andy reagan only the interesting stuff

Adventures!

On Monday, May 24th (yesterday) Dan Z's friend Sam S from Brockport came up to visit, and he had told me that she's outdoorsy and asked me to think of something to do.  So, my idea was to kayak the 9 mile!  With the logistical challenge of getting back to the cars to get the kayaks after we were done, and Dan not understanding my solution of dropping off bikes, we decided to just paddle around Otisco Lake.  Luckily Sam had a kayak for Dan to use too.

When I went to leave, my brother couldn't find the keys to the Subaru with the kayak on it, so I ended up taking the valet key. And, there was no gas in the car so we had to fill up on the way.  But with all that out of the way, we were headed over to Otisco Lake Park.

Paddling experts

What really made it interesting was the wind.  It was just another super windy upstate NY day, but that also means big waves out on the lakes.  The wind was strong enough yesterday to produce white-caps all across the lake.  White caps are waves that break, like ocean waves, hence the white.

Both Dan and Sam had her kayaks that were short and wide = slow and stable.  Mine was long and narrow = fast and unstable.  I learned quickly that every ounce of speed gained by a narrow, long kayak meant an equal loss in stability.  We got about 100 feet out, and as I was shouting to Dan how to paddle...not paying attention to my own kayak, I had been spun parallel with the waves.

Imagine this...but with huge, breaking waves

As I was still shouting to Dan, a big wave hit me from the side and before I could finish the sentence I was underwater.  I used the paddle to flip right back up, but I had taken on so much water from the previous wave that I was immediately hit by another wave and back underwater.  A swing of the paddle and I was back up, but another wave before I could get a word out and I was underwater again.  It was kinda fun, but after the kayak was entirely full of water, I bailed.

A little scary knowing this thing was lurking below

With the help of Sam and Dan, I floated/swam/hung-on-to-dans-kayak back to shore, and dumped out the water.  Dan and Sam had also taken on some water, and they drained their kayaks as well.  We set out toward the spillway at the northern end of the lake, going with the wind.

Not more than a few hundred feet away, I needed to turn around a small peninsula and in the process go parallel with the waves.  And before I knew it, I was flipping over again.  The other two were a hundred or so feet ahead, and I couldn't help just laughing as they looked back to see me standing in waist-deep water next to the kayak again.  Since I could touch, I dragged it to shore, and off we went again.

Two spills early, and I had learned how to handle the kayak in rough water the hard way.  I didn't flip it again, nor did I let the boat get sideways.

Approaching the spillway, Sam was thinking about going over it.

Without a helmet, I'm glad she didn't (it's not this big though)

From there, we decided to attempt going back up the west shore.  I again needed to dump water out of the kayak, and they took off.  In my sleeker kayak though, I chased down the 200ft between in a matter of like one minute.  As we got out into the waves, I was a few feet ahead, but didn't dare looking behind me...if it threw me off balance for half a second I would be underwater with these waves.  And to maintain a line that was close to perpendicular, I had to paddle pretty hard.  And so I kept going at it, trying to stay afloat, for awhile.  By the time I'd found somewhere to pull off, I was exhausted.  I beached the boat on a nice shoreline (the first one I'd got to).  It was someone's camp, and I went to up and asked the dude up top if he minded if I hung out for a few minutes on his deck.  He was cool, and I came back down to look for my comprades.  But I couldn't see them at all.  I unloaded all the gear from my kayak, remembering that I had taken the gatorade, score!  And I explored the woods for a little while in my five fingers looking for a place to pee, and found a cool waterfall actually.

After all of this, I looked out off the dock again, and could barely make out two bobbing yellow dots...their paddles! I was glad to see them, as I worried they had given up on this shore and headed back, but they were coming.  However, they were a really long way away, into strong waves and headwind.  So I laid out, put my bright kayak where it was visible from the lake, and took a nap.  Eventually they made it in, having been worried that I flipped or something along the way.  We all took a rest, and decided how to cross the lake.  I had to take sharp angles against the waves, or would take on too much water, so my choices were to circumnavigate the whole lake, or take a diagonal across.  They were slower, but could also go straight across in their kayaks.  So, I set out to take the long way, and they went straight back to the park.

As I recall, the waves were nearly this large! (kidding)

It was a long haul, paddling hard the entire time on a long path diagonally across the lake, but I kept my sights set on a nice patch of shoreline.  Eventually I made it there, and went right onto the beach. Rest!  I needed to dump the kayak again, and set off along the east shore, with the waves and the wind.

Naturally, going with the waves should have been easier, but boy was that wrong.  I think that I was going much faster, but every time a wave hit the back of my boat, it took all of my effort to not let it spin my parallel with the wave.  Since I had some angle to the waves at my back, they kept grabbing the back and trying to spin it.  So again I fought really hard all the way back....and by the time I was approaching the park, I was exhausted.  The other two were pulling their kayaks out, and I saw Sam jump in for a swim.  By the time I rolled up they were both headed back to the cars, but I went for a good dip in the water, it felt amazing.  I'd gotten a great workout.

