocoee with just one vehicle. The highway runs along the river, so setting shuttle is easy. There are so many paddlers around, it is not difficult or dangerous to hitch a ride.<br /><br />I picked up John after work on Friday and we were on our way. We arrived at <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/camping.shtml">Thunder Rock Campground</a> around 11 pm. When we crossed the bridge over the Ocoee to the campground, we could see in the moonlight that the river was running! Since the flume for the hydro plant is broken and under repair, TVA is trying to draw down water from the lakes behind the dams.<br /><br />The campground does not take reservations, so it's first come, first serve. Of course, every campsite was taken.<br /><br />We went to Plan B. I had printed info on some hotels in Murphy such as Hampton and Holiday Inn Express. All of the hotels were full. This exercise did, however, make me glad to have changed cell phone plans to Verizon. John's AT&T phone did not get any reception around the Ocoee.<br /><br />Now it was time for plan C, which was the <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation/camping/ChilhoweeCampgroundVIG.pdf">Chilhowee Campground</a>. This campground required us to go further down the highway and 7.3 miles up a mountain on a fire road (paved at least). However, it was a lot of switch back turns, which was rough to do in the dark after a long day. The road was paved, but not marked.<br /><br />The campground has sections A through F. We didn't want A and B since there was no need to play extra for electrical hook ups, so we started at C. All of the sites were full. D, nothing. E, nothing. F, nothing until I came to the LAST site, which I almost went past.<br /><br />I don't know what plan D would have been.<br /><br />Friday night's camping wasn't bad since it had cooled down by the time we went to bed, plus it had been a long day. Saturday night, however, was rough because it was hot until about 3:00 am.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br />Don't Call it Slap Chop Rapid</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Run Number One</span><br />When we got up Saturday morning, we discovered that John had left his food supplies at home. I offered to share mine since a Cliff bar wouldn't be enough for breakfast. We ended up going out for breakfast at a restaurant in McCaysville Georgia. I had a full spread: French toast, bacon, grits, fresh cantelope, coffee, hash browns.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7McVxfrIpEmeOkd9FEh9T0ZVodiOfxjFHNkinWOmCkxvh2yMXQ5jQS_G5pLaW7OjHrBECEgQEbJ2PYE9LLkwyFQ9NKmc4coKiWrmjunlwR__4HwP66aJN-Jg7CAhncQBDVOGzoiauuIib/s1600/Ocoee.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7McVxfrIpEmeOkd9FEh9T0ZVodiOfxjFHNkinWOmCkxvh2yMXQ5jQS_G5pLaW7OjHrBECEgQEbJ2PYE9LLkwyFQ9NKmc4coKiWrmjunlwR__4HwP66aJN-Jg7CAhncQBDVOGzoiauuIib/s320/Ocoee.jpg" alt="Ocoee River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498615279949595986" border="0" /></a><br />On the way to breakfast, we drove along the river. We could see it was really high, especially at tablesaw rapid. The Ocoee was rocking! Saturdays are scheduled upper and middle releases, so the middle usually has around 1500 cfs. We later discovered that the amount that day was closer to 2200 cfs. This was due to the fact that <span style="font-weight: bold;">everything</span> was open and releasing water.<br /><br />But where WAS everyone? Kayakers aren't morning people, but the river was running all night and it was really high. There should be lots of people to take advantage of the unusually high release! What did they know that we didn't know?!<br /><br />At the put in, John did see one kayaker take his small play boat, look at the water, then go back for a much bigger boat. At the put in we ran into Robert, another CCC member. He looked at my kayak, a Liquid Logic Lil Joe, and said "I'm glad *I* have a bigger boat". uh oh. The Lil Joe is a river runner, so it SHOULD be ok.<br /><br />After unloading gear, I drove the car to the take out. I got a ride in the back of a pickup with other paddlers.<br /><br />This was going to be my first time running the entrance rapid, with the added difficulty of a higher water flow. The water was so high, it was pouring onto the ramp you walk down from the top of the dam to the river. It looked even bigger when you were standing next to it versus scouting it from above. I was thinking of <a href="http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Beaker">Beaker</a> from the Muppets.<br /><br />The good news was, there we NO rafts on the ramp to contend with. It made starting much easier since you could get in your boat, put on your spray skirt, and go into the current without dodging rafts. In fact, we saw relatively few rafts all day, which is unusual. We encountered a conga line of rafts only a couple of times all day.<br /><br />John started first so that he could get high in the eddy and be in position in case I blew the ferry. I looked at the fast flow, swallowed hard, tried to be sure I had a good boat angle, then took off. I knew where I needed to be and I didn't mess around. You have to make a couple of ferries across the fast moving water and get to river left, or you could end up in a monster hole known as Grumpies. The water was very pushy so I didn't try to eddy out before Grumpies. When I headed down, John said to himself "Well, there he goes..."<br /><br />John gave me kudos for leading most of the way down the river that day. There are only a couple of rapids that you need to scout, and we sneak those. The rest is read and run. You just don't follow the raft lines because they purposely go into the bigger holes.<br /><br />I had six or seven combat rolls on the first run. John was very happy that I go to roll practice since I came up every time. The water was pushy and there were only the two of us most of the time, so a rescue would have been tricky. A long swim would be likely and you'd could lose gear. The eddies were also smaller and more squirly, so it made for a fast run.<br /><br />Before we got to the slice and dice rapid, John said we needed to modernize the name and call it "slap chop". John went through first and said later that he flipped and rolled. I came to the last part of the rapid and I'm sure I was airborne a bit before being flipped. I held on for a bit upside down for things to calm down, then rolled back up. The rapid must not want a new name.<br /><br />I made the required ferry to avoid double suck, but I managed to get flipped in the sneak. I banged against the rocks, so I may have put more scratches on my helmet.<br /><br />Below double suck it became a raft convention. Rafts were all over the place! They blocked the way we would normally go, so we ended up a little more river center. John went through a hole and said to himself "Oh, that wasn't good". I came into the hole, and it grabbed the back of my boat and wouldn't let me go. I paddled like mad, but it pulled me into the hole and flipped me. John could hear me saying "sh*t, sh*t, sh*t". The hole didn't keep me, so I rolled up and went on my way.<br /><br />Next was Hell's Half Mile, where you normally dodge rocks and holes. There was a lot more water, so there were no rocks, just holes and even bigger holes. It was a fun, wild wet ride. I punched through quite a few holes and was stern squirted a couple of times.<br /><br />We came up to tablesaw, and it was huge. It was a big water roller coaster where you went up on the huge waves. John said there was a displacement wave since it moved him several feet to the side.<br /><br />Hell Hole was quite big, so I only clipped it. Below Hell Hole was a wave train of large waves, guiding you more to the center of the river and into a big hole in the center of the next rapid, powerhouse. I love wave trains, so I rode them too far. I ended up in the big hole, flipped, was chundered awhile, then was let go. I rolled and went on my way.<br /><br />After doing the long flat water lake paddle at the end, we loaded up gear to do a second run. We stopped at Go Forth creek for lunch since it had shade.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Run Number Two</span><br />The water level did go down slightly for our second run. We again were lucky and didn't have to contend with rafts on the ramp at the start. I ran the entrance rapid, but this time I was a little too far out into the current. I made the ferry, but wasn't quite where I wanted to be.<br /><br />In the second run, I only had two combat rolls. The second combat roll was the important one since it was in a clutch situation. I somehow managed to flip while entering the eddy above tablesaw. I didn't have my nose plugs on, so I got a full nasal flush. I KNEW I HAD to roll, so I blew first attempt because I rushed it. I rolled up on the second attempt and could see I was already in tablesaw, but not on the correct line! John apparently was yelling something like "Run it", but I never heard it. I got to the right where I needed to be and ran it fine. But it was an "oh sh*t" moment when I rolled up and realized where I was.<br /><br />I decided not to ride the wave train this time above powerhouse, and got to the right. This kept me out of the big hole.