Like A Fish

There aren't enough hours in the day.  That is especially accurate on weekends.  Still, that doesn't stop me from trying to squeeze every second I can out of any free time I have.  Sometimes though, it catches up to me and I feelz ded.

Where am I going with this?  Out on the water of course.  Even though I'm riding more (finally), I'm also trying to spend time on the water with the kayaks.  Since we'd planned an urban ride for last Sunday we pretty much had all day Saturday to be out on the water.  So, the little lady and I loaded up our kayaks and headed north to put our little boats in Mountain Island Lake.

She was so excite about it that she almost didn't wait for me.

While it's called a "lake", it's really just a dammed river (like everything around here.)  But, it's still pretty rad to paddle around and explore.  We've been putting in at the same spot the last few times because the options for exploration are plentiful.  We took off in a different direction this time and found some big ass rocks.

And lately I've been bringing my snorkeling gear so I can explore underwater too.

Photo credit:  Little Miss Sunshine

I spent quite a bit of time in the water growing up in Florida and I missed it.  It's nice to be able to do this stuff again, even though up here in North Carolina it's quite different.  Instead of alligators poking up their heads in the water, there are rocks.

And you just can't plant your ass on an alligator and drink beer.

Buying a couple of boats turned out to be a really good idea.  I've missed being out on the water, but more importantly I enjoy the exploration aspect of it.  That's what I love about being on my bikes too, so I can say for sure that I will be making time for both of these fine hobbies.  I'll even cram as much shit as possible into my little bit of spare time so I don't have to choose one over the other.  

You know, because I'll get all the sleep I need when I'm dead.

More Time On The Water

We've had so much rain here lately that I can't stand it.  That really messes with the little bit of time that I have for bike riding, but I guess "we need it."  I just like to be outside and standing out in the rain isn't what I mean.

Luckily, I haz other things to do.  A few weeks ago, the little lady decided to get with the program and buy herself a kayak so she could join me out on the river.  She hadn't been in one in quite a while, so before we left the store we made sure that she would be okay in her new one.

We pretended that the floor was water.

  She didn't drown in the store so we figured that a trip up the river would be fine.  With all the rain we've been getting, the water was higher and moving faster, and it looks not so pretty.

Yes, we paddled up the ol' Poop River.

Yes, the water looked like shit, but it was nice.  Smelled fine, and we mostly had the place to ourselves.  That allowed the little lady some time to explore and get comfortable in her new boat.

She had a blast (and I did too.)  We paddled around for hours, only coming back in because we required a lunch.  And Little Miss Sunshine made a new friend too.  The nice fella that runs the boat ramp found out that she liked wine, and promptly returned with some homemade stuff for her.

Wine in a jar?  Man, I love North Carolina.

It was nice to have company out on the river.  Now that the little lady has her own boat though, I needed to get my ass moving on that trailer.  Remember?  Well, I had some plans and after getting my supplies, I started making my own kayak trailer.

I didn't take any other pictures during the build process.  I got to the end (where I was making sure they fit on there properly) and said, "Oh shit, I need moar photos."

Mostly finished.  I say mostly because I still have to pull it apart and treat/coat the wood parts.  Other than that, it's perfect.  They both fit on their nice, and when strapped down they won't move one little bit.

With this trailer setup, I think we may taking our adventures a little further away from "our" river.  Maybe the Lowcountry?  Florida?  Yeah, those sound like good ideas.

See y'all tomorrow since I might be on a roll with this blogging stuff.

Too Busy For Bikes

My weekend was shit.  I had some (loosely made) plans that I figured I'd have to change.  Being on call for work is not conducive to making any kind of set in stone ride plans or for doing any other kind of activities that require advance notice.

Still, I complicated things by purchasing an adult puzzle.

What?

This:

Since I'm a kayaker now, I've been spending a fair amount of time getting my shit together so I can fully enjoy being on the water.  In addition to that, the little lady will be getting a kayak soon too.  Since my boat is so big I can't carry another one on top of my gas guzzling SUV.  To make things easier I bought a little utility trailer Friday afternoon that I can modify to carry multiple boats.  The only problem was (in addition to having to customize it later) was the fact that it came in those two little boxes pictured above.

I had to put the damn thing together and decipher some pretty bad Chinese-English translations.  To fit everything in those smallish boxes, there were a lot of parts...

This was just part of one box.

Friday evening I laid out all the parts from both boxes (not all were pictured above), grabbed a frosty beverage, and got to work.  With the fear of getting the call to go to work, I hurried along.  You Tube videos I looked up said that it would take about six hours to assemble completely.

I did it in three.

Sorta.

Two hours in, the little lady came home from work.  We took a dinner break, I sent her off to bed, and went back out to the shop to continue.  One hour later (and one more beer) I was finished with the main part of it.  It was close to midnight, so my plan was to save the lights/wiring for Saturday.  I went upstairs, took a shower, and by about 1:00 a.m. I was out.

I tried to sleep in.  That didn't happen.  Early in the morning my work phone went off while I was still in bed.  I got up, let the dogs out, fed them, then hopped on the computer.  What should have been a simple issue with one of our customers turned into over nine hours of work.  I was on the phone/computer with people all day, and by the time I finished (and resolved the issue) it was too late to work on my trailer lights.  I went out to grab us some dinner, we ate, then I was in bed sorta early.

