Wild Goose Chase 2009

[amithereyet]

As it turned out, I could not make it today (and I even have the jersey!).
Next year before the WGC, I will avoid a particular Indian restaurant that is responsible for keeping me being on two legs instead of two wheels today.

So........I want to hear everything.......from kayaking.......to cycling.......to staying dry. TELL ALL!

[7rider]

Kayaking was wonderful. We paddled in a river - I don't recall the name - Divingbiker, Kalidurga, and me. Once we got away from the road (plentiful parking, boat ramp for easy launching), it got very quiet. Saw lots of ducks, osprey, a juvenile eagle or two, a great blue heron, and loads of jumping fish. And some small animal swimming just at and below the surface (a rat? a nutria? a snake? Dunno). The weather held...cloudy, some sun, no rain, and perfect temps.
Dinner at a Mexican place with cheap food and screaming children.
I did the metric with my friend Erica and her friend Kim. Erica was neurotic about leaving EARLY as the forecast called for steady rain after noon. Well, her push to get me out of the hotel earlier than planned (Thanks, KD, for bringing DB to the ride!) worked out well, because we rode primarily on dry roads with just light mist. It wasn't until the last five miles that we saw anything you could call "rain." We lucked out big time. I fell a little short of my goal, mainlly b/c the three of us talked for most of the ride: 63 miles at an average speed of 16.6. Saw lots and loads of stories to tell, but no pictures: I left my camera at the hotel, as I was worried about the rain.
I did hear someone talking about "the Team Estrogen website" at a rest stop (while I was waiting in line for the....um.....facilities). The woman was on a dark red Bianchi with a white fork. Becky?? Was that you? I wanted to yell out, but I didn't dare lose my place in line (it was sooo long!).
All in all, a great time for me. Loved the kayaking, loved the biking, and am already looking forward to our next Eastern Shore multi-sport adventure!!!
And many thanks, Janice, for letting me crash at the HIEx with you!

[divingbiker]

Kayaking was wonderful. We paddled in a river - I don't recall the name - Divingbiker, Kalidurga, and me.

It was the Transquaking River, recommended by the nice folks at Blackwater Pedal and Paddle. Very peaceful.

7Rider summarized the weekend well. It was fun. Kalidurga and I did the 43 mile ride at a much slower pace--13.6 mph average.

Sorry you couldn't join us, Ann.

[Zen]

After a good shrimp quesadilla and dos cervezas I swam at the hotel. In the dark. The lights worked fine, I just wanted to swim in the dark

I won a nice zip up lightweight jacket in pink and spent way too much money at the Terry tent.
I just wish the 25 mile course included more water but they had Nutella at the rest stop and that makes everything worthwhile

[withm]

I missed the kayaking but met up at the Mexican place for dinner. Unfortunately it did not agree with me and I slept badly that night. Met up with Zen for breakfast and started out riding with DB and KD but the dampness made my achilles tendon tighten up and there was no way to keep up with them. I eventually met up with Diane (Zen's friend) and we rode the entire 43 miles together. But we had 10 miles of of rain.

The Blackwater area is sooo beautiful that we just have to plan an ad hoc outing on a nice sunny day. It would really be worth it.

IT was fun to see everyone again even if it did rain. At least the wind wasn't bad and I did not get cold until the last 5 miles or so.

I won a small camera case at the raffle which should fit my camera perfectly. The big camera cases in the goodie bags are nice, but ... kind of big. Don't really know what I'll do with it.

They also raffled off a full Gore outfit - jacket, jersey, shorts (rain shorts?) and maybe something else. The other 2 big prizes were a $500 gift cert to Terry catalog for clothing, and a gift cert for a weekend of biking in Vermont given by Vermont bikes. They used the numbers from our wristbands for those prizes so don't know who won - the winners were apparently not present to claim the prizes, and I guess Terry will be contacting the winners to arrange delivery.

