Paddling Again

 Not cycling, but HUMAN-POWERED! 

AT the end of June, I got it in my head to get out paddling again and ordered myself a WIKE Kayak Cart and actually went out for a paddle! I had such fun, that Amanda decided we should order a second cart! It arrived within a week... and then it took us until the end of the month to actually get out paddling! 

We did have a great day though and have a number of other dates written on the calendar throughout August. Amanda was so excited, she's actually talking about doing an overnight trip later in August or September!? We shall see... 

Heading out through the alley. We rarely ever access the alley - almost always go out the front - but right now the front is almost inaccessible due to fences they've put up around the street for road work... 

Through the park. 

On the water. 

We headed upstream towards the South Bridge - much like my last excursion. 

Right off we were passed by The Prairie Lily - a river boat that does tours up and down the river - and creating big wakes.... 

Shortly after that there was a steady stream of jet skis - at least four groups of 3-4 vehicles. 

sometimes they sort of slow down when passing... 

But still create substantial wakes. 

Not as huge of a pain in the ass for us as I imagine it was for the dozens of SUP boarders and rowers and racing canoes and kayaks that were all out on the river training!

The water is so low and there are so many large sandbars in the middle of the river that there are relatively narrow passages through some sections - narrow enough that not only do you get hit by the wake of motor powered boats - but you also get his by the wakes rebouding off the shores and sandbars that go back and forth for a bit. 

If it had kept up, I probably would have called it a day and headed back... but then after about 10 minutes, we didn't see any more jet skis for the rest of the trip!? 

Heron on the shore in the shade. 

Heron flying away past another Kayaker. 

So many Stand-Up Paddle-Boards out on the river - like dozens of them! Though not everyone was standing up on them - lots of kneeling and sitting paddlers too. 

Like most olympic competitions, it seemed like the required uniforms for any women on a Stand Up Paddle Board was a bikini? Seriously - EVERY SINGLE ONE. 

Getting closer to the South Bridges. 

We stopped on a sandbar just short of them. Amanda was very, VERY tired. 

But not too tired to demonstrate some yoga stretches... or... something like that...? 

Heading home - so many gulls! 

Heading out we had a bit of a wind at our back - helping to push us up stream.  By the time we were heading back the wind had almost entirely died down. We could have floated all the way home. 

Downtown looking a long way off. 

Ducks and baby duck. 

More Ducks.

Downtown getting a bit closer. 

Back at the public dock. 

And hauling the Kayaks back home. 

Amanda's arms were so tired, I had to haul the two of them up the hill 

But from the top of the hill she hauled it the rest of the way home. 

Dodging roadwork and back into the alley behind our house. 

Amanda Takes the Yuba

When we first bought the Yuba it was understood that it was to be a "shared" bike - one that both Amanda and I could make use of. Because I am largely in charge of food shopping and hauling kids to their various assorted activities (and am the only one with leg strength to haul the yuba around with kids on it!) I'm pretty much the only one that's made use of it... It's essentially became my go-to-get-around bike for the last EIGHT YEARS!? Amanda has very rarely made use of it. I don't think she's been on it for years.

This weekend, however, she was attending a restorative yoga class that required the participants to bring a LOT of props - blocks, pillows, bolsters, mats, etc... and she started wondering how she was going to get it all there! I then remineded her that we DID have cargo bike... which she HAD used in the past... and that since it has been melting I woudln't be needing it to haul kids anywhere that day as they can get themselves around just fine in this nice weather...



So she loaded it up...



...and off she rolled.

That's a whole lot of yoga props! Being mostly pillows, I think it was a fairly light load - y'know, compared to what I usually haul on it - just BULKY.

I wonder if I'm going to have to share the Big Fat Dummy...? I mean, it'll have MY NAME on it!

Bike Yoga

Amanda got me up early to take some pictures of her doing yoga over at the Skate Park... something about a contest at Ground Yoga...? ‘The Most Creative Place You’ve Done Yoga’...? You can go there and vote for her (when she gets around to submitting a picture... which, I think, has to be today...).

Here's a few of the many, many pics I took of our early morning hijinks... 

6am... pretty early... I had originally planned on going for a road ride and Amanda had figured it would be too busy by the time I got back. There's some sort of festival going on in the park this weekend and they were partying late last night and I didn't get so much sleep, so I abandoned the idea of a road ride... I should have gone... I was up anyway... 

So... how to do yoga... on a BMX...?

If only she did a bit more flatland, she could have done this while the bike was rolling... 

Hmmmm... maybe ON the bike really isn't working out...

BESIDE the bike? 

Pre-ride stretches...? 

I'm not sure what this was supposed to be... 

Ummmm... 

Ride around and think about it... 

I'm not sure what this look was all about... 

The key to not being eaten alive by mosquitos at 6am (after a few rainy weeks) is to keep moving... 

moving... 

and just to show off (and prove she can still ride)... 

Into the bowl... 

and back out again...! I don't know if it was the early morning light... or if she was just going too damn fast... but I just could not get a decent photo like this (despite her doing it three or four times...) 

Kidical Mass ride next weekend...