View Through the Hilltop Bushes

Ain't much of a view, I'll grant you that. But the fact that I got to the top of this hill means that I grinded my way up quite a few others to get there... and back.  

300 feet of elev. looking out across the harbor to Glen Head
on the other side. [Photo looking thru a high cast iron fence.
Bet there's some good but treacherous
 mtb'ing to be found here.]

A good if not great day for a ride... Just the right temperature,  not too sunny, not too windy, no wind missed, no surf missed (to my knowledge). 

Conquered the beast hill of Longview, which seems to be a milestone in any season that is interrupted by injury — which this fall/winter/early spring was.

It is so good to be back on the bike riding after so long and back on the water SUP ing this week after 6 months absence.

Now if only the roads could get a few more potholes fixed and the road bike could come into its element. Lenny has had blowouts each of his last few rides.

On that note though, some good news, Shore Rd. completely resurfaced. Should be a great section now. The bad news, cars will be going down there even faster than they should, or realize.  

Paddle Before the Storms; Pup on a SUP - Not Yet!

Gilgo looking very inviting for some light duty SUP

  A little more planning would have been in order to catch the tide before it got too high.

  That and a set of bowels that would cooperate instead of mimicking a light case of appendicitis or an ulcer.

  By the time Z got her walk and a few chores were taken care of, the south shore was looking like a flat to turning onshore proposition. No longer worth the gas.

  Back home meanwhile, glass flat conditions ruled on the bay making for the smoothest supping I've had in a year.  I tossed up the idea of introducing Z to the boards, but the nearest viable calm place — O'Bay — was another hour and a half drive commitment and she was skittish of the giant boards, and still not ready for off-leash.

  Forecast for the unlikeliest of T-storms, suddenly loomed into reality just before ignition.

I wanted to bring Z-Dog but she is now immense for a pup.
Gonna need even more volume and space than I thought.

  I checked Radar now, and the system was motoring through PA/NJ. But the time lapse showed there was a good 40 minutes before the rain arrived. Enough time for a paddle.

  On arrival, dark clouds crowded the north skyline. This would be touch and go. Sometimes these things sputter out before they can cross the sound, but the visuals gave me confidence there was a half hour before anything got here. Turned out 40 minutes of solid paddling was possible before the first raindrops rippled the bay. And a few drops was not a bother.

 The smooth water made for double-speed gliding. The 9'6" never felt so smooth. I worked on the stroke, the transition from one hand to the next. Some high cadence paddling for wave catching, and finding the trim sweet spot. ... Dang this board has a flat nose, very little nose rocker. Memo to self; best keep it up and away from pearling next time in the waves.

  A total pleasure to paddle, despite the dark murkiness of the muddy low-tide waters. Was that an orange and red colored jellyfish ?

Hope some early birds captured this worm

  Fortunately this would be a head-dry paddle, that said, still managed to soak the 3mm/3mm wetsuit with sweat. beads of sweat formed and fell to the board's deck as I dug into each mirror smooth pull of the water. This board moves well once you get up a head of steam. Sails well too for that matter.

SUP, Surf, Wind: A Few Other Things to Leave in the Car

When it's time for that sunset SUP, at some cold and maybe not-so-pretty looking harbor, in a pesky chilly breeze, there are a few things besides the obvious — wetsuit, booties, gloves etc — that you might be glad you didn't "clean out" of the car.

Spouse's Starboard GO -- comes in handy as a 9' SUP, when you left the SUP behind.

Water, half-finished bottles of water, and metal water flask left over from that session last week ... great for washing sand off those booties before you get changed. And some supplemental drinking water.

Check -- old T-shirt left over from that last surf session. Much more comfortable to change into than office clothes. Ditto socks that you only wore one morning before changing out of before that last windsurf session.

Bar Beach Hempstead Harbor Photo < Nice photo by Nestor Designs -- SUPing by Hempstead Harbor is a very Pink Floydesque Animals Album experience, given the Power Plant's resemblance to   Battersea Power station.

