Back to the house of pain (Island Lakes).

The weekend of the 21st marked the first "return" to mini ironman. As you may recall, the first time we covered this was in the "aftermath post" seen here. The idea was to have those who participated in one of these return once per month and test the skills. We are also more than willing to welcome new members to any part of this. With true BBC tradition nothing went according to plan. The only returning members were Chris and myself. We had a new member, Brad, join us.

So what exactly is the ironman? The actual ironman, seen here, is a triathalon which includes swimming, biking and running over long distances. Our version includes the same, but not like that :) We do the swimming, only when we fall out of our kayaks or canoes. We do the running only when we can't make it up a hill and have to dismount our bikes and run it up the hill. And the biking... well this is the only way we're linked to the actual ironman, except that we do a fraction of the distance. Given the difference between the athleticism and our general health, we're about on par with those guys that compete in the actual ironman. See folks its just simple math.

Seriously though, I've gotta say how happy and impressed I am of both Brad and Chris. These two fine blokes are true river eels as they skip along the Huron river, not even breaking a sweat. I on the other hand, not so much. I pretty much get stuck on logs and tend to scrape the bottom of the river where the water is very shallow. I rely on my strength to muscle through obstacles in my way. I also tend to fall in a lot because my balance in the canoe is poor. I am getting much better. This time around I only fell in once, and technically before I deployed the canoe, so the actual trip I went without falling in once. I've had at least a dozen close calls.

The setup was great. The idea was to chain up the bikes where the canoes would end up, Riverbend. This was the first stop and it measured at approx. 1.5 hours of paddle time. Next, we would beach our kayaks and canoe, and bike back to the rental booth, which measured at approx. 4 miles. We would then load up the bikes into the truck and head home. It all went pretty well. I got my butt kicked on the water, but I was able to redeem myself on land. The best part of this whole outing was that we got oppressed by the "man."

When we first arrived to Riverbend, the gates were closed. There was a DNR ranger waiting for us there, who before even saying hello was kind enough to inform me that I was speeding. I didn't see any kind of chronograph equipment in his truck, so I guess you must develop an eye for that sort of thing once you've been in the bush for a while. Next, he wouldn't let us into the site because there was a "party" that bough the site out for some kind of family reunion. We had to explain ourselves and when he realized that we were only going to beech the kayaks and leave he's said ok. So, this is exactly what we did.

unfortunately our 4th didn't show, so we had to leave one bike behind. When we returned, one of the "party" people stopped me and said that we need to talk to the ranger again. When I approached him, he said "...I though I told this morning you that you couldn't be here..." and I had to explain myself again. This time, I didn't get a warning for speeding. I told the ranger that we're only coming back for one bike that we had to abandon. The "party" member confirmed this. He said that there was a bike chained up to a tree down by the river. I would have been out of their way in about 45 sec. But with the ranger and the party guy stopping me I ended up wasting about 5 minutes of their precious time. The ranger felt that he had to mention that those people paid "good money" for the spot, and that people have been coming into the parking lot all day. Which apparently gives him permission to be a dick to everyone he runs into.

So, we got the bikes and we left. It was an awesome day. Got some exercise in, we bonded with nature and one another and then we got some ice cream. The end.

"Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind. Can he walk at all? Or if he moves will he fall?" - Black Sabbath, Ironman

Kayaking trip to Grayling, MI

So this past weekend my friends and I decided to reinforce our sea legs. Special thanks to Brad and the rest of the Hummel family for hosting the event. As the title says, this took place in Grayling, MI. The trip was preceded by a visit to Ann Arbor, so that we could see the special screening of "A Scanner Darkly", which was a pretty decent movie.

We started the activities early Saturday afternoon, once we all woke up. Both Chris and Brad took kayaks, I had to do a canoe, because I couldn't balance in the kayak at all. Once my paddle hit the water, it was almost guaranteed that I would tip to one side or the other. On the other hand, a canoe is large and more steady for me. So you're thinking, he did better this time, since the Island Lakes fiasco , well thats not an entirely true or false statement. I did have sandals this time so there were no cuts on my feet, but I did manage to crash and overturn the canoe a bunch of times. Including this one time where the water was too deep, and jumping back in was pretty much impossible. I tried anyways, and kept tipping right back in. For those of you who don't know, when the canoe takes on water, its best to empty it. To accomplish this, you have to capsize the canoe, and lift it over your head from either end until its dry. Then you have to flip it in mid air so that it lands proper and doesn't take on any more water. Now imagine me doing this time and time again... almost an exercise in futility. On top of that, I realized that some local was watching me the whole time, so this made me mad. So, the more I failed, the more I got pissed because I knew that the guy was laughing at me. So the more mad I got, the more I fell in. In the end I had to swim behind my canoe until he was out of line of sight before I could get back in.

The main difference between the Manistee river and the Huron river (at Island Lakes) is that the Manistee is narrow and very shallow at times. There were a lot more obstacles in the way, including logs, trees, and people partying. The best part was all the pretty girls in bikinis. That almost took away the pain of embarrassment.