<br /><br />After loading up gear and changing into dry clothes, we headed to dinner in Murphy. We went to <a href="http://brothersrestaurantinmurphy.com/new/">Brothers</a>, which serves up everything from steaks to pork chops. Many paddlers shun it because they can't serve alcohol (Cherokee may be a dry county), but that's not a deal breaker for me. I'm more concerned about the food. I had one of the specials: a bacon wrapped fillet, baked potato, and lemon cake for dessert.<br /><br />We made the trip back to the campground. The switch backs up the mountain are a lot easier in the daylight.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Did You Know That There's a Large Hole in the Center of Powerhouse Rapid?</span><br /><br />Paul from Atlanta joined our intrepid group on Sunday. We wanted to get on the road as soon as we could, so we met at 9 am (ungodly early for many paddlers). He came with a play boat even though we told him how big the river was. He ended up having a few rolls and one swim for the day.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5NCIa9DZj0MGy2f5gGRrGl787SiFUz1monfQlVtMS8tk-g9SUCjwiSLLY1FunDVlxAV4r6YtAPaLv4bIoTQ0ePc-7s4BtnKv9fA2iieN3Cq35dvtmsrgueF1cmbl1EEBqjagygkeCetm/s1600/OcoeeSun.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA5NCIa9DZj0MGy2f5gGRrGl787SiFUz1monfQlVtMS8tk-g9SUCjwiSLLY1FunDVlxAV4r6YtAPaLv4bIoTQ0ePc-7s4BtnKv9fA2iieN3Cq35dvtmsrgueF1cmbl1EEBqjagygkeCetm/s320/OcoeeSun.jpg" alt="Ocoee River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498614078476261634" border="0" /></a>I made it through the big waves at double trouble with no problems. But I managed to flip and roll in a hole below the rapid.<br /><br />John attempted a move called the Wautauga Move. He didn't have enough speed, so he flipped. He blew at least one, maybe two, roll attempts, then rolled up. I asked him if was adding a "swim" element to the move. He gave me a sour look, insulted that I would suggest that he would swim. Note: everyone swims at some point. It's just a matter of time. The better you get, the longer the time between swims. But it DOES happen eventually.<br /><br />In tablesaw, the waves spun me around so I ran half the rapid backwards. John said I was showing off. I turned around before I hit the rock at the bottom of the rapid.<br /><br />The eddy normally above diamond splitter wasn't really there, so I ran through diamond splitter. Paddlers weren't allowed to hang out below diamond splitter. The TVA was blasting and inserting bolts to stabilize the mountain near where the flume was damaged by a rock slide. They had nets up to try and stop rocks, but it wasn't a place you wanted to stay. I went though the next rapid and waited for John and Paul.<br /><br />We had a running joke over the weekend, which was "Hey, did you know that there's a huge hole in the center of power house rapid"? Every time we drove past the rapid on the highway, we would say that. We told Paul about the hole. And of course, he went into that hole, flipped, and rolled. We warned you Paul!<br /><br />Paul took us back to the put in and we were on our way by 1:00. Should we stop for lunch, or have a snack and go to the popular Chinese buffet in Asheville? Herbs BBQ was on the way, but were they open on Sunday? We came to <a href="http://www.ncbbqsociety.com/trail_pages/herbs_large.html">Herbs</a>, and not only were they open, they were jam packed. We were hungry, so we stopped. Herbs is listed in <a href="http://www.ourstate.com/web_exclusives/2010/july/media/100_Foods.pdf">Our State Magazine as THE place to eat in Cherokee county</a>. When we got the menus, the Sunday special included: THREE main course entrees, three sides, AND dessert. This was WAY too much food. I looked around and could see many of the regulars may have had the special too many times.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Vice Sqd?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!</span><br /><br />We drove through rain almost continuously from Asheville to Winston Salem, sometimes in downpours. There were many accidents, so traffic was bumper to bumper most of the way. We still managed somehow to make decent time.<br /><br />While sitting in the bump and grind, I noticed some really stupid vanity plates. A mini van had "vice sqd"? WTF (or Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. All weekend John was using military call signs for letters in acronyms)? "We're L8", again on a mini van. Well, so are WE!<br /><br />I had a great time on the Ocoee. Since I was comfortable running it at a high level, the normal releases shouldn't be a big deal.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kizerkevin/WeekendOfOcoeeJuly2010?feat=directlink">Click here for additional photos.</a> I didn't take very may photos since I was busy most of the time.Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-19047009289775807832010-07-12T16:20:00.017-04:002010-07-14T12:11:15.608-04:00Week of Rivers 2010 - Days 7 - 9<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtKzWB_v6vuJXvcQHRwhzIbgNnVpqH_MhOOkeqn4iQp9hdBehvpgw-kpVej-1lIV2aOJ4X8W_sZm8_gkhDtaN_LNXsnw22pmPbQXXWeyXiuwoHPokjya_zl0CpayZJzj0kz9LK7dHyyxX/s1600/P7090135.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtKzWB_v6vuJXvcQHRwhzIbgNnVpqH_MhOOkeqn4iQp9hdBehvpgw-kpVej-1lIV2aOJ4X8W_sZm8_gkhDtaN_LNXsnw22pmPbQXXWeyXiuwoHPokjya_zl0CpayZJzj0kz9LK7dHyyxX/s320/P7090135.JPG" alt="Fog over Nantahala River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493773562594443650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Nantahala - It's so Cute<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />At the 8:30 club meeting on Friday, we were introduced to Aidan and Mary, who were from New Zealand (Mary is originally from Florida, so she has an American accent). They were going to be he <a href="http://jacksonkayak.com/">Jackson Kayak</a> reps for New Zealand. They were in the US for a few weeks and were traveling around the east coast. Before coming to week of rivers, they went to the Jackson factory to pick up a couple of kayaks. They had small play boats since they had to fit inside the rental car.<br /><br />My plan was to run the <a href="http://romanticcabin.com/nc-vacation-cabin-rentals-nc-nantahala-river-map.htm">Nantahala</a> on Friday. From 6 to 8 pm Friday evening, there would be a big sale at the <a href="http://store.noc.com/">NOC store</a> and it was only open to <a href="http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/">Carolina Canoe Club</a> members. All core paddling gear was at least 20% off. I wasn't going to miss it.<br /><br />Aidan and Mary decided to join the Nantahala trip. I had room for two more kayaks and people, so they would ride with me. The trip was led by Bob, who has a teen age son Bob who would be in the group (the Bobs). There were at least 12 people in the group, which consisted of open boaters and kayakers.<br /><br />We got to the put in, and I realized that we didn't get river passes for Aidan and Mary. I explained to them that the Nantahala is the only river in the area where you have to pay for a pass. If a ranger stopped them, they needed to act innocent (and Aidan would need to use his Kiwi accent). I just assumed that by July, everyone would already HAVE a Nantahala pass. When we stopped for lunch at Ferebee Park</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><em></em></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">, park rangers came by checking passes. I have never seen rangers check! While the rangers were talking to Bob Sr., I signaled to Aidan and Mary that we needed to leave NOW. We were able to discreetly get in our boats and head out.<br /><br />When we getting ready to start at the put in, it took awhile to herd the cats. I quickly saw that this trip could end up being a fuster cluck. Bob Jr. had a habit of cutting you off and not paying attention to other people. One of the open boaters T boned me, and yelled "watch out" only a second before hitting me. And when you have a large group, people that want to play boat (like Aidan and Mary), would get very little time to do that.<br /><br />I talked to Bob Sr., and said we would peel off from the group and to not worry about us. That was a great decision since I could show Aidan and Mary many of the play spots on the river. The Nanty is a read and run class II-III river, but it is still good to know where you can make some fun moves and where the play waves are located. The only rapid we got out to scout was Nantahala Falls, but even that may not have been necessary since Aidan and Mary are very skilled boaters.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5a8505Vmgb1f6p-Jqv0taUKLxRlok3UJ4hAdU6Wo_PIsHCc3OcBIqiIXYCd9xIJ1JccfPAi6DhUbruXF9FmXONghOs-aqHBKV-Rrwb5XjXhy9BrA_J1AmBPh7-ic9kDWARpmxZlzRHUJk/s1600/P7090145.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5a8505Vmgb1f6p-Jqv0taUKLxRlok3UJ4hAdU6Wo_PIsHCc3OcBIqiIXYCd9xIJ1JccfPAi6DhUbruXF9FmXONghOs-aqHBKV-Rrwb5XjXhy9BrA_J1AmBPh7-ic9kDWARpmxZlzRHUJk/s320/P7090145.JPG" alt="Aidan play boating on the Nantahala" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493773850408730354" border="0" /></a><br />I did run the falls without being flipped, but as is usual for me, I didn't get quite close enough to the top hole and ended up in part of the bottom hole. My bow came up a bit, but I could paddle through it.