9/7/15
Spent the night at Jay’s house. Last night Jay and I discussed plans for the next day. Told him sticking around a day to maybe do some ‘unloaded’ local single track riding would be nice.
I think Jay regretted saying what he did; mentioning that we could go sea kayaking.
Oh, I was quick to jump on that as my only previous kayaking experience was a 1-hour rental, so sea kayaking in a straight up real kayak sounded way cool. Before too long we were out in his garage getting out equipment to see if fit me, as well as fitting in his wife’s kayak. Fit like a perfect hug I told him on all points. Good thing I lost those 25ish pounds because this would probably be a no go.
In the morning the mountains to the west were not showing favorable weather so we held up waiting to see how things developed. As the morning progressed the skies looked much better. We headed out to Twin Lakes Reservoir and by the time we got there I thought for sure it was going to be a no go due to the weather. As luck would have it, things quickly changed for the better. The sun came out and Jay and I were getting the kayaks off his truck and putting on the proper gear for a day of paddling.
Jay was very patient with me showing me how to handle the kayak along with the many different strokes to make it go forward, backward and sideways and to hopefully keep myself out of trouble. He also gave me the verbal instruction of how to get out, should I find myself sitting in the kayak upside down.
My first attempt at real kayaking.
We paddled up the reservoir about 2.5 miles when the winds really picked up. My comfort level went way down as the waves got bigger. Jay knew the conditions were getting too much for me so we headed back as we enjoyed a nice tailwind. The whole time I was concentrating hard on doing what Jay taught me to keep from going swimming. Once we made it back to the quiet channel near where we set in, Jay had me working on some of the other strokes necessary for kayaking.
Had an absolute blast today kayaking. Who would have ever thought I would be kayaking while biking the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
Thank you Jay!