No bikes, no beers, no trailer work.  I was pissed but hey, it pays the bills.

Sunday was a new day.  I ran out to the garage and started running the wires on the trailer to see if I would need any additional parts/connectors.  Once I determined what I would need, I took off to buy a few items and get some lunch.  While I was on my way back home, the same customer from the day before called again.

Shit.

Luckily it was a very small issue, and I was able to help get them working in about five minutes (over the phone.)  Back to the house, I ran the rest of the wires for the trailer lights and tested them.

I had a working trailer!

It's 4 feet by 8 feet with 12" wheels.  It will work great for my kayaks once I put a floor on it and build a rack.  That part is easy.  If I hadn't been on call for work, I probably would've had that part done too.  For now though, I'm happy to have a little utility trailer for my kayaks, or anything else that may require a trailer.

No step here.  Beer here okay tho.

This little trailer was cheap, but it will do the job.  I saved a shitload of money by building it myself but that wasn't the best part.  I really enjoying doing things myself, so spending what amounted to an entire weekend doing this was pretty rewarding.

No bikes for me though.  I'll have to make up for lost time really soon though.

I Still Ride Bikes

Just not all the time.  Actually, let me clarify.  It isn't my whole life anymore.  Things change I guess.  Maybe so much racing in such a short amount of time did it.  Maybe it's the cycling companies with shitty marketing people that have no idea what their customers want.  Maybe it's all these consumers falling for whatever bullshit the bike companies put out there.  Maybe drifting away from my bike friends when they invite me places caused me to rethink how much I ride.

Maybe it's just me.  I'm an asshole.

Who gives shit.

I still love bikes.  And I will still ride often.  I just want to do other things too.  Like fishing.  I did that a lot down in Florida.  And I still rode bikes.  When I moved here though, bikes took over full time.  I didn't go fishing again until just a few weeks ago.  I enjoyed it.  Actually, I enjoyed the fact that I was enjoying something other than riding bikes.  Maybe I just enjoyed being alone.  I dunno.

That's probably it.  Alone is nice.  There are no people there.

I still have lots of bike friends.  We just don't hang out like we once did.  That's all my fault.  Sometimes, I just go off into my own world and don't want to be around anyone.  That's just me.

Oh, back to fishing.  When I got my fishing license a few weeks ago and dropped a line in the water for the first time in ten years, there was a reason other than the fact that I hadn't done it in a while.  Since we moved to the other side of town (and closer to the river), I'd starting thinking about getting a boat.  Then I started thinking about how much of a pain in the ass it would be to maintain a boat.  Hell, I hated having to put our motorcycles away for the winter and struggling with getting them running again.  There was no way I wanted to do the same thing with a boat.

So I started thinking about other ways to fish off shore.  Down in Florida, I always had friends with boats.  Close friends too (not the ones that you felt guilty about asking to go out with.)  Here, maybe not so much .  Plus, I wanted to go out whenever I wanted without having to ask someone.  I started looking for an alternative.  I'd done some canoeing down in the Sunshine State, but I remembered those thing being really unstable.  So, I started looking at kayaks.

I didn't know shit about kayaks.  I knew that I would eventually want to fish off of one (duh), but I had a lot to learn about what kind I needed for that (to make it fun.)  Luckily, when I don't know something, I work my ass off to learn about it.  I learned much about kayaks over the last month or so, and armed with that newfound knowledge I went out and bought one.  It's a twelve foot sit on top fishing kayak, with plenty of room for my big ass and all my shit.  I still had one problem though...

I'd never been on one before.

That didn't stop me from taking it out by myself (which the experts strongly advise against) right after I bought it.  I'd already found a place to put it in the water on the Catawba River (see, I did my homework) that was only about three miles from the house.  I put on my PFD, grabbed a paddle, and started floating away on my new little boat.

What the hell was I doing?

I was a little frightened.  I can swim just fine (I grew up on a lake), but I still had this uncontrollable fear of tipping over.  After about five minutes though, I'd figured the whole thing out.  My lifelong pal Mr. Shepherd told me how easy it was, and he wasn't kidding.  So, I drifted off toward my first solo adventure on the water...

The Catawba river is pretty cool.  The current isn't super strong, plus there are all kinds of little creeks and coves that branch off of it.  I'd looked at a map before I shoved off so I kinda knew where I was headed.  I had no idea what I would see though.

Like this houseboat out in the middle of nowhere...

It was creepy as shit too.  It looked like it had been abandoned for years.

When I showed Lunchbox that picture, he said it was probably the scene of a murder and the bodies were still on board.  I don't really doubt that one bit.

I cruised up that creek (with a paddle of course) for a good while before I turned around.  I headed back out to the open waters of the Catawba and I had the place to myself.

After that first creek, I didn't really have anywhere else specific to go.  I just wandered up and down the river, taking photos when I felt comfortable doing so.  Or when I passed under neat shit.

It was a good day.  I was out on the water for maybe an hour and a half and I had a blast.  And it was much easier than I thought it would be.  I figure that I'll take one more trip in it to get comfortable before I bring all my fishing gear.  And next time I plan to be out on the water for much longer.

And no, this piece of shit blog isn't gonna be all about kayaks from now on.  I still ride bikes and do bike stuff.  Hell, I do a lot of things.

Mostly whatever the hell I want to do.

See y'all tomorrow for Fun Friday most likely.