<br /><br />The rest of the group we were in had passed us, so I assumed that I would have to find my own way to get back to my car at the put in. You can usually get a ride, but it gets more difficult later in the day. When we realized how late it was getting, we started moving quickly down the river. Luckily we caught up with the big group, so I could use their shuttle. Whew.<br /><br />Six of us needed to load into Ruth's Lexus SUV. Three people were crammed into the back seat and they had to sit on a plastic camp table cloth to keep water off of the leather seats (which is why I always have a lot of clean towels in my car). I had to share the front seat with Bob Sr. AND three canoe paddles, which prompted the following:<br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Me: Is that a paddle or are you happy to see me?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Bob: I am <span style="font-weight: bold;">NOT</span> happy to see you.</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I only had half a seat to sit on, so I had to put my left arm behind the driver's seat:<br /></span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Me: I'm not getting fresh.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">From the back in unison: We are WAY beyond being fresh.</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">While we were heading up to get the cars at the put in, the skies opened up and it poured. Bob dead pans "I'm glad we didn't bother getting into our DRY clothes". I said "Oh, I see you have a dry sense of humor". This elicited a groan from everyone and I expected to be let out for punning.<br /><br />I got my car and headed back to NOC. We loaded up gear in the rain, which of course stopped when we had everything loaded. We finally changed into dry clothes.<br /><br />We were all very hungry, but didn't want to go far since the NOC sale would be starting soon. We went to the <a href="http://www.noc.com/noccom/lodging-a-dining/dine-with-us/rivers-end-restaurant/">River's End restaurant</a> for dinner and had pizza and beer. I introduced Aidan to Fat Tire and <a href="http://www.highlandbrewing.com/">Highland's</a> <a href="http://www.highlandbrewing.com/beerstyles.htm">Oatmeal Porter</a> and Gaelic Ale. Highlands is a local brewery in Asheville, and all of their beers are great. Aidan discovered that there actually ARE good beers in America! Aidan and Mary paid for dinner as a thank you for me being a river guide and for shuttling them around.<br /><br />The sale at the NOC was a huge success. The place was swarming with CCC members and things were flying off of the shelves. I bought a new spray skirt since my current one leaks a bit. You want the skirt to be as tight as possible in order to be water proof and they do stretch over time. I got a small waist size, so I can't gain weight.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Middle Ocoee - Super Sized Hell Hole</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprzT3Dx2zQLDPCHB6huNLB0ilH7G1fGzYILAWSDr3Wx_jBMWZJ9Iwn5UAH1spSxV1JBZHoZusTIh6N1ddxvtDYwWQPlHqr1ifWjhHlbxVUphv4ZCNneIa8PbYEf_cXhL0iV_zlY_CZZDp/s1600/P7100152.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgprzT3Dx2zQLDPCHB6huNLB0ilH7G1fGzYILAWSDr3Wx_jBMWZJ9Iwn5UAH1spSxV1JBZHoZusTIh6N1ddxvtDYwWQPlHqr1ifWjhHlbxVUphv4ZCNneIa8PbYEf_cXhL0iV_zlY_CZZDp/s320/P7100152.JPG" alt="Broken Nose Rapid, Ocoee River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493776584618356514" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">On Saturday the upper and middle Ocoee were releasing water, so the middle would have even more water. I convinced Aidan and Mary that they HAD to run the Ocoee to experience some big water. Our friend Rick would be in our group, and he runs the middle Ocoee several times in a single day. Rick was a great guide since he was able to give great advice to Aidan and Mary. We had several flips and rolls in the group, but no one swam.<br /><br />I was very happy being in my larger river runner kayak, a Liquid Logic Lil Joe. It saved my bacon numerous times since I could punch through a lot of the holes and waves.<br /><br />The waves in Table Saw were MUCH larger. A wave towards the end essentially flung me into the eddy on the left.<br /><br />Hell Hole was huge. I was flipped and rolled, but by the time I rolled back up, I was already in the next rapid: power house. The waves there were also huge, so I flipped and rolled again. At least I was to the right and avoided the largest holes.<br /><br />We parked the take out vehicles along the highway to avoid having to do over a half mile of flat water kayaking in the lake that forms after the power house rapid. We were parked on a narrow shoulder, the river down below (I had visions of the CR-V tumbling into the river). We appreciated missing the flat water, but loading gear along a busy two lane highway was a bit tricky.<br /><br />When you drive back to the campground from the Ocoee, you drive through the Nantahala gorge and along the Nantahala river. After running the much larger Ocoee, Aidan looked at the Nantahala and proclaimed "The Nantahala is so cute". Aidan and Mary had big smiles on their faces all day, so they were very glad that they had the opportunity to run the Ocoee.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Mandolin Orange</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">The <a href="http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/">Carolina Canoe Club</a> arranged for <a href="http://www.mandolinorange.com/">Mandolin Orange</a> to perform Saturday night. Mandolin Orange is a folk duo from Carrboro North Carolina and they are incredible. Mandolin Orange normally performs at music festivals and in concert halls, so it was amazing that they came to our intimate setting under the club's tent (with no microphones, which they loved). They performed at week of rivers the previous year and were thrilled to come back. Just like the previous year, they performed many new songs for the first time. They are in the process of recording a new CD. It was funny to hear how excited they were to now have a mini van to tour around in. Saturday night after the concert would be the first time they were going to try sleeping in it.<br /><br />The club couldn't afford to pay them very much, so we passed a basket around. I put in $10 and also bought their current CD.<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heading Out</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Saturday night I loaded up all of the gear I could so that I could get on the road quickly the next morning. Since we were back to the campground late in the afternoon on Saturday, I was able to get most of the gear dry. That would make for a much more pleasant drive home!<br /><br />I set my alarm for 5:15 am, which was actually </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >before</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> the butt crack of dawn. I packed up the remaining gear and took down the tent in the dark, shaking off as much of the mountain dew I could. I was quiet, but didn't stress too much about it since some yahoos were making a racket well past 2 am (and "quiet " time is 10:00 pm).<br /><br />On my way out of the campground, I saw that Ian was also packing up. He waved as I went by.<br /><br />I made good time, and was greeted at home by Janyne and our two dogs Hannah and Emma. The funny thing is, Hannah, a 15 year old lab, knew I was home long before our 8 year old Golden Emma did.<br /><br />It was a wonderful week of paddling and getting together with paddling friends. I met/exceeded all of my goals which included:<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Become comfortable with the middle Ocoee. Since I ran it three times, I now know the important sneaks and the lines through most of the rapids.<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">Run Nantahala Falls and not get flipped in the bottom hole. I never get close enough to the top hole, which had given me a beat down in the past. So I end up in the bottom hole and flip.</span><br /></li></ul></span>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-8505852342670499002010-07-12T16:18:00.009-04:002010-07-13T23:15:41.759-04:00Week of Rivers 2010 - Days 4 - 6<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mountain Biking in Tsali</span></span><br />After three days of paddling, I took an "off" day by mountain biking in the <a href="http://www.main.nc.us/graham/hiking/tsali.html">Tsali recreation area</a>. Tsali is regularly cited as having some of the best mountain biking trails in the east. This is a bit controversial though since some people think they are overrated.<br /><br />The Tsali trails can be used as bridal trails or for cycling. There is a <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CCcQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cs.unca.edu%2Fnfsnc%2Frecreation%2Ftsali_brochure.pdf&ei=FxM9TP7zFsOB8gb4ybWIBw&usg=AFQjCNH3WuazKx3BhmJmd6_2sELIGbdEEg">schedule</a> that identifies which trails can be used for cycling on each day.<br /><br />Since it was Tuesday, I rode the Mouse Branch Loop and the Thompson Loop trails, a total of 14 miles and quite a bit of climbing. I worked my way up to the Mouse Branch Overlook, which gives you a view of Fontana Lake and Smoky Mountains National Park.