Flip-flops — OK it's 48F — not exactly flip-flop weather but they are better to stand on than a parking lot full of busted mussel shells,  before slipping into a pair of comfortable warm Sanuks ... or those workshoes, to make the driving legal. Perma-towel. Doesn't matter which towel, or how good of a towel, but a towel should always be in there. Didn't want to dry off with the dog's blanket, know what I mean?

Fanny pack. This pack even has a loop to clip a key to. I have absolutely nowhere to leave a car key, tonight, in a busy municipal lot. No key pocket, no leash pocket, since I'm SUPing on a leashless Starboard GO 170.

--------
Wetsuit was insurance and warmth tonight. Had no plans on falling in (not that that's any guarantee of anything)  It's flat water give or take a wind ripple. Time to paddle.

Good going into the wind while I was fresh, but all good things come to an end. Once I reached the apex of the course, I was toast. ... but that's the beauty of downwinder back to the start ... easy sledding even though it feels you're going slower than you actually are.

Really good opportunity to work on the stroke, the torso twist to spread the workload. I'll feel it tomorrow, it's a gentle workout, but an arm blaster nevertheless

Soaked but I didn't fall in. How can that be?

That's why they call a "steamer" suit a steamer. A hint of sun, and you sweat inside the neoprene pressure cooker. I had enough insulation there for a 30F day, and 40kts wind, so I was going to get warm sooner or later.

I loved every bit of that 5/3 neoprene and titanium vest paddling into the wind. I was cold when I started, but when I made the turn at the bar beach fishing pier, I was suddenly as sweaty as a golfer on the 17th hole on an 89 degree humid day.

The girls' rowing crew passed by at not much faster of a pace — damn this is no water to fall in. Hope those kids stay dry, it's truly frigid in the bay. I know. I haven't forgotten two weeks ago, and it hasn't really warmed up that much since.

Row on, paddle on.

Uphill, Downhill Fetch a pail of wood chips

Easter Sunday end of day ride ... after a rather over the top brunch, some serious calorie burning was mandatory. 

Had not ridden in 6 months following the last neck herniation. So this was the first time back on the bike. All hills, staying as far away as possible from the potholed main roads and evening traffic in the western blinding sunset. Or at least as much as possible.

All the dog walking in the hills paid off, I was not as breathless as I'd anticipated, but plenty of work to be done to get back into shape. 

Here, looking back up the hill, a thick and smoothy bed of more wood chips on more wood chips. Way to ruin what was a great fun local MTB downhill. But still a beautiful cool, if not chilly evening to be riding anyway. 

I lick for walks, food

You gotta be grateful for what you can do, especially when you've been off the bike for six months thanks to a cervical disk herniation. I'd had a mild asthma attack an hour or two before, albuterol kicked in. And the ride opened the lungs up nicely. 

OK ... it's the dog's turn now, she's using all her wiles to wangle a walk.

Ponddoggie

Reflection continued. 

After Good Friday services, a peaceful walk with puppoochie at one of her favorite places.  The duckpond.

One passerby wanted to "eat her up" if only they knew what an all-day barrell full of energy, biting chewing, and clothing-stealing ADORABLE fiend she is. But you absolutely have to not mind being smothered in licks and kisses (fine by me), bites and scratches anywhere, anytime, dirty and wet paws, on your favorite clothes, slime, lowland gorilla body slams, whiplashing furry headbutts ... and be ready to stick your hands down her throat to pluck out whatever she got to before you had a chance to stop her vacuuming it up from the street.

People, please think before you litter.  Especially tasty stuff.

Slush Puppy to Lush Puppy — From Bay to Bedtime

Low tide on the bay, 40F, brisk wind blowing in from the south; seabirds taunting Z-dog from the rock pile in the middle of the boat channel. Pilings, remains of wrecks, mussel beds, clams buried in the the gloppy sand, and a general nautical smell. Z eagerly ventured in for her second ever dip in the bay; water temperature not a concern. 

Back home, taking a nap on the nearest,  softest surface after the chilly walk to the bay. "Lush puppy" 8 month old Z-Dog suddenly got a lot larger … and commandeered somebody's bed. 

Sailing Action Heats Up in the Cold

Roving wind photog Iggy 'Mon' captures George Pav
boosting some ferocious air. Doesn't look like the
incoming ramp the left him much alternative.  

