Plenty o' Peddling, Paddling, Puck, and Phun

I've been getting a nice dose of Vit D the last several days and am so excited about spring and summer. Especially, this summer....so many fun (er, phun...stick with the P theme of this post) things to look forward to.

Peddling:
That means time on my bike...FINALLY! To date, I've been a whimp and have primarily done indoor spin but this weekend I am going for my first long ride...63 miles on Saturday with the Cascade group. Gotta get ready to do the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) in 1 day (double-century) in July. Yikes, that's really just three months away? Sigh...pass the chamois buttr, load up the Gu and let's get to it.

Paddling:
OK, this I'm really excited about. I joined the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club because I just can't get enough Aloha and 'Ohana spirit! I've been paddling in a 6-person canoe which is exactly what I wanted because I wanted to get into another team sport. The timing I got right away....except when I'm out on the lake and we pass several boatloads of HOT men crew rowers...then, my timing goes all to shit because I'm so distracted as my gaze wanders over instead of focusing on the paddle in front of me to make sure my timing is in sync with my teammates. Yeah, the next several months out on Lake Union and Lake Washington are going to be fun. Though, my steerman might have to put some blinders on me so I stay focused on paddling on MY boat. Also, still working on my paddling stroke and I feel so sorry for the person in front of me. Come July/Aug when it's hotter, they will be happy to be the recipient of my errant, er, efficient (thanks Coach John!), paddling stroke. In any case....too much fun!

Second, my friend also has some Aloha spirit going north of the border. Mountain Surf Adventures (formerly Tantalus Adventures) has added Standup Paddleboard lessons & trips to their offerings. So, if you're up in the Whistler area, let me know and I can set you up on a local lake. Not only is it a different experience on a body of water, but it's also an excellent overall conditioning workout - both physically and mentally. Give it a try...no waves required. These boards are excellent on flatwater. And, once you get the hang of it and you're off paddling on your own, you can almost smell the saltwater, and hear the distant song of a native hawaiian accompanied by a ukelele (no, NOT Don Ho you crazy haoles!).

Finally, in early May, I've got a 6-day assistant sea kayak guide training course off the west coast of Vancouver Island with Evolution Guide School. I'm looking forward to it because one of the instructors was one of the guides who had accompanied me on my trip to the Great Bear Rainforest back in the summer of 2006. Kinda nervous about it but looking forward to seeing that part of Vancouver Island.

Puck:
Goes without saying. Don't want to get rusty over the summer so I'll continue to skate in the GSHL and another co-ed league but no women's hockey. So, could be a season of trouble with those crazy boys (woot!).

Phun:
Let me suggest for some fun, a couple of days out on Washington Coast at Kalaloch lodge. Right now, there are some awesome deals since its still the off-season but I think it's the best time. You might be lucky and see some grey whales migrating because they're closer to the coastline on this north-bound journey. The Kalaloch lodge and their sister lodge, Lake Quinalt Lodge, have amazing deals where if you sign up for a beach clean-up or trail maintenance in the Olympic National Park, then you get to stay for a much-reduced price. At Kalaloch - might I suggest the cozy little cabins along the bluff. Yummy. I haven't visited Lake Quinalt in years but I remember big adirondack chairs for afternoon happy hour after a day in a canoe on the lake or hiking in the lush rainforest.

Oh wait....I forgot PUTTING! Gonna make an effort to get my game back this summer now that I have a good list of golfing partners to hook up with.

So, cheers to Spring and bring on Summer! It's time. Aloha!

Fore!

That was one of the many four-letter words that passed my lips on Saturday. It was my first round of golf in more than 10 months (yikes, 10 months!) but I've been so busy with other activities that I had to let something go. Besides, lately, I've been having a love/hate relationship with this sport.....I hate the environmental impact golf courses have on the area (which is mostly negative in my mind)....but, when I played last Saturday, of the few sweet shots I had, I remembered why I enjoy playing the game.

My little brother was in town so I headed out for a round with him and his long-time friends, Morgan and Casey. We played at a course south of Tacoma located in Lacey, WA, called Hawk Prairie. It's a 36-hole golf course and we played 'The Links' which is laid out in the traditional links-style (yeah, no duh). Casey used to work there....he also has a 5-handicap and was so nice to give me directional pointers which I tried to control. But I've lost the feel of my clubs over the months so not only was my target way off, but I had no control over my distance. I would consistently hit my approach shots way off the back, or my putts would go screaming past the hole (and, those were uphill putts...LOL).

