Blog

Sunday, May 3: Man, I slept like a corpse last night - just dead tired from my first day of X/Duathlon/cycling/mental beat-down. And heck, the fun’s just begun! Was so tired that I didn’t do blog last night so I was up at 6 AM and did some coaching work, then finished the blog. By the time we ate breakfast and drove back to yesterday’s end it was 10 AM. 


Now what I’d though would be a hike-a-bike turned out to be a bike. This I’d figured yesterday on the hike-a-bike when most of the sides of this ditch were kind of like double track. And with that big Terex earthmover of a 29er I’m riding, it looked like a piece of cake. Well, I was right, and once I got on this thing I was cruising over the track with zero problem. Now I did come to this V where two ditches converged into one, with me trapped in the middle with only two options: ford one of the ditches, which by this time were 4 foot deep streams about 10 feet wide….or go all the way back to the start on get on the outside of the V. I chose the second option. Now I did have a stupid thought for a quick second about filming myself fording one of those ditches, but then common sense crept in and I just doubled back and took the dry road. 


I was riding through State forest land, and these ditches are irrigation ditches that turn into a big stream further west, and the difference between the ditches from yesterday, to today, in the span of 6-10 miles is huge. Yesterday they were X-able up to about knee deep. Today - waist deep and twice as wide. Made it to Judy in less than an hour for the next phase - paddling. But the problem was that I had nowhere to put in - other than to trespass on someones property to get a good area that was wide open. So we kicked it around for a while, even going in the van to scout the area for me so that maybe I could  do another bike along the ditch, as I just had completed. So we did this quick little recon mission and came up with……nothing. 


So with that said, and clean dbl track on the south side of the ditch, we decided for me not to put in what with all the tree, weeds, roots, rocks and rose thorns we’d have to drag the boat through, and I would instead take a chance on that dbl track continuing all the way to the Nanticoke River, which I would then put in at a good spot and continue through Seaford. So Judy dropped me off and continued to the Nanticoke. As luck would have it I road app. 2 hundred yards down the dbl track, around a bend….and it freaking ended ….in a tangle of brambles, soggy swamp and thick brush and trees. Blindsided big time! Well, rather than do the “ET phone home” routine with Judy I decided to do a recon on the fly mission. So I went back up to the bridge we’d parked at, and then road this gravel berm for about 100 yrds to where there was a State Forest sign, a parking area, and what looked like some dbl track that paralleled the ditch. 


So I took it, and it was nice gravel dbl track for about a mile, and then I ran into this chick walking her dogs. Asked her about the trails and if they went all the way to the Nanticoke. She said they didn’t go that far, BUT they did go at least half way, but not next to the ditch. She give me directions as to rights and lefts onto the maze of trails and I was off. Now not long after, the trail really deteriorated  into this piney old logging trail filled with tons of small deadfall. But it was ridable, so I just kept rolling. I mean I was front and rear bunny hopping about every 50 ft down the trail. Finally made it up to this asphalt road about 3 miles from the Nanicoke. Go on this really loamy, sandy berm and took that all the way to where Judy was parked - at a damn at the upper reaches of the river. I guess I was pretty lucky to have winged it and then have it work. 


Reparked the van and we finally got the canoe out for my reverse portage into downtown Seaford. Thanks to Johnny Mac for suggesting a solo canoe instead of a packraft. You see I want to actually have a bike with me for every portion of this trip, so while hiking I carry a foldable bike in a pack, and while canoeing I carry the foldable bike in the bow of the boat in the hiking pack. Hey, I created the rules, so this insanity rests totally on me! Anyway, John though I’d need a canoe with more floor room and stability than a packraft. And he was dead on. I works just perfect. He also lent me his fiberglass kayaking paddle - perfect. 


Well, it took us a good 40 min just to get the canoe unlocked and off the van and down at riverside, then another 15 min to get the gear inside. So this transition thing from bike to canoe is very time consumptive. By this time we’re talking like 1:15 PM, and the temp was in the 80’s with the sun just blazing - just NOT used to such heat yet. I mean we went from 40’s and 50’s back in O-hi to the 80’s out here. It’s crazy. Got it rolling on some damn flat water, which was amazingly shallow. I was stunned with how shallow some of the sections of the river were. I mean this this is about a quarter mile wide and there were some sections that I could wade knee deep in. Now it did have channels in it - OR - maybe it’s affected by the Chesapeake tidal current, I don’t know, but wow I was concerned I’d hit some lunkers along the way. What’s more I had to be very vigilant about looking for the little telltale signs of the lunker - the rippling of water on the surface - indicating something VERY close to the surface. 


The first 30 min were pretty cool…until my hands started to develop some blistering between the thumbs and index fingers. Then my obliques began to get sore with all the side to side pulling of the paddle. Then the ass got sore, then the legs, and on and on and on. Man, what a whimp I am! Just not paddle hardened like I’m bike hardened I guess. Next paddle I’m definitely putting a cushion on the seat. I was getting into all sorts of contortions along the way trying to stretch out the legs, arms and glutes. Made the 5 mile paddle in about 1:15 hrs - all downstream. By the time I met up with Judy in downtown Seaford the sun was just torrid. I mean I had sweat just rolling down my face as we lashed the canoe back down on top of the van. 


By the time we got done the clock was at 3:15 PM - nearly 2 full hrs of unlashing, moving, relashing the canoe. Next up was a gnarly old RR section that I had to tripple check so as to not go on the wrong way on several sets of rails. Did make the right call and got on these old puppies that were Awesome compared to the crapfest I’d ridden yesterday. These guys had a good matrix between ties, rather than the dead air that I experienced yesterday. Still had some pretty sore hands from all the jostling. It’s like riding on corrugated steel roofing actually. You get this rhythm going. Anyway, made much better time, today averaging maybe like 7-8 mph. Yea, that felt FAST compared to yesterday. Rode for about 1:15 hrs and then called it a day in this little town that’s not really even a town - it’s like 2 farmhouses. Ended up logging like 6 hrs today when all was said and done.


Sooooooo….I’m way behind schedule - like a 2 days at this point. I want to make Cambridge tomorrow. And to think I was believing that I’d do yesterday, today, and tomorrow - in a day? Are you kidding me? I had to be nipping the bourbon bottle when I came up with that schedule! What’s more I found out that I cannot get my sailboat across the Chesapeake until Wed. So again, I’m another day behind on top of that. Bad thing was that Judy was planning a day with my cousin Sue while I would be on the boat for the projected 8-12 hr ride. So that’s out the door. Could be we’ll just have to chill in Cambridge for a day - Tuesday - then have me do the sail on Wed, and then get it rolling on the east side of the Chesapeake on Thursday. This means I won’t make the Potomac until mid to late Thursday. Oh well, it is what it is. That’s part and parcel of doing something as goofy as this. 


Well, I think it’s “Beer-Thirty.