The 51F reading and the strong noontime sun had me completely fooled. It seemed warm enough for gloveless sailing.

But the first borked jibe, followed quickly by the first gusher of icy Long Island Sound water into the gap between my wetsuit and hood, left absolutely no doubt: this was barely any better than winter sailing.

But I was overdue. And ready to pay dues. So I loaded the van for the first session of the year (following an extended physiotherapy for herniated neck discs). Above the SUP (insurance against light wind), I slotted three more boards, the Frank "Crash" Messina's old "crashed" JP FSW 109; Frank's old F2 Style 99 (not very crashed); and Chuck's old — but almost still good as new — 90L AHD 260 Power Wave, which can hang in to around 4.2.

It just didn't look strong enough for the nuke board (Open Ocean), so I left that one out. On top of the sails and booms, there was room for one passenger, and that was Robby, who brought his books to read during a peaceful, if not windblown, day at the beach.

Pete R., mid-jibe, photo by Steve Domjan.
Tobay Beach, hopefully not
too close to the wreck.

Rounding the corner at Bayville, whitecaps spread across the Sound. Dima was already on the spot pumping up an inflatable SUP, and MooStang was due to arrive in a few minutes. Upwind Mike was not far behind.

It didn't feel like 40-something degrees F out there, but after a good dunking in the still extremely frigid waters of the Sound, anything that was wet and exposed felt like it was wrapped in ice.

Somewhere in the van, under several hundred pounds of equipment, was my titanium hooded vest (which keeps *most* of the water out of the steamer suit) and a workable pair of neoprene gloves.

I wished I'd dug around harder for them, but the wind was calling, and sailing without those devices of medieval torture is usually preferable.  The first crash jibe revealed the gloveless idea to be a very flawed one. I went back and dug deeper for the buried medieval neoprene.

The jog back to the van had warmed me up, and the wrestling match to get the dakine mitts on completed the heat therapy. Back in business.

Pete ... goes to work by foot when he can.

Upwind mike was wishing he had rigged a 5.8, but hung on to an Ezzy 6.9 with all his considerable might and height, looking not unlike a racer at a PWA event. I just prayed his mast and boom would hold up to the extra torque. I've seen and heard carbon masts "explode" under extreme overload, and it ain't pretty.

The west/norwester alternately built and backed off ... and built again.

As I rigged, MooStang pulled into the lot, and the wind began to look like it was going to fade completely. Mustang knew not to take it personally, but TBH the wind was really messing with him. I switched out the stock fin in the SUP for a 10" Surfgrass. It required a rubber mallet to get that thing to shift budge and the mallet again to get the new fin in the box. [Memo to self: Order Prussian blue highspot finder & sand down the fin box a little. ]

Physio ended in February but it was still a month and a half until I was ready to do anything involving weights and the left arm. The arm was weaker due to nerve damage: my grip strength was pathetically weak and the too-tight gloves were making things a lot worse. ... but just good enough to get wet and sail a few yards out and back.

"There's thing's you can do for it," said Upwind Mike, "but just sailing a lot is the best thing."

I remembered when I used to do all kinds of wrist curls with weights wearing thick Glacier Gloves. That did help, but with the dodgy neck neck now, I have to be careful not to overdo it.

5.7 and the JP 109 ended up being just the ticket, but I was barely hanging on, all grip strength temporarily gone. At one point, resorted to the elbow-over-the-boom maneuver, just to sheet enough to hook in. Lot of catching up to do strength-wise.

SOUND SUP SAIL
I was also hoping to see how the SUP sailed, if the wind backed off at all.

I was almost praying for a lull ... one came, I took it, and was pleased to find the Fanatic Allwave has a delightfully smooth glide and jibe when under sail. Who knew?! Looking forward to trying that with some small waves. Really wish this thing had footstraps; it seems to want to plane off under power, but it's probably not built for that amount of torque.

* The NOAA Marine Forecast called for building afternoon winds. West winds are almost always transitional here, occupying an often brief and flukey window between SW and NW. But somedays, they crank all day.