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb9S0In2hZ9Xza-3ljBs6OyhD-XbvSaKp6kMeAm9lzFV59xsvpgIGm9IuH_TPGtOfA0QrnMFUeqZE_w3UgQ_LKRZLPrcxUZH1TY6brLg9UYoMWoG0kgKW4eHEqCqPgn03axyicNIG9vPY/s1600/P7060109.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb9S0In2hZ9Xza-3ljBs6OyhD-XbvSaKp6kMeAm9lzFV59xsvpgIGm9IuH_TPGtOfA0QrnMFUeqZE_w3UgQ_LKRZLPrcxUZH1TY6brLg9UYoMWoG0kgKW4eHEqCqPgn03axyicNIG9vPY/s320/P7060109.JPG" alt="Mountain bike in Tsali at the Mouse Branch overlook" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493566822952677090" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN2yN9q1Mghl_MSKG4vcUnx0uJJUvHZj8Yhq5FZktNRZrBAiSeftfzZH9ARNdMwNRMrs6yUx9HRXBeBUxrOnbKsv_NtgFKO3A_BNQNdFStlFpba4eFPP2Vt36yHl3jXA4hauJGnXRPJjAe/s1600/P7060113.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN2yN9q1Mghl_MSKG4vcUnx0uJJUvHZj8Yhq5FZktNRZrBAiSeftfzZH9ARNdMwNRMrs6yUx9HRXBeBUxrOnbKsv_NtgFKO3A_BNQNdFStlFpba4eFPP2Vt36yHl3jXA4hauJGnXRPJjAe/s320/P7060113.JPG" alt="View of Smoky Mountains and Fontana Lake from Tsali" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493580301046609986" border="0" /></a><br />The reward for all of the climbing was several miles of screaming downhill riding at the end.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTbwBSIWQElmZqZcEOjo-oOt31fCak4uj7DTclpdhL8FnAfEWHEYkit1yuVpcvAKKg9O8GqU3sW_vuwtd-9HPrKZzIEu_4NalfYacf4i9JOaSt_EfqzimJLSZIzN9Tg0brsMGkbE6xbqN/s1600/Tsali.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTbwBSIWQElmZqZcEOjo-oOt31fCak4uj7DTclpdhL8FnAfEWHEYkit1yuVpcvAKKg9O8GqU3sW_vuwtd-9HPrKZzIEu_4NalfYacf4i9JOaSt_EfqzimJLSZIzN9Tg0brsMGkbE6xbqN/s320/Tsali.jpg" alt="Tsali elevation chart" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493594380935783698" border="0" /></a><br />I headed back to camp to shower and have lunch.<br /><br />After lunch, I headed over to the <a href="http://www.noc.com/">Nantahala Outdoor Center</a>. I hung out by Nantahala Falls to watch the carnage. I enjoyed watching kayaks and rafts approach the falls and predict which ones wouldn't make it. On woman in a kayak came along and she look shaky "Oh, THIS is gonna be good". Sure enough, she went right into the top hole in the falls, flipped, didn't even try to roll, and went swimming. There are people stationed at the falls, so several ropes were thrown out for her.<br /><br />Later a two person inflatable raft, a ducky, came along. Usually you can't mess up in a ducky. Well, these two people went into the top hole sideways and got stuck. They were riding the hole for a couple of minutes. The woman on the ducky seemed more concerned about their cooler than getting out of the hole. I yelled out "PADDLE!". They eventually managed to get out without flipping.<br /><br />Later, a NOC instructor and a kayaking student came along. They stopped in truck stop eddy above the falls and stayed there for a LONG time. The student kept talking, talking, talking to the instructor, hanging onto the rocks the whole time. He looked shaky, so I figured there would be a flip. Finally the kayaking student peels out and is not on the right line and goes right into the bottom hole. However, he was in a large kayak and punched right through.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >The Dirty Bird and Boiling Cauldrons of Goodness</span><br />Wednesday's plan was to paddle the upper Pigeon. The Pigeon is the "dirty bird" since there is a paper mill upstream in Canton, which affects air and water quality. It's still a fun section to run since it has lots of play spots and a few class III rapids. It's also a very easy shuttle to set up since it runs right along I-40. It's a short run, so it's often nice to do multiple laps.<br /><br />My friend John's car broke down the previous Friday and his car was still in the shop. He needed to get a rental car since he had to go back to Raleigh to teach a class (he had a Tuesday/Friday class, which made it hard to be at week of rivers). The rental car had to be returned to the Asheville airport Wednesday afternoon. John paddled with us on the Ocoee on Monday, so we took his kayak back to the campground with us Monday night. On Wednesday I loaded his kayak on my car, drove to the Asheville airport, picked up John, and we headed to the Pigeon.<br /><br />I was not able to find a group at the campground that was planning to go to the Pigeon Saturday, so it was just John and I. At the put in I was able to arrange for a ride from the take out to the put in with counselors from a summer camp for girls in Brevard. This was a three week kayaking summer camp for girls, and this was the advanced group.<br /><br />We essentially had the river to ourselves. There were very few rafts and very few kayakers. It's much more crowded on weekends. This allowed us to do whatever we wanted and not be rushed.<br /><br />I paid to park my car at <a href="http://www.usaraft.com/pigeon-river/">USA Raft</a>, which allows you to use their showers. We planned to go out to eat in Asheville and really wanted to get the Pigeon funk off.<br /><br />John had not heard from the auto shop and hoped that his car would be ready. When we got to the shop, they said they didn't call since they knew we would be on the river. The car was not done, but would be done the next day. John really, really wanted to run the Ocoee again, so we arranged for an after hours pick up on Thursday (it's a good 2.5 hour drive from the Ocoee to Asheville).<br /><br />It was over 95 degrees outside, which is very hot for Asheville. This was still better than Raleigh, which hit 102. Janyne said it was "hotter than the surface of the sun".<br /><br />We then headed into Asheville to eat at <a href="http://www.salsas-asheville.com/">Salsas</a>, a Mexican/Caribbean restaurant. We started with Jalapeno poppers, which were incredible and very, very hot. I washed it down with a very spicy bloody Mary ("Do you want your Bloody Mary Spicy?" "yes, of course"). We were both sweating like crazy.<br /><br />My main course was a chicken/mushroom <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molcajete">molcajeta</a>. This was chicken, mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc. in a spicy, boiling chile/coconut broth. The whole thing is in a lava rock bowl, which we called a "boiling cauldron of goodness". John bought my dinner as a thank you for shuttling him and his gear all over the region.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Middle Ocoee - Unintentionally Running Double Suck </span></span><br />Thursday we headed back to the middle Ocoee. It was a scheduled release, so there would be more water than on Monday.<br /><br />We had two Ocoee first timers in our group, a father and son who were also from Apex! It turns out they live in the neighborhood right next to mine, but I have never seen them at roll practice.<br /><br />Again we put in just below Grumpies. Getting around Grumpies isn't supposed to be difficult, but if you don't do it correctly, you will have a very bad day. There was a lot of raft traffic to deal with, the rapid isn't all that interesting, and we had first timers, so skipping it was the best option.<br /><br />We were going to sneak around Double Suck again. Double Suck has an evil hole at the bottom, a hole we videoed someone getting a beat down in on Monday. The sneak isn't difficult, but you have to ferry to river center and go to the left of the big rock in the river. To the right of the rock is Double Suck.<br /><br />I was behind Dan, the dad in the father/son team. He got stuck on rocks while ferrying to the sneak. Do I try to go above him or below him? The water was pushing pretty hard, so there wasn't much time to decide. I went for below. Very. Bad. Call.<br /><br />As our friend and Ocoee addict Rick pointed out later, there really isn't an eddy by the big rock. I was pushed right into Double Suck. To make matters worse, no one else had gotten through the rapid yet, so if I swam, it could be a long swim and no one was around to gather up gear.<br /><br />I was committed. I didn't know the correct line. My "plan" was to point straight downstream and punch the holes.<br /><br />I made it though the first hole. Then I was in the evil hole. I was halfway through, then lost ALL momentum. The hole had my stern and was pulling me back into the hole. My bow was lifted out of the water. I paddled like mad and made it out. I eddied out below the rapid and I was the only one there. John then comes through the sneak and says "HOW did you get here?" I pointed to Double Suck and said "Through there".<br /><br />We came to Double Trouble and John set up his video camera again. I came into the rapid and saw how ugly the big haystack waves were. I skirted them to the right. In the video, John added chicken clucking sounds when I did that. However, it was good that I was still in my boat. Robert came next, was flipped, blew his roll, and was swimming. He had his boat and was getting into an eddy, but his paddle was being swept away. I chased after it and got it before it disappeared down the next rapid.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BoLW2rfpUJT7DOTX9hpC7Gw7RmBVJUMLWrjpgJejed37V8WyUxfpg6E6p6FxeAcEzqgRcAA1QfOLAShHHS1pgUFlouaCxWVHxyL3_bufqbIxn95B_JwXIwOTE6IEMcm84PqdE9pCRIpI/s1600/P7080119.