The course was fun to play and I really liked the greens because they were consistent: consistently fast, and consistently undulating. They were in great shape....not heavily walked on and torn up like the munis in the Bay Area. All-in-all, the course was fun and I heard that the other course (Woodlands) is even more enjoyable. Easy course for walking which is what I prefer anyway (surprise, surprise). Typically, it's the equivalent of a 5-mile hike with about 20-35 lbs. of gear (I'm guessing) which makes the 19th hole even more gratifying. The one thing is that the web site led me to believe that there were primarily trees around the golf course....ha, not! A lot of houses have been built up in the area so beware of those errant slices or wicked hooks. We're still not sure what Morgan hit on what I think was the 15th or 16th hole off the tee...we couldn't even figure out if it was the sound of breaking glass or metal. We didn't see any broken windows as we walked up to where our drives landed, but then again, we didn't linger around too long to figure out what exactly his ball hit. The one negative thing was the marshall at the beginning of the round. Morgan and Casey showed up about 4 minutes before we were to tee off. So, the marshall ambles over and stressed *multiple* time how we need to keep up with the group in front of us because of the big-wig Weyerhauser tournament that was coming up behind us (yeah, WHATever). After about the 4th time, I finally said 'YES, we get it' and then quickly bit my tongue before I unleashed a few more words that I knew I would regret. Ha...we never saw the group behind us except for the last couple of holes in the round. Argh, such a maddening game with so many things about it that annoy me but it gives me more fuel to play better and to keep up with "the boys." And, now with hockey out of the way, I can use that time to work on my game. I'll probably get it back in time for the rains to start coming down again in the northwest but it'll be just in time to crank it at Poipu Bay on Kauai.

Boot Camp with BBTC (Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club)

I love the internet. It's so easy to find organizations and groups around activities I love to participate in and I don't have to wait for friends to clear their calendars or get off their a**es to join me. If I want to do something, I can usually find a group to meet up with and head out. My most recent find is the BBTC (Backcountry Bicycle Trails) for time on my mountain bike. Through them, I met up with the local chapter of the Lunachix riders and on Saturday, I signed up for their Boot Camp to work on some skills. On a side note, the other thing I like about the BBTC is the work they do to maintain trails as well as advocate mountain biking in Washington to help keep trails open and accessible to riders. I have to do my part and get out there and work on some trails myself.

My instructors were Bob and Ed and the class was at St. Edward Park in Juanita where I've ridden a few times before. And, I was happy to find one of my hockey teammates, Marie, at the clinic. Our class started out in the open field working on proper body positioning for turns and getting over obstacles like logs (big, bigger, huge). Then, we hit the trails and applied (at least attempted to) the skills we worked on. We rode around the part of the park that I was familiar with and that always helps so you know when to change gears. Then, we got on the trail that connects St. Edward with Big Finn Hill which I hadn't ridden. The trail was a bit more challenging because the climbs were steeper, and they had these crazy-ass bridges that were about a foot wide with a slight bend. Needless to say, the first bridge took me by surprise and BAM, hello ground. Bob came back and after I dusted myself off, he told me to do-it-over. I headed back up the hill but now I'm all freaked out in my head and waaay more tentative than I should be. I got on the bridge, and then saw the slight bend, and CRASH....hello log. I was really getting in touch with Ma Nature today. Bob wanted me to do-it-over again, but I looked at him like he was crazy. I just got back on my bike and continued on the trail....haha. Well, Bob wasn't done challenging us. He took us to a part of the trail called the 'Elevator Shaft.' I remember looking at Marie thinking "WTF?" Uh, yeah....it was steep on both sides. I didn't make it...but now I have new challenges in that area to work on - that damn bridge and that gully.

Next on my list is to try and find some time to get my golf game back (found another group online to join up with and start tracking my handicap again) so maybe I can head down to Bend, OR (Sunriver, Woodlands/aka North course - one of my most absolute favorite places to play) or even further south to Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast. There's also so many other new courses that have sprung up including the one by my parents' house - Chambers Bay which is a links style course and the site of the 2015 U.S. Open (and the first course in the Pacific Northwest to get the Audubon International certification for its environmental discipline). Summertime....sigh, *so much* to do! Thank goodness the sun doesn't set until close to 10:00 pm. Toodles!