After we loaded the kayaks I found a dry shirt for Dan and it was off to Subway! Footlong chicken terriyaki never tasted so good.

Back at Dan's I couldn't convince Sam to come trail running with me in her matching five fingers, she had to get back to Buffalo that night. Bummer.  It wasn't until I went outside though until I realized I'd locked the valet key in the car.  Crap.  Barefoot, I jogged back home, thinking that Kyle would have found the other key by then, and I'd go back and get the car.

He hadn't found it yet though, and I accidentally threw the Zdanowskis for a loop.  They saw me leave their house, but 5 minutes later noticed my car was still there...and I wasn't answering my cell phone (it was in the car!) They thought that maybe I had been kidnapped! Eventually I called AAA to get the car unlocked, and they were supposed to give me 5min notice before they got there.  But the dude only called me when he was at their house, so I sprinted down there (barefoot!) and caught him as he was finishing up. Before I got there though, Mrs. Zdanowski came outside to see a guy breaking into my car, and still had no idea what had happened to me. The AAA dude told her that "he locked his keys in the car..." though and we were all good.

What a crazy day!! It was a lot of fun, and today my goals are: mow lawn, trail run with my new Garmin watch that should be showing up, finish my spring research summary (check!), go get the Droid Pro so I'll have a reliable cell, disc golfing with Zdan at 3, and then Quaker Steak and Lube with a bunch of ppl for dinner!

Being Home and Training

I've been home for almost two weeks now, and have actually been getting in some awesome training.  Even despite the NY weather. So I figured I would write about it.  I should be ready for the Tour de Syracuse this weekend with all the riding I've been getting in, and after initially thinking about doing only the criterium, I'm leaning toward entering the omnium (crit, RR, and TT). To make up for a lack of pix, I've included lots of links!

Monday's Ride

I got up earlier than I think I have all break to meet Anna Young, who I met at Syracuse Bicycle, to go on a ride around the Tour de Syracuse road race course.  It was raining, and there was no way I would've been going out for a ride myself.  After getting lost on the way there, and finally finding my way thanks to Droid, we ended up riding for about two hours and 35 miles.  The rain ligthened up during our ride, and still when it was raining hard, my Shower's Pass jacket kept me warm in the 50deg temps.  The ride was fun, we got lost a couple times, but managed to find the race course.  It's hilly.  After lap 1 Anna was cold, so we didn't do a second lap, but climbed Song Mt for a second time before calling it a day.

Tuesday

Again it was raining, and I was planning on going up to the Onondaga Cycling Club's Tuesday Night Time Trial that they put on every Tuesday. But with the weather, and the 40 minute drive, I didn't feel like going all the way up to North Syracuse for a 10 mile ride.

So, I went down to the park and ran for just over an hour.  I felt great running, and could've gone even longer.  Highlights of the run included showing off to the kids playing basketball by throwing one down as a I ran by, then lifting up a really little kid so he could put one in, and near the end of the run saving a gigantic snapping turtle from getting ran over!

Wednesday

After sleeping in and starting the breadmaker, I headed out for a long ride. I wasn't sure where I was going, but meandered my way over to Manlius to use the $25 gift certificate I won for Bike Loft East.  I picked up a neat little multi-tool and a couple honey stinger waffles that I've heard good things about.  Since I'd ridden close to 30 miles and forgot to bring food, the stinger waffles were delicious and fueled me home.  The guys at the shop gave me an alternate route to taking 173 all the way home, and it was a beautiful ride.

Right as I had left, it started misting, but during parts of my ride it cleared up, and by the end it was an awesome day out.  I went all the way over to route 20, probably close to 70MPH down it from Lafayette, and then was going to come back to hit Cedarvale so I didn't have to take East Seneca Turnpike.  But, I was unsure if the left turns that I saw were right, so I didn't take any of them and ended up back in the valley after all that work.  I didn't mind though, and went up the big hill out of the valley, and was going to take Cedarvale down the curves and into Marcellus, then come back up the Turnpike, but Del called me wanting to run, so I headed straight back on the turnpike.  Here's a map of the ride (from my Twitter):

"Map of my ride, 57mi! MapMyRUN: http://soc.li/iJEk3qV"

I had time to make an awesomely huge PBJ (http://t.co/SC88pl) and then Del and I went on a pretty fast run.  I didn't realize Del was such a runner, and for some reason I was going really fast in the beginning to see what he had.   Pretty sure that after my ride, I was hurting more than he was at high pace, so we relaxed and went for a friendly jog.  Here's our run: ".@ryandelguidice and I's run today: MapMyRUN: http://soc.li/w4qidrK"

Thursday

My legs definitely needed a rest, and they got  it Thursday.  I didn't do jack s***.  Although I did manage to plow through Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, mow the lawn, help my Dad take back an elliptical to Sports Authority, and get a sweet new watch out of the deal.

The book was awesome, coming recommended to me by Bill Bell, and I would highly encourage others to read it.  It's a great story.  If you're a runner or not, I can't imagine that after reading you won't want to run barefoot through the woods. Okay, maybe not barefoot, or in the woods, but "pounding the pavement" is definitely not what you'll learn running is.