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BoLW2rfpUJT7DOTX9hpC7Gw7RmBVJUMLWrjpgJejed37V8WyUxfpg6E6p6FxeAcEzqgRcAA1QfOLAShHHS1pgUFlouaCxWVHxyL3_bufqbIxn95B_JwXIwOTE6IEMcm84PqdE9pCRIpI/s320/P7080119.JPG" alt="kayaker on the Ocoee river" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493586931821918258" border="0" /></a>I had a very successful day on the river. I did not have a single flip all day even with running Double Suck. On the way back to Asheville, I stopped in the <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/ocoee/">white water center's</a> gift shop to buy an Ocoee T-shirt.<br /><br />I drove John and all of his gear back to the auto shop in Asheville. His car was ready, so he loaded it up and headed back to Durham so that he could teach his Friday class.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZmAG_mFnE">Click here for video taken on the trip</a>. I am at :15 and 2:03. The 2:03 segment is me running Table Saw. Note that I almost eat it at the top of the rapid.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kizerkevin/201007BestOfWeekOfRivers2010?feat=directlink"><span style="font-size:100%;">Click here for more photos.</span></a>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-62797580506257186642010-07-12T11:01:00.013-04:002010-07-12T16:25:11.725-04:00Week of Rivers 2010 - Days 1 - 3<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqf6XiuSiPd9GMlmUCwL_HjWtVicPU6qcxp-sj_3Jwvc427mD9e0xCfXcC-jPxFLQ9A6eWQqPxe1eYEHFGA37I22YXaTjzb3cffUpPXfJUC-6hqKDd8tJvFjIelAu6LH9PRFg648lmt9B/s1600/P7040063.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqf6XiuSiPd9GMlmUCwL_HjWtVicPU6qcxp-sj_3Jwvc427mD9e0xCfXcC-jPxFLQ9A6eWQqPxe1eYEHFGA37I22YXaTjzb3cffUpPXfJUC-6hqKDd8tJvFjIelAu6LH9PRFg648lmt9B/s320/P7040063.JPG" alt="Bayless Boof Rapid, Upper Green River" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493057524676070290" border="0" /></a>Every year the <a href="http://www.carolinacanoeclub.com/">Carolina Canoe Club</a> organizes Week of Rivers (WOR) for the week that includes the July 4th holiday. People come from as far away as Texas and Iowa to paddle the various rivers in the region. This year there was even a couple from New Zealand. Week of rivers is a great opportunity to try new rivers and to meet new paddling friends.<br /><br />Since I was there all week, I will post several entries.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br />Help from the Ladies</span><br /><br />I left home late in the day on Friday. It's a solid five hour drive to the <a href="http://www.smokymtnmeadows.com/">Smoky Mountain Meadows</a> campground and I wanted to have some light left to set up camp.<br /><br />Since I was going to be camping for a week, the thought of sleeping on a <a href="http://cascadedesigns.com/Therm-A-Rest">Thermarest</a> wasn't very appealing. At Target I saw an <a href="http://www.target.com/Eddie-Bauer-Queen-Size-Airbed/dp/B003EM61IQ/ref=br_1_21?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&qid=1278963719&searchView=grid5&sr=1-21&node=193658011&searchRank=pmrank&searchPage=1&rh=&searchSize=30&id=Eddie%20Bauer%20Queen%20Size%20Airbed&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin">Eddie Bauer queen sized air mattress</a> that came in it's own bag AND has a battery powered pump built it. I must have it! Janyne said it would be good to have if I injure myself again at week of rivers. Of course, it won't fit in my small two person tent. So we also got a <a href="http://bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Tent/BigHouse4">Big Agnes</a> four person tent. It is large enough to hold the mattress and all of my gear plus I can stand up in it.<br /><br />When I was driving near Sylva North Carolina (close to the campground), it started to rain. Rain was really needed since it had been so dry, but it's not fun to set up camp in the rain.<br /><br />I arrived at the campground and paid for a spot in the field for the week. Tent camping in the field was only $7 a night.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WgjuqxnIzUAfaN0xVGgke6dafovwrfsZwQgNobbmaNL9saP_IKnN-TnYcS5N17SLEmqIKgYjtdfq4zi3GCGyDkyawDUeU6BiDnj_Nf0prj3atyMnobsiiR9MtI0jDNjjyfpUku3OR85D/s1600/wor2010+009.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WgjuqxnIzUAfaN0xVGgke6dafovwrfsZwQgNobbmaNL9saP_IKnN-TnYcS5N17SLEmqIKgYjtdfq4zi3GCGyDkyawDUeU6BiDnj_Nf0prj3atyMnobsiiR9MtI0jDNjjyfpUku3OR85D/s320/wor2010+009.jpg" alt="Camp site at Smoky Mountain Meadows campground" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493056914805497554" border="0" /></a><br />It hadn't started raining yet, but the dark clouds were coming. I quickly moved into the field.<br /><br />I passed a campsite and recognized Wendy, whom I had paddled with back in April. She waved as I pulled in. I quickly tossed out the tent and started setting it up.<br /><br />Much to my surprise, Wendy and three of her lady friends (Jeorgia, Nicky, Amy) came over to help set up the tent! We had the rain fly on just as the first drops of rain started to fall. It turns out Wendy had the same exact tent, so they knew how to set it up already.<br /><br />Janyne had baked butterscotch blondies and pound cake for me to share. After I had everything unloaded, I went over to Wendy's campsite and the baked goods were well received.<br /><br />Dalton was camping next to me had seen how the ladies came out to help. "Dang, you had that up in under five minutes." I think he was jealous. Other people who had small single person tents were also jealous of my "pimped out" pad. Janyne suggested that we pimp it out even more next year by adding a cool recliner from REI.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">The Morning Routine</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span>The routine was the same every morning:<br /><ul><li>Make coffee with my Jet Boil and its French Press attachment<br /></li><li>Have breakfast</li><li>Gather up gear</li><li>Pack a lunch</li><li>Add ice to the cooler if necessary<br /></li><li>Attend the 8:30 meeting</li></ul>The 8:30 meeting is where you find out what rivers are running and what trips will be announced. A lot of times there are also unannounced private trips. If you don't find a group to join or start your own, you will be left at the campground.<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Is that Screaming Left Turn Ahead?!</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">On</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span>Saturday I was asked to join a private trip to run the Chattooga section 3.5 (parts of section 3 and 4).<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span>This was quite an honor since this group consisted of very skilled paddlers including the club's president.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span>Our group consisted of eleven people.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span>The Chattooga is designated as a wild and scenic river. Because of this, no paved roads can be within a quarter mile of the river. The put in and take out require at least a quarter mile schlep. It is a beautiful river since there is no development. The water is clear and you can see to the bottom. On our run we saw an Osprey that had a fish in its talons, and the fish was still wiggling.<br /><br />Most of us had been on this section before, but it would have been nice to know which rapids were coming up. We were in the middle of the Screaming Left Turn rapid before I realized where we were. Oh, THAT is the rock a canoe was wrapped around last year. I need to run a river several times before I memorize the landmarks and rapids.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJIzu2steLrtVbLnFEymMPvvnPqdmJXu2IycOUPtSF5SHkoHlUvXWbtUOvV7QxraNaK17OXnRCQREuH_2owFHm2KWLgeex8TJ2INVpBViPJi0Qw8VijSCG_37VaKlOWTCNLP4bTFdd9ce/s1600/P7030042.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirJIzu2steLrtVbLnFEymMPvvnPqdmJXu2IycOUPtSF5SHkoHlUvXWbtUOvV7QxraNaK17OXnRCQREuH_2owFHm2KWLgeex8TJ2INVpBViPJi0Qw8VijSCG_37VaKlOWTCNLP4bTFdd9ce/s320/P7030042.JPG" alt="Linda on Chattooga" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493075093041339330" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We came to Bull Sluice and got out to scout it. This rapid is featured in the movie "Deliverance". A couple of people in the group looked at it and decided to carry their boats around it. However, I wanted to run it. I wanted to run the boof line on the left rather than the evil looking double drop down and around decapitation rock. I came into the eddy, lined myself up, and went over the pour over of the left. I made a perfect landing at the bottom. Yee ha!<br /><br />A little later we came to what looked like an innocuous hole.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span>However, I managed to go into it sideways. It flipped me over, then it made me go vertical. My bow was sticking out of the water, but I was completely under water. I was then spun around several times, doing a pretty pirouette. Then I was upside down in the hole, rolled up, then went on my way. It looked like planned rodeo moves, but it was an "unintendo".<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span>We came to the last rapid of the day, Woodall Shoals. The middle of the rapid has a class 6 hole, but you can't see it from the top. We stayed FAR to the right and bounced over the rocks. One lady in our group who had never been on the river looked up and said "WOW, THAT is an ugly hole!". From then on we had to pick our way around rocks and holes to reach the bottom of the rapid.