Huli Drills and Head Winds

What a day of fun in the sun! Absolutely brilliant!  The only problem was the winds that we had while paddling and biking.

Paddling
So while we were paddling we had some pretty bad winds hitting us.  Made for some waves crashing into the boat and the ama bounce up out of the water frequently.  But we had a good strong crew out there and made short work of that all.  Our coach was out on an OC1 (Outrigger Canoe - 1 person) keeping us in check and making sure we were doing the drills and taking pictures of us.

Once we were almost back, coach let me try out the OC1.  And well... It didn't go very well.  I managed to huli it three or four times without getting anyplace.  The wind would pick up and just blow me over like a big sail, which causes me and the boat to flip.  It was quite comical! But also tiring to keep flipping the boat right side up and then jumping on it.  Eventually coach said he would take it back and put me back in the OC6 (thanks!) I almost had not enough energy to get into the OC6!  

My GPS said we did about 6.4 miles, but that was only until I got on the OC1, as the flipping caused it to konk out.  The device still works,  just lost signal long enough to shut down.  And during those flips I managed to cut up both feet, and remove a patch of skin and hair on my leg, which I didn't notice until I got home and showered and yelped in pain!  But a GREAT day on the water!

After that several of us went to Boondoggles and got some lunch and chatting in before myself and one of the crew went off on our biking!

Biking

So the plan was to do the same lap that I did last time I was out there.  About 20 miles around clear lake. This time I was doing it with one of my friends from the paddling club and so we set off!  Oh. Em. Gee. The head wind got us the ENTIRE route!  There were spots where I was literally, and not exaggerateingly (that is a word now, and I'm using it in Scrabble!) pedaling to not lose speed going DOWN HILL! It was brutal out there!  But we got through it!  And my friend was a trooper out there! Not only did we paddle first, but he was out at Chappel Hill yesterday putting in his MS150 training ride on those hills! His legs are going to feel it tomorrow!  Sorry Man!

But we finished it in about 1.5 hours and so it wasn't too bad for that head wind.  And we got a great full body workout in today doing both the paddle and the bike like that.  Hopefully I can wake up in the morning (ok, in 4 hours) to go swim... But it's not looking good since it's only 4 hours away! Yikes!

Enjoy!