Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

Back to the winter bibs. But lots of robins and the frogs were quite vocal!
Road 2 to McCain, Greenway to Arner, Road 3 to Ferriss, down to Greenway to McCormick, back up to Road 3, Arner to Greenway, to McCain, back up to Road 2.
Sheesh, the Greenway is rough. The horseback riders are the worst offenders, but there has been a lot of human foot traffic when it was too muddy as well. Of course, since I haven't changed back to gravel tires yet, that didn't help my cause either.

C • Love the peepers 2

Stopped at Norris Dam State Park in TN and found some hills to climb. Met a skunk in a nearby neighborhood who didn't seem to be too healthy.... he was staggering and tried to lift his tail as we went by. We gave him a wide berth. He had moved to the other side of the road on our return trip....a good reason for us to pick up the pace on the way by the second time!
Beautiful sunny and warm weather..... Spring in eastern TN had sprung!
This would be a great place to come to for a long weekend.....trail running, mountain biking, paddling.... with either tent camping or cabins to stay in.

C • sounds like you had a nice vacation 3

The commuters of the Tampa Bay area would not be happy again today.....fog closed the Skyway bridge again.
But we happily rode out to the rest stop area and back, with a detour for a climb over a steep overpass.
I had really hoped the State Troopers would let us ride on the Interstate today :) Wouldn't that be cool to ride over the bridge?

We went in search of the morning newspaper, charging up the bridges over the waterways and sprinting from condo complex to condo complex. Success! Morning newspapers are a hot commodity in vacation communities in FL.

Lots of folks out walking their dogs/running/biking/strolling. A few years ago, a co-worker told me how his grandparents would spend their winters in Florida, biking and walking each day in the mild weather, rather than doing battle with Toronto weather over the winter (they were from England, so the snow and cold of our winters were not something they had grown up with and had not necessarily embraced in their years in Canada). He figured it made their last few years easier and more enjoyable.....I can see how he could come to that conclusion.

Paul and I ventured out again in the behemoth. At least we knew how the boat would behave! No manitees, no dolphins :( But lots of osprey and an assortment of shorebirds. And one persistent cormorant who would swim behind us and dive under the boat to catch fish.
Lots of sun.....not much wind.....just glorious.

Then I went out by myself, sitting between the two seats. And the boat seemed to go straight :)
It handled quite well.

Two loops of the trail at Soldier's Hole. Only saw one snake, and it didn't rattle (a large rattler had been removed from here recently). Some very interesting flora along the super flat trail. The fog rolled in partway through the first lap, so it wasn't as hot as I feared it might be.

Fog day! The water temperature, the dew point and the air temperature created perfect conditions for several hours of sea fog to shroud the Tampa Bay area this morning. The Skyway bridge was closed as the visibility was so poor. But the visibility inland a tiny bit was much better, so we felt safe riding in the generous bike lane along the street where the paved multi-use path ran out (our Bontranger "best in daylight " rear blinky lights helped our confidence too.). Normally, it would be a noisy ride, biking along the bike trail that is separated from I-675 merely by a 2-3' high concrete barrier and 5' of chainlink fence. But it was eerily quiet as the Interstate was shut down at both ends of the bay.
We rode through the deserted Interstate rest area (that was a first for us), then paid a small entry fee to ride out to the end of the northern fishing pier. The guy at the booth said it was the first time in 3 years he remembers the Skyway being shut down for fog. It was kind of creepy to know that the huge bridge span that ocean going freighters and cruise ships pass through was "right there", but we couldn't see it.
But we did see a pair of dolphins doing their own "fishing" around the pier, and saw another one on our way back to mainland. Things you don't see in Lake Erie :)

We rented a tandem kayak.....a behemoth of a kayak....probably similar to what might be provided in an adventure race. Paul and I went for a short paddle before the evening fog set in. We explored a mangrove tunnel and watched dozens of fish fling themselves out of the water (if one had landed on my lap, it would've been supper!)
We have not paddled together very often (maybe the second or third time?). Paul commented that my right arm must be stronger as apparently I was causing the boat to "go crooked" (I was in the bow). So I tried to keep my strokes even-strengthed. Still we "went crooked". I quit paddling. Still crooked. Later, once my step-daughter and her boyfriend had paddled for a while, they commented on the boat's tendancy to go in its own direction. I figure it is me: this is the third rental boat I've co-paddled in the last couple years, and the third rental boat that has a mind of its own in terms of direction of travel.
By the way, we are still married :)

Easy riding on flat pedals.

Brisk walking on the beach.