<br /><br />We then had our 1/4 mile carry uphill to the take out cars. Once at the take out vehicles, I offered butterscotch blondies, which were a hit.<br /><br />After loading up gear, we headed to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Paddlers go to Mexican restaurants a lot. I suppose it's because it's cheap, fast and they usually sell beer.<br /><br />On our way back to the campground, the police had a check point set up. I only had diet Coke with dinner since I was driving and because the beer selection was poor. Mexican beer? Budweiser? Blech! The license/registration were all current and we were wearing seat belts, so we were quickly waved through.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nothing But Air</span></span><br /><br />Sunday I joined a group that would paddle the Upper Green River. We had ten people in our group, including several open boaters.<br /><br />The upper Green is a class I-II with a couple of class III drops. The river goes through a beautiful gorge than has waterfalls that flow into it. You do need to know where the take out is located because if you miss it, you are in the gorge, which has class V rapids.<br /><br />The water is dam released for a hydroelectric plant, and on Sunday was only running from 7 am to 12 pm. We had to get the group moving. Lee was leading the group since he knew the river and has a key to the take out parking lot. The take out is private property and you have to pay $60/year to have a key. Lee reminded us NUMEROUS times that we needed to get moving early. The irony is that we waited for him at the meeting point for over 30 minutes.<br /><br />My friend John was with us. John's car broke down on his way up to week of rivers Friday evening. When this happened, John called Lee since Lee lives in Asheville. John was able to stay at Lee's house and they dropped off John's car at a recommended auto shop. However, this meant John had to run the Pigeon on Saturday and NOT the Chattooga, which is what he <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> wanted to run.<br /><br />The road to the put in is a hard left turn from the highway. I said it was a "screaming left turn". John gave me a sour look and said "Was THAT a Chattooga reference?!" "uh, not on purpose..."<br /><br />We set off down the river. When we came to the first big drop, Bayless Boof, we got out to scout it. You go down river left down a chute, then boof off the rock, but you must have a left angle since there is a big rock to the right. But the chute wants to point you to the right.<br /><br />John was set up below the rapid with his HD video camera. It was my turn. I went way too far to the left and got caught up on rocks. I freed myself and went into the chute and off of the pour over. I went flying into the air, landed in the water below, and hit the rock since there was a loud "CLUNK". I then did an air stroke (nothing but air), which flipped me. I then rolled up.<br /><br />Later we came to the next big drop, pinball rapid. I discovered why it is called pinball rapid. When I went, I hit the pinball rock, which bounced me against other rocks, then flipped me over. I was banged against the bottom of the river several times (there are many rocks down there) before I rolled up. Unfortunately, my upper left arm was sore after I came up and it bugged me all week. All of this is on video other than the roll at the very end.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DXoe_d04xU">Click here for video John took. I am at 1:07 and 3:52.</a><br /><br />We reached the end of the run and then faced the .6 mile carry to the take out cars. I zoomed up first since I wanted to get it over with. After I had all my gear up, I went down a couple of times to help other people in the group. We had several open boaters (white water canoes) in the group, and it's a lot easier for two people to carry up a canoe.<br /><br />That night a caterer came with BBQ. There was only one guy running it, so we stood in line for awhile. The BBQ was worth the wait and we ran him out of food. He was coming another day during week of rivers and would bring more food and help.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Comedy Canoe Club - Middle Ocoee Run Number One</span></span><br /><br />Monday we got a group to go to the Middle Ocoee. We decided to put in below the initial rapid Grumpies. This would help us avoid a lot of raft traffic at the start, plus the lines changed after a rock slide earlier in the year. Cathy and Kevin were leading the trip and promised a "vegetarian" run, which means we wouldn't have any meat. We would run the sneaks around the uglier rapids like Broken Nose and Double Suck. It also turned out that the water level was a little lower than a normal release for the middle Ocoee.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj27H0vJ0w-ReS9b0SjC4zuggEuMSDwLX1wo0uxfKVQ4kyaU9PWU2rxTr3P6fuAdlDsKN65Bn4On9IaSJg3aoQ2EAhA_zhh3GIMxGDyTOT_OxU1xFqi4OFEzlUatlcdYX5NBN4qAsVmhqv/s1600/P7050096.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj27H0vJ0w-ReS9b0SjC4zuggEuMSDwLX1wo0uxfKVQ4kyaU9PWU2rxTr3P6fuAdlDsKN65Bn4On9IaSJg3aoQ2EAhA_zhh3GIMxGDyTOT_OxU1xFqi4OFEzlUatlcdYX5NBN4qAsVmhqv/s320/P7050096.JPG" alt="Diamond Splitter rapid on the Ocoee" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493092912893209714" border="0" /></a>When we came to Broken Nose, our group got a little too close together. We had a mixed group of open boaters and kayakers, which can be a problem. Open boats are much bigger and move faster, so they can run you down.<br /><br />We got bunched up and Cathy was stuck on the rocks. I yelled out "Which WAY do I go?!" I didn't really get an answer, so I found my own way, most of which I did backwards.<br /><br />Broken nose is identified by a couple of large rocks in the river. The sneak is to stay to the left of the rocks and the rapid (and holes) is to the right.<br /><br />We came to Double Suck, which has an evil hole you want to avoid. You know you are getting close to Double Suck when you first see the water flume for the hydro plant HIGH above the left bank of the river. There is a large rock in the center of the river with plaques on it. The rock contains an endangered plant and the plaques are warnings to stay OFF the rocks.<br /><br />Most of us did the sneak, which is to stay to the left of the large rock. However, one person that joined our group on the river wanted to run it. He wasn't on the right line and went into the hole. He got a major beat down. He was window shaded, banged on the bottom of the river, and when he tried to roll, he was window shaded even faster. He bailed out of his boat and we had to rescue him and his gear. We were all thinking "whew, I'm glad that wasn't me".<br /><br />Hell's Half mile is a long section of class III boogie water where you have to avoid rocks and avoid or punch holes. I flipped and rolled once in that rapid.<br /><br />We came to Double Trouble, which is a pair of large hay stack waves. They have curlers on top that want to flip you over. John went first and setup up his video camera. Bret came first, and he's in a kayak. He hit the top wave and surfed the wave for nearly a minute. He could have been there all day,but had to clear out when the rest of our group came down the river. In the next group, all but one of the open boaters flipped and swam. Robert in a kayak was flipped and rolled. I was last and ran a perfect line. The video is funny, so we called ourselves the "comedy canoe club".<br /><br />We came up to Table Saw. The last time I ran Table Saw, I was flipped at the top and ran the entire rapid upside down and rolled up at the bottom. This time I ran it perfectly. There are lots of large waves with reactionary waves that want to flip you. You also have to deal with several large holes.<br /><br />I eddied out at the bottom and was watching other people run the rapid. I was in the open and easily seen. A raft came into the eddy really fast and slammed me into the rocks. I stayed upright by did get out a few choice words. I wrote my name on my helmet with a Sharpie, which came in handy. The raft guide said "sorry about that Kevin".<br /><br />The last rapid on the river is Power House. It has lots of rocks and munchy holes in the center and left, so you want to stay right. A raft got in my way, so I ended up going more in the center. I had to fight my way through the rocks and holes, but I made it. Later that night at dinner (MEXICAN AGAIN!), I told Bret that I was in the center. He said, "Oh, you don't want to be THERE." I replied, "Yeah, I know".<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UQkze2GaqM">Click here for video taken on the Ocoee</a>, which includes all of the carnage at Double Trouble. I am at 2:13 and 3:09.<br /><br />Later that night my friend Ian showed up for week of rivers. It was a perfectly clear, star filled night. Since there is less light pollution, you could see MANY more stars in the sky. We sat back and had a couple of malted beverages.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kizerkevin/201007BestOfWeekOfRivers2010?feat=directlink">Click here for more pictures.