The plan was to go to the first stop, I think it was called the CR 612. When we all got there, we all agreed that we would go to the next stop, because everyone had plenty of steam left in them. The next stop was a rental place called Long's Canoe Livery. I forgot all about it and kept going. Brad was ahead of me the whole time, so from time to time I would ask the people in the water if they seen a guy in a kayak, wearing a blue shirt and a white baseball cap. They would answer, "yeah, you're about 10 minutes behind him." I kept hearing this, even after I passed the stop Brad took. I guess I shouldn't rely on info from folks who party on the river all day drinking beer. To them every guy who passed them was in a kayak, wearing a blue shirt and a white cap. Lucky for me the rest of the gang realized what had happened, and they packed up the kayaks and went to the next stop, Shell Haven Livery.

I was very very happy to see them, although I found out later that I was minutes away from being abandoned. I'm sure they were joking... well I hope they were, otherwise who knows where'd I end up. Just as a going away present, the river made me tip one last time before I could get out of the water, this time, my back crashing onto a rock. It hurt like hell, but I had to take it like a man, too many pretty ladies around. Despite the pain, the afternoon was awesome.

The next day we decided to hit the river once more. This time we only had time to hit the first stop. Brad ended up getting tangled up in tree stumps, loosing his glasses in the process. We tried for about an hour to find them on the bottom of the river, but no luck. We figured they got covered up by the sand or our stomping in the area. We had to get Brad out of the water and ready for pickup, when we discovered the his cell phone got water in it, despite being in a zip lock bag. So, the new plan, Chris and I were to continue along to the CR 612 stop, meet up with Brad's parents and let them know that we need to get Brad. By the time Chris and I arrived at the stop, our pickup was already waiting, and before we could load up the equipment, Brad arrived in his Jeep. He managed to get to his parent's cabin on foot.

I've come to the conclusion that no matter what I get myself into, there will be some kind of drama. From now on taking things as they come, rolling with the punches, hoping for the best. Nothing is easy, especially when you haven't done it before. This weekend coming up we're back at our old stomping grounds, Island Lakes. We're doing "surf and turf" and we're ready this time. I'm sure that if not I, someone will be hurt or stung by bees, or fall into some wolf dookie. You'll hear about it, I guarantee it. Peace.

Map of kayak / canoe trip

Total Distance: Brad and Chris: 8.33 milesMarty: 11.19 miles

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." -Christina Baldwin

Aftermath.

So here we are. Its been almost a month since the ADA Tour de Cure. For the most part, we're still doing our part to get out to Island Lakes every Saturday, and I'm still trying to recruit. We've added another dimention to our summer sport fest, canoeing and kayaking.

Two weeks ago was the first time I tried to canoe along with Brain (unofficial new member) and Chris (Overwatch). Since I was such a newbie at it, I kept falling in and basically made a fool of myself for about three hours. I also didn't think I'd need aqua shoes, so my feet were diced up beyond recognition by the jagged rocks, sticks and dead muscle shells. Those damned muscle shells were as sharp as razors. I was able to complete the trip, but in the end I was exhausted to the point of total collapse. I lay there on the grass gasping for air, muscles cramping up, sun scorching exposed flesh.

Before all of that happened (this is one of those Tarantino flash backs) it all started when Chris and I couldn't get into the same canoe. He could alone, I could alone, but as soon as we tried to get in together, the canoe would flip, sending us both to the shallow bottom of the river. At the time we didn't know that there were muscle shells on the bottom so we were messing around and laughing, but it all ended when Chris got a real deep cut on his hand, which would have probably bled him out if he went on the trip. So, he did the right thing and went back to the shore to (over)watch our gear and bikes.

Brain and I did the 3 hour river run, in 5 hours, because of my crashing. And the river banks also teased us. Every time I saw people on the shore I thought for sure that that was the end and we could finally get out of the canoes, but no Sir, not by a long shot, as one of the locals told us. When we finally got to the end Brian described me as the Pope kissing the tarmac right after landing.

So, the outlook is this. Every Saturday we bike. David (one of the regular members) is upping the ante. He wants us to go an off-road trail and the paved trail in one sitting. I'm ok with it, we'll have to see how the rest of the group feels about it. I know that Chris will be working on just getting closer to completing the entire paved trail loop, which he's making excellent progress on. I think he's up to something like 6 miles these days. One of these days we won't be counting miles, we'll be counting loops. Just like in the day Chris and I used to count blocks, now we count miles.

This weekend is another regular biking Saturday. Next weekend we're going up to Grayling, MI to do some kayaking. I think the run is three miles, so I should be all set. I've never done a kayak before, so it should be interesting. I understand that there is a backup canoe, so if for some reason the kayak doesn't work out, I'll ask if I can take the canoe out instead.

The weekend after that Grayling trip we're back at Island Lakes and we're doing 2 miles paved, 4 miles water and 2 more miles paved. Those who are up for it will be trying to throw the yellow offroad trail on top of it all for a total exhaustion experience. In the words of the Walgreens' Vulcan "...Should be good..."

One last note. I know that I said that there would be photos from the Tour de Cure, but the photo guy hasn't emailed me yet. I'm not sure what's going on, but I will contact Meagan Lewis and see if she can assist in this matter. It would be a shame to loose such a great memento and let the event go undocumented. I know that its probably on the ADA website or on some news channel, but still, I would have like to have the photo not only for myself, but also for my team mates Nicki, Matt and Ana.

*** Photo Update - I found the team photo on Flickr.com and I'm trying to get the actual print from the photographer, skysinger. Here is a link to the photo.

"The best way out is always through." -Robert Frost