[amithereyet]

Wow! It sounds as if the kayaking was wonderful & I loved your description of the animal in the water, 7.

I'm glad that the weather wasn't too much of a problem for the ride today. No one mentioned the wind, so hopefully, it was easier this year than last year.

Zen---Congrats on winning the jacket! Didn't you win a book not long ago? I want you with me when I purchase a lotto ticket.

DB: I thought about you yesterday at the restaurant that did me in because I think that a vegan could have chosen quite a few dishes. I only wonder whether the vegan dishes were as toxic as the nonvegan.

Thanks for sharing the stories & I'll see you all at the next WGC in my still, unworn jersey.

[Cataboo]

We had fun as well. My friend came up to my house on Saturday, and I started tweaking her mountain bike for her, raised her handlebars a bit, fixed the angle of her levers, changed the tires to some slicks I had, changed a brake cable and adjusted her rear brake...

Then I said, hey... why don't you try my surly?

She got on that, rode in circles in the grass & then out on the road and said... "OOOH this is wonderful! Can I ride this?"

I also managed to talk her into borrow my kayak instead of taking her sit on top.

So I was all psyched I talked her into speedier means of transportation!

We got in maybe about 6 on Saturday? Got into the B&B, and decided, okay, let's take a quick bike ride around town... went through downtown cambridge... started raining on us, and we ducked into snappers to have dinner. They let us put the bikes on the back deck. Can't say i was crazy about snappers, I saw the fried pickles you guys were talking about from last year.

I came back to our bikes after looking at the tent sale (I just grabbed a $10 pair of gloves and talked myself out of everything else) and there was a note from Zen on the surly! And she said that noone would remember whose bike was which!

We did the 25 mile ride, stopped in at the visitor's center & bought the water trails map - talked to the ranger guy for suggestions of what to do.

We were on the last maybe 5 mile stretch or so, and I ride past someone on a purple bike, and I'm thinking that's a pretty color and say, "oh I love your bike color" or something like that to the girl... go on a little bit and I hear "Hey, is your name Catriona?" Becky saw Julie on the surly, recognized it and called out... and then I felt like a retard 'cause Becky had posted pictures of her pretty purple bike and I had just noticed it and just not put 2 & 2 together. She did not have a coon skin cap on. I had completely told Julie to look out for a chocolate lab & a big guy with it though.

We grabbed lunch at a nice raw bar in town.. it was on race street, it was like jimmie & sooks raw bar or something. Got some really nice crab cakes, much better place than snappers.

Then we did a bit of the wildlife drive & put in... Kayaked for a bit, Julie wanted some drift wood, so she kept trying to yank pieces and had a little pile on the kayak by the end of the trip.

Pics are here if anyone wants to see lots of Julie and lots of grey skies, and this really cool stump that was sticking out of the water that looked like a dragon & i took a ton of pics of.
http://picasaweb.google.com/EyeofCat...ildGooseChase#

[Kalidurga]

Regina and Janice pretty much summed up my weekend. Like Regina, I owe many thanks to Janice-- First for calling the paddling outfitter and getting the great recommendation to do the Transquaking (though we really should've kept it secret ). Second, for being my pedaling buddy. If she hadn't ridden with me, the weather would've caused me to only do the 25 miler. I've now done my second-ever 40-plus mile ride

There was wind. It was mild, more of an intense breeze, but enough to make me cuss a little bit. Without it, Janice and I would've definitely had a higher average mph.

And, I tried Nutella for the first time. Damn those Terry people! The food stops, er, I mean rest stops were so much better this year. The pb&j and Nutella definitely got me through the ride (and possibly created a new addiction ).

Next year, I'd like to do this ride with some sunshine. That would be the only improvement I'd ask for.

Cat, your very cool photos reminded me: Janice let me use her camera when we were paddling since I had left mine at home. Have you uploaded the pics yet, Janice? Anything worth sharing?