New watch: we'd had the elliptical for over a month, so they gave us store credit on the return.  We used a little bit to pick up resistance bands that my dad needed and a yoga mat for me.  I'm not the impulse buyer at all, as opposed to my Dad who definitely is.  Looking at GPS watches they had there for running his strategy was "try and return" but I wanted to research more.  And I think he wanted to get me a pair of basketball shoes, but for the amount I play...the lack of tread on mine isn't that big of a deal.  Anyway, when we got home, I was super eager to research watches online to help spend his store credit.  But first, I had to knock down half of the lawn and pick my stuff up around the house.  So, after looking around online, I naturally settled on the nicest watch that Garmin makes.  It'll be awesome to run with, on trails and everywhere, and it's made to snap right on the bike too.  And Sports Authority carried it online...done deal.  Check it out:

And click on the above image for more pics and some dude's review of it.  I signed up for free two day shipping as a promo offer from ShopRunner and so hopefully it should be coming soon!

Friday (today)

It's already 11:30, but I hope to sneak in an opener workout and work on a write-up of my research from this semester, which I've been procrastinating.

Oh! Other news: I got a 3.60 on the semester!! I'm very pleased with this result, scoring an A- in Advanced Calculus, A in Numerical Analysis, a B in Number Theory, and an A- in C++.  I'm only disappointed with the C++, but eh not too bad really.  My cumulative GPA is currently a 3.64.  The real test of my entire undergraduate awaits...real analysis in the fall. And hopefully I should be hearing back about the BS/MS program soon.

Ciao!

Race for the Cure

Today I had Del, Dan K, and Sarah up early at 7AM after celebrating Del's 21st birthday at SU, so I could get back in time to run a race.  My Mom probably thought she was getting out of it when I wasn't home till 8, but as soon as I got in the door I grabbed my running clothes and a slice of toast for breakfast and we were off.

The run was at the NYS Fairgrounds, and we got there in plenty of time.  Too much time really, as we had an hour to burn before the race started and just meandered around the crowds.  There were 2000 runners, and at least twice that many walkers, not to mention spectators.  First, the wheeled entrants were off, which included our neighbor Mrs. Turner on a wheelchair with a broken foot.  Then, Julie Bohiem gave the rest of us the "go!"

Like most crazy huge charity runs, the first mile was slow with weaving through the crowds while trying to maintain a decent pace.  They line up the crowd in order of expected mile time, but that hardly works...we started pretty close to the 6 minute mile line and there were plenty people ahead of us that would have fared better at the 10 minute mile line.  Nevertheless, we came through mile 1 with a time of 8:02 which wasn't great but then kicked it up a notch.  Mom's Nike+ watch had us at or under 7min/mile for the next mile! At the second mile marker, it had thinned out, and as I had hoped we caught the 10 year old kid who flew by us in the first mile.  From there, I think we were both pretty tired and fought to run closer to 7:30 pace for the last mile.

Mom surprised me a little with a fast sprint for the finish, and the timers had her in 1 second ahead of me, at 23:44.  Not the greatest time, but we had enjoyed the run and it was good enough to put my Mom at 3rd place in her age category!

During the race I decided that I really did need a pair of running shorts, my heavy and cumbersome basketball shorts were definitely what was holding us both back.  We were already planning to go back to Syracuse Bicycle to get a new tire for Dad's bike (the one I got the day before didn't fit), and after that we went to Fleet Feet and I finally got some running shorts.  I'd like to take a sentence to say I'm sorry to hard-earned biking tan lines, as they may begin to fade after years of dedicated lining up the bike shorts with the tan line.

Back to the tire, it was really strange that it didn't fit.  I got a 26 by 1 and 1/2 inch tire, and Dad's wheel is a 26 inch wheel.  But, the tire was way too big.  As it turned out, there is a difference between 1 1/2 width and 1.5 width...the 1 1/2 is for a specific Schwinn wheel.  We got a 1.5, and I just put it on a little bit ago and we took the bike for a spin up and down the street a few times.  Once I figure a way to raise Dad's handlebars a little bit more, he'll be all set to dominate the NYS Rail Trail system.  I also attempted to get my Mom to get a road bike while we were there, to turn her into a triathlete, and she might actually get one... she's a strong swimmer already so I think she could do well in tri.

In other news, my finicky powertap which didn't work again on my 43mi ride Wednesday (http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/34061572/), was unable to be troubleshot at Syracuse Bicycle yesterday, and today I think that I may have found the problem.  A little frustrated with it, I was taking off the mount and discovered a big rip in the cable that had been hidden underneath some electrical tape, so hopefully when I get back to BBurg and try a new mount, it'll fix the problem.

As of now, I'm waiting on peeps to come over for a little bbq for Del's birthday, then we're going out downtown again to celebrate.  I've offered to DD this time, as I again will be up early, for a bicycle race this time. Registration at 8AM and the race goes off at 9AM.  Here is the race: http://www.amberations.org/pages/BR2011.shtml.  It should be fun, and I'm looking forward to it despite the fact it's going to be raining.