</a>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7299227721195880947.post-45663339785967460122010-06-14T09:57:00.027-04:002010-06-15T08:45:01.044-04:00A Weekend of Padding and Fine Food<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_iItyK1mbvvj5TW3ZQ35_87o_Tl3C4MI7F6GM25mUIL4g4Ysxhbm5k_8uW0blfNYszD7B-dh88gDXMcibbOxxRixyhpOdoad9H6JoQOxHmdRwQkTr2KEVBRGNLltsIsRY1kNy4TLew7B/s1600/French+Broad.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_iItyK1mbvvj5TW3ZQ35_87o_Tl3C4MI7F6GM25mUIL4g4Ysxhbm5k_8uW0blfNYszD7B-dh88gDXMcibbOxxRixyhpOdoad9H6JoQOxHmdRwQkTr2KEVBRGNLltsIsRY1kNy4TLew7B/s320/French+Broad.jpg" alt="French Broad River, North Carolina" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482976021499704034" border="0" /></a>A paddling friend John and I planned a weekend of paddling in the Asheville area. We really wanted to go to the Nolichucky, but it was too low. We settled on going to the Pigeon on Saturday and the French Broad on Sunday. However, we would do the entire French Broad section down to Hot Springs. John and I had only done that section once, and my run included a good beat down in the Frank Bells rapid. But I was in a bigger boat this time and should be able to punch through holes more easily (it's also more stable and has more volume).<br /><br />Our preferred campground <a href="http://www.ncrivercamping.com/">The French Broad River Campground</a> was full. In fact, they laughed when John called them and asked if they had any sites available. We ended up camping in <a href="http://www.nchotsprings.com/nc-hot-springs-resort-lodging.html">Hot Springs</a>, which is also on the French Broad. It turned out that there was a <a href="http://www.main.nc.us/bluff/">Blue Grass music festival </a>in Hot Springs on Saturday, but we didn't have a chance to see any of it.<br /><br />John and I carpooled. I picked him after work on Friday and we headed to the campground. Our friend Rick would meet us at the put in on Saturday as would other paddlers.<br /><br />We arrived at the campground just as it was getting dark. We found out that the campground did have one major flaw: the bathrooms and showers were easily a quarter mile schlep from our site. Next time, we have to be sure to get something closer! However, there were people playing blue grass music well into the night, which was nice. We didn't mind music being played after quiet time of 10 pm.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >The Dirty Bird with Water - Twice!</span><br /><br />We agreed to have everyone meet at the Pigeon put in at 11:30 am on Saturday (the release doesn't start until 12:00). There were people coming from several different places. The group consisted of: Liz from Winston Salem, Glen from Black Mountain (the only open boater in the group), Ian from Johnson City, Lee from Asheville, and Rick, John, and myself from the Triangle. Neither Ian and Liz had paddled the Pigeon before. There truly was a release and we were happy to see the water level rising. It's a lot more fun running the river when there is water.<br /><br />On the road along the river to the put in, a tree had fallen over a what we hoped was just a telephone line. The line was dangling low over the road, traffic was restricted to one lane, and there wasn't enough clearance for the rafting buses since they put rafts on top. On our second run down the river, we saw a bus with rafts on top had run into the line.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DkYS5serkFbzEj9FcIyArswf-B3fmvNn05e5eCktxDpMX658xzIlUP_3jKQLSQ_yE5WkHWiDptn7uLb8c5c8EhXali6_K6yHWKweFOjxkg-AZscY8-QNkATxZOZTqma1-dYZvP2m63_8/s1600/Raft+Bus.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DkYS5serkFbzEj9FcIyArswf-B3fmvNn05e5eCktxDpMX658xzIlUP_3jKQLSQ_yE5WkHWiDptn7uLb8c5c8EhXali6_K6yHWKweFOjxkg-AZscY8-QNkATxZOZTqma1-dYZvP2m63_8/s320/Raft+Bus.jpg" alt="Raft bus hitting overhead line" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482975287391323890" border="0" /></a><br />The only carnage on the first run was Glen in the Lost Guide rapid. John had his HD video camera and took videos of people running the major rapids on the Pigeon. I asked him how good the microphone was. On the last rapid, Accelerator,<beep> I had to brace to keep from being flipped.<br /><br />There were quite a few rafts on the river and John had his first ever run in with a raft. Rafts are called floating undercuts since they can be a hazard.<br /><br />At the take out, I offered everyone some great homemade brownies Janyne had baked. Everyone loved them. Lee pipes up "I thought you were a health nut and would try to give us granola or something." I answered "uh, no. We eat healthy, but I ride bikes and paddle so that I CAN have brownies, beer, ... ".<br /><br />John, Rick and I then did a second run on the river. The shuttle was already set for us since no one else wanted to run it a second time. The shuttle is easy and the run is pretty short, so it made sense to do it twice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Culinary Tour</span><br />Asheville is not a large city, but it is known for having many good restaurants, many of which use local ingredients. When we were setting up the trip, John had one request: "I'd really like to go to my favorite restaurant, <a href="http://www.salsasnc.com/">Salsa</a>". On kayaking trips, I don't cook dinner, so this was not a problem.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiog9DzHX_L7ALOdClccH3X9kUmAHmyl9ttX6flpEzzkfJ0O8HTbQ21ytDU8FQgdB0RiplXzqhpEIcq9qCe7QRCLrOIh4enISDEAjhm8ml6jvvvISIqY6pU_zJG57aiV3eQgJokrKo6nD2a/s1600/Kevin-Sunny.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiog9DzHX_L7ALOdClccH3X9kUmAHmyl9ttX6flpEzzkfJ0O8HTbQ21ytDU8FQgdB0RiplXzqhpEIcq9qCe7QRCLrOIh4enISDEAjhm8ml6jvvvISIqY6pU_zJG57aiV3eQgJokrKo6nD2a/s320/Kevin-Sunny.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482672379993319074" border="0" /></a>Since we had a lot of time to kill Saturday morning, we headed to <a href="http://www.sunnypointcafe.com/">Sunny Point Cafe</a> in west Asheville for breakfast. Sunny Point Cafe is rated as one of the best places for breakfast in America. We knew the restaurant was popular, so we arrived before they opened.<br /><br />I had amazing multi grain waffles with all sorts of fruit: banana, cherries, raspberries, water melon, black berries, pineapple, and strawberries with a side of chorizo sausage.<br /><br />Saturday night after paddling, John and I headed into Asheville. We were able to get a table right away at <a href="http://www.salsasnc.com/">Salsa</a>, which is unusual since there's normally a long wait.<br /><br />To start, John had a habanero margarita. I don't normally drink tequila, so I went with a mohito. As an appetizer we had chips and fire roasted tomato and chipolte peanut salsa. For dinner I had one of the specials: a pork shank with several different salsas, beans, and rice. I think there was bacon on the shank as well. Everything is better with bacon!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02kIkE40weDS4hoo5wFzTDSQTco7CHzZ_pFVFQD2Ivppjgw-nx_A3AQM1zqe06CdYHhyWHX3iZy0m1YCIKZOtaBLkc_7NxMH36Ru7BQOVv-2JokZo-M0vwpmv6TkIA5tacmQQ_pmGWZIJ/s1600/kevin-salsa.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02kIkE40weDS4hoo5wFzTDSQTco7CHzZ_pFVFQD2Ivppjgw-nx_A3AQM1zqe06CdYHhyWHX3iZy0m1YCIKZOtaBLkc_7NxMH36Ru7BQOVv-2JokZo-M0vwpmv6TkIA5tacmQQ_pmGWZIJ/s320/kevin-salsa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482679049838379266" border="0" /></a><br />Sunday morning we had a quandary: do we go to <a href="http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/">Tupelo Honey Cafe</a> or <a href="http://www.earlygirleatery.com/">Early Girl Eatery</a> for breakfast? We arrived before either restaurant opened, so we looked at the menus for both. John had me pick since he requested the other two restaurants. I settled on Tupeolo Honey Cafe, which is an award winning restaurant. The line started forming a half hour before the restaurant opened.<br /><br />The Tupelo Honey Cafe's employees wore T shirts that said "<a href="http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=thc">THC</a>" on the front. Gotta love Asheville! I had (according to John "boring") bacon, eggs, and home fries. The home fries were simply amazing. They were diced and nicely seasoned red potatoes. We also got incredible biscuits with blackberry jam. We ogled the lunch and dinner menu. Southern fried chicken BLT? I bet that's good (don't think about the calories).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Free Beer and Parking!</span></span><br />Saturday night in Asheville we parked at a parking lot that would have cost us $4. The automated system that took payments was broken (must be running Windows) and a lady was working on it. She asked what spot we were in. "5". "Don't worry about it. I'll mark it as paid when the system comes back." "Thanks!"<br /><br />After dinner at Salsa, we stopped at an Irish pub. The Bartender comes over with a pint of beer. "I made a mistake and poured the wrong beer. It's a Newcastle. I don't want to waste it. You can have it for free." John I looked at each other and shrugged. Sure, but I don't really like Newcastle. "Oh, did I say Newcastle. I meant a <a href="http://www.highlandbrewing.com/">Highland's</a> Galic Ale". I immediately picked up the pint and put it in front of me. "I have a cooler full of that in my car.".