Communities of Weirdos

I took up most of my outdoor activities for the simple enjoyment of doing them, and I still enjoy doing all of them solo; however, an unexpected benefit over the years has been that I've become part of communities of similarly obsessed people: kayak weirdos, bike weirdos, and so on. If drinking in a beer garden counts as an outdoor activity, then add my friends from Westover ;) I got to appreciate the community aspect of my activities several times this weekend.

Sunday morning was the first Lee District pool kayak rolling session of the year. When the kayakers show up at the pool in January we usually haven't seen each other in a while - group kayaking trips usually taper off after October, and right now the river is too frozen for any paddling at all (I suppose the Bay is still kayakable, but the launches may be iced in). So, the first pool session is something of a reunion of sorts with as time spent floating and catching up as rolling. This year was particularly poignant for me since it was the first time I tried any rolling since my surgery and there were lots of people cheering me on. A similar thing was true for Alison, who was back in the water after shoulder surgery. Of course, Alison's self-professed rustiness was a little different than mine - a past competitor in the Greenland kayaking championships, she was in the pool ticking off one roll variant after another (the Greenland championships include thirty-five different rolling-related moves) with balletic grace. I was thrilled to be able to do three kinds of rolls/braces (at peak I'm good for five - and only on one side).

Hey, I can still do this! (photo courtesy of Tall Tom)

The good news is that I had few problems with anything I did in the pool. My chest was mildly achy when I did chest sculls, but nothing that bothered me afterwards. My only significant concern is that on rolls where I went all the way around (+360 degrees as opposed to +180 followed by -180) I did experience a little lightheadedness (probably from the blood pressure meds I'm on these days). When I do a 360 degree roll I drive myself hard into the water to get upside down and around to the rolling setup position (a little more than the first 180 degrees) since I'm pretty light and have to overcome the buoyancy of the PFD. I hope that if I learn to slow that part down it might reduce the head rush effect I'm feeling.

It was cold enough that my kayak seat froze on the drive home

Monday morning I joined some cycling friends for breakfast at Lazy Mike's in Falls Church. While there's a cyclist breakfast meetup at Mike's every Monday, it being a holiday today's gathering served as a gathering point for a group ride. It was super cold (teens) and so several of us opted not to do the ride (35 miles or so) - but still showed up to socialize over breakfast. And so, a day after socializing with the kayak fanatics rolling in the swimming pool, I found myself having breakfast with 15 or so my favorite cyclist fanatics bundled up to the hilt for winter riding. Chemical hand-warmers. Multiple pairs of socks and gloves. Ski goggles. The other people in the restaurant probably thought, "why don't they just drive like normal people?" just as my neighbor said, "are you crazy?!" when she saw me loading my kayak in similarly cold temperatures yesterday (she assumed I was going paddling outside somewhere). Sorry, but doing crazy stuff is the nature of being part of a community of enthusiasts.

Boomer's selfie - getting ready to ride (I'm fourth from the left)

Chris' selfie during breakfast

As a coda to all of this I'll add that Saturday night we had about a dozen people over to our house for a pot luck dinner followed by what could be described as an elementary school style art session - coloring and painting. These are all friends from our synagogue (the coloring pictures were Jewish-themed), with whom we periodically do a pot-luck/activity dinner like this. Some might consider people from a "faith community" to be weirdos every bit as much as the people kayaking in a pool or biking in the freezing cold. I wouldn't necessarily disagree with them - is following Bronze Age commandments any less odd than trading suggestions on how to avoid "blue tip" (I will not explain what this is - suffice it to say it's a cold weather problem of concern to male cyclists)? The fact is, shared passions and beliefs lead to shared communities, and I'm grateful to be a member of several such communities.

St. Paddles Day

The first Thursday after the beginning of Daylight Savings Time was St. Patrick's Day. Sunlight for paddling and unseasonably warm temps - plenty of reason to raise a glass in celebration.

It's that swing time of year when dressing for the water temp means schvitzing in the boat, however dressing for the air temperature would have put me at risk had I wound up in the water. I'm reading a book written by an ocean rower, from which I've learned that while out at sea ocean rowers often row naked, particularly on the bottom, to avoid salt water rashes. I certainly wasn't ready for that. So I put on my drysuit over just a t-shirt (and pants, I was wearing pants!) as a compromise.

It was a small group: just Rob, Peter, Jen and I showed up at the marina. We were joined by Annette and a friend of hers who paddled down from Washington Canoe Club in OC-1s (outrigger racing kayaks). Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all. The group headed upriver to accommodate Annette and Pam, who ultimately needed to head in that direction to make it back to the Canoe Club. As expected, we got pretty warmed up. I wound up doing some sculling braces cool off - got my torso and the back of my head into the water, which was indeed cold. However, once the sun set it cooled off quite a bit and by the time we neared the marina I was glad for my drysuit.

After paddling we had our typical Noodles and Company dinner, then we crossed the Pentagon Row courtyard to Sine Irish Pub. The place was hopping, crammed with bleary-eyed revelers in green. In addition to the usual bar area they had set up extra keg coolers throughout the place serving green beer. Peter availed himself of this holiday-themed beverage, while the rest of us ordered Irish whiskeys. I usually don't drink after our Thursday night paddles, but the proximity of St. Paddy's Day and Purim (the one Jewish holiday when one is supposed to get drunk) was enough to convince me to deviate from my usual practice. I mean, two drinking holidays in one!

We made a toast of "Sláinte" to our good fortune for having had such a nice evening, and then we were on our way. Sometimes you don't even need a rainbow to feel you've found a pot of gold.