<br /><br />John and I noticed that they bar had <a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/the-bachelorette?cid=abc_ss1_bct">The Bachelorette</a> on most of the TVs! Geez, even watching paint dry (I mean World Cup soccer) would be better. However, it was like watching a train wreck. We couldn't stop looking and making snide comments. We finally had enough and I asked the bartender why they were playing such crap. "Oh, we don't pay attention to what's on the TVs". Hmm...maybe you should.<br /><br />When we got back into the car, the river funk from the wet gear hit us like a ton of bricks. "Windows DOWN!". It was a pleasant evening in the upper 70's, so it wasn't a problem riding back to the campground with windows down and moon roof open. River funk is MUCH worse than wet dog, especially Pigeon River Funk.<br /><br />The parking sports were a bit tight, so John ragged on me for my "seven point" turn. I was just glad I didn't have the bike rack on the back.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder</span></span><br />I woke up Sunday morning to the rumble of thunder. It was an hour before my alarm was set to go off, but if it did rain, it would not be fun packing camp in the rain. We already would have enough wet kayaking gear.<br /><br />I got up and started packing up my gear, which woke up John. I asked him if we should be concerned about rain "Nah, there's blue sky over there...". John made the 1/4 mile hike to the bathroom. I had all of my stuff packed except my tent. The skies opened up and it poured. Luckily I have learned to always pack my rain jacket, which I quickly put on. I grabbed everything of John's I could and threw it in the car. John then came back, soaked from this walk back from the bathroom.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kevin's Hole</span></span><br />Sunday we were paddling the French Broad, but going all the way to Hot Springs. This adds two rapids: Kayaker's Ledge and Frank Bells.<br /><br />We all met at the put in at 11 am. Our group consisted of Lee, Jim, Rick, John, and myself. Jim was from the Asheville area and responded to Lee's posting of the French Broad trip. Everyone else was on the Pigeon Saturday.<br /><br />We went down the river pretty quickly. Rick has a habit of bombing rivers and Lee needs to stop a lot to stretch his legs because his knees get sore. John was annoyed that we quickly zoomed past some of the first ledges since they have good play spots.<br /><br />The Pillow Rock rapid was quite tame since the level wasn't very high. There wasn't even much (if any) water pouring over it.<br /><br />At the Pinball Rock rapid, I think I bounced off of pinball rock. That wasn't really what I had planned. You stay to the RIGHT of the rock.<br /><br />We went past Stack House and went into Windy Flats. Windy Flats is widely despised since it's a long flat water section, can be hard to get through if the river is too low, and there's almost always a head wind. We did have a strong head wind and it started to pour rain for awhile.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJQMXx8vM4rovKzKJMm12EZKv8ltQy7qvASMlkE8DUe6-4GZgJGXROZ1z1Wey6gD4MVjLHFmw8DgV0vc9_sDlLKM-OLktGWeByZUc27fWLoGR9bWT3FESoHvzwAfEt0tHOYByCyzSM_AI/s1600/Windy+Flats.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJQMXx8vM4rovKzKJMm12EZKv8ltQy7qvASMlkE8DUe6-4GZgJGXROZ1z1Wey6gD4MVjLHFmw8DgV0vc9_sDlLKM-OLktGWeByZUc27fWLoGR9bWT3FESoHvzwAfEt0tHOYByCyzSM_AI/s320/Windy+Flats.jpg" alt="Windy Flats, French Broad River, NC" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482978835464847378" border="0" /></a><br />We got out to scout Kayaker's ledge. Lee describes it as a one trick pony. All you have to do is go down the correct line on the left and make a boof move. Lee, Rick, John, and I had no problems. Jim decided to portage around the rapid.<br /><br />We then came up to Frank Bells and got out to scout it. It was a challenge finding the place to get out. The entire bank was overgrown, and it had a lot of poison ivy. We hacked a path through the underbrush and walked down the railroad tracks that follow the river.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64BqOmqwjgXNJzRZtyeHNg-gjFY4I45_V5G1RKeE_nprp28BOlwcJ0a6D_aTW1pvotNf8Dya5NAAiQdljMUDx5UKX0SJ3XrpdGQd484hSYLms1OP8lus6dHlnLLppxHcvVRpC3RmRm-g6/s1600/Bells1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64BqOmqwjgXNJzRZtyeHNg-gjFY4I45_V5G1RKeE_nprp28BOlwcJ0a6D_aTW1pvotNf8Dya5NAAiQdljMUDx5UKX0SJ3XrpdGQd484hSYLms1OP8lus6dHlnLLppxHcvVRpC3RmRm-g6/s320/Bells1.jpg" alt="Frank Bells Rapid, French Broad River, NC" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482976493809705138" border="0" /></a><br />We scouted Fran Bell's rapid, which at higher levels is a class IV. On Sunday it was a solid class III that required you to make some moves to make it through. Lee says "Well gentlemen, that over there is Kevin's Hole. It's where he got trashed last year". HEY! Lee has already tried to name a hole on the lower Pigeon after me. I'm not sure I like this trend!<br /><br />Then the <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/double_entendre">double entendres</a> started. In kakaying, you have holes, sticky holes, you surf holes, you can ride a tongue of water (or just ride the tongue), you can play in holes. Use your imagination.<br /><br />Frank Bells consists of two parts. The first part you go over a pour over, around or through a hole, then eddy to the left. This is the easier part. When scouting, we located the landmark you use for the route. Of course, it's a lot harder to find the "pyramid rock" when you're on the water being pushed down into the rapid.<br /><br />The second part is trickier. There's a tongue of water, but at the bottom is a diagonal hole and reactionary wave you have to punch through. On the right is "Kevin's" hole and the left has a much larger, more evil hole you have to avoid at all costs.<br /><br />I came though the first part fine and eddied to the left. John and Rick went through the second part fine, and Rick was in a play boat. Then it was my turn. I eddied out into the current, aiming for the tongue. I must have clipped the edge of "my" hole because I was on my side for a bit, then was flipped. John said the look on my face was priceless when I realized I was toast. And he left the video camera in my car! I went into the bottom hole upside down, blew my first roll, but I was up fine in the second attempt. Apparently I was still in some squirrely water in my first attempt.<br /><br />Lee and Jim did the sneak on the left side of the island, which avoids the rapid.<br /><br />The last rapid on the river is a ledge called Surprise rapid. I managed to get flipped and rolled. SURPRISE!<br /><br />At the take out, more brownies were consumed. Since we were heading on the road, we didn't have any beer. Lee jokingly asked if we were going to have brownies and beer. I said that might actually work with a porter or stout.<br /><br />We all had a great time. Lee was great to have along to help scout the rapids and to give suggestions. Lee also helped us get on the road faster by taking Rick and his gear back to his car at the put in.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cell Phone</span></span><br />The previous weekend John went Paddling on the Ocoee, which is a long seven hour drive. On that road trip, the driver played an a capella song about cell phones that John thought was quirky. He described it to me and we came up with our own versions of "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqmPsFHk2EA">cell phone</a>".<br /><ul><li>James Brown: Cell phone! Good God! OW!</li><li>Blues: ba da da dum...I've got me the the cell phone blues... ba da da dum I got a text message ... it said my rent was late ... ba da da dum I get no coverage<br /></li><li>Country: (with twang) My baby done send me a text message on my cell phone.. said she was leaving me... I can't get no coverage ...<br /></li><li>Classical (to the tune of Handle's Messiah): Cell phone ! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Halle-lu-jah!<br /></li></ul>All weekend we could get each other laughing by singing a cell phone song or just saying "cell phone...text message...yeah". Throughout the trip back home, we came up with new versions if a song from my iPod inspired us. For example, we came up with a swing version when a Brian Setzer song was played.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Road Home</span></span><br />One the ride back home, John and I were both happy that we were coming from the Asheville area. A four or five hour drive is much nicer than a seven hour drive.<br /><br />John commented on how comfortable the CR-V was, so he was happy that I did the driving.<br /><br />I dropped off John and his gear (and left him some brownies) and headed home.<br /><br />I unloaded everything and hung up the wet gear to reduce the river funk. I set up the tent in the garage since it got wet. Vacuuming out the sand and dried mud from the CR-V would have to wait until the morning.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/kizerkevin/20100612PigeonAndFrenchBroad?feat=directlink">Click here for more pictures.</a><br /><br /><br /></beep>Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10519525918151246513noreply@blogger.com1