Weekly (Monthly) Pano: Lake Del Valle... is low

Check out this 360 pano of Lake Del Valle... Kai should be underwater!  

The East Bay Hills Duatholon with Stefan.

Well, after a bit of a break, I'm back to full health, adventuring, and loving our newest addition to the family.  Nikko Steven Kuwabara was born on Jan 4th, 2014 and has been a bundle of joy from day 1.  The next week, Kai came home with Hand, Foot & Mouth disease... then later that week I came down with Strep, and Kimbo got it too the next day.  Those first two weeks were a bit rough...

what a pumpkin!

But I got to go on a fine excursion with Stefan to enjoy this dry, polluted... but very sunny weather.

Stefan Cruising up Fish Ranch....

Our Uni route...

After Cruising down Claremont Canyon.... we locked up the bikes and started running up Claremont, which has been my favorite spot recently.

Our run

Kayaking to the Ashby Shoal...

A few weeks back I got to join John Boeschen and his crew, who usually head out on Thurs evenings for a paddle somewhere in the bay.  Usually marin.  He's been going out on most Thurs for more than 10+ years and he must know the bay better than anyone.
http://www.thurseve.com/Thurseve/Home/Home.html

Anyway, Mi-Suk and I joined him out for a quick paddle to the Ashby Shoal.  Here's his report.
http://www.thurseve.com/Thurseve/Home/Entries/2013/12/3_Entry_1.html\
And comic entry.
https://picasaweb.google.com/103349765524242949326/12313?noredirect=1

Ashby Shoal?  It's a little island that appears between Emeryville and Berkeley Marinas when the tide is quite low.  One of the sailors there told us that he had heard the shoal was created back in the day when they were getting fill from Treasure Island.  They were piping in fill from Treasure Island to where the freeway lies in Berkeley (where it's always congested)... and they noticed that the mass balance wasn't working out.  They discovered a hole in the pipe... which birthed Ashby Shoal.  Not sure if I believe it, but I couldn't find a better story.  I mean why would they get fill from an island?  Wouldn't it be easier to just use fill from land?  Anyway... here's an article I found on the Ashby Shoal..
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/12/14/low-tides-at-berkeley-marina-leads-to-impromptu-clam-bake/

And more of John's Cartoon Reports here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103349765524242949326

Including the 15 island gonzo paddle:

Emeryville Sunset

Got some nice pics the other day on my Sony NEX 5n.  The sunset is beautiful this time of the year...

Timelapse 2013

Made a short clip of the best timelapses from the first half of 2013...

CCK: Rock Garden Class!

Keith and Tammy are not only excellent neighbors, but they also happen to own California Canoe & Kayak... an awesome place to rent, buy, or take classes for kayaking, SUP, or canoeing.  They offer a whole suite of kayaking classes to challenge you at every level.  I've previously taken the Open Coast; Tides, Currents & Rough water class as well as the Surf Zone class.  All have been great classes where I've taken away tons of lessons from experienced paddlers.   I like to dedicate at least one day a year to a challenging paddle, and this year I decided to take the Rock Garden Class.  The Thursday before, I went to the Richmond Plunge before my soccer game to practice my rolls... and met up at Horseshoe Cove for the class on Sat morning.  

Once we got on the water Bill & Greg, members of the Neptunes Rangers & BASK, led the class.  Both amazing paddlers with tons of experience.  

Double-crested Cormorants!  They have solid bones & don't oil their feathers like other birds so they can dive deeper... but they have to dry out their feathers after every dive to fly... 

A BASK trip on their way out to Rodeo Beach.  

Practicing some pour overs.

And Bill showing us some rescues...

And showing us how to land & launch from a rock garden...

The boat I got to use for the class.  The HAMMER!  This boat was designed for rock gardens.  

This looks like a fun trip... I'd like to go on in the future...

http://tsunamirangers.com/2011/10/03/neptunes-rangers-complete-the-big-sur-challenge/

Types of Fun!

Nick and I about to spend a few cozy nights snuggling with Watkins... 

This was a post I had forgotten about and had just left as a draft... but after a radiolab episode and reading another blog, I decided to come back to it.  Written back in May...

---------

My second summit of Shasta in day... 

The past two weekends were really, really fun.  The trans-Yosemite tour (SLAY) with Alexis & Stefan was amazing.  We just lucked out on the weather, conditions, and everything just seemed to come together for us to provide a beautiful experience.

This past weekend... I got to ride my bike.  Which is always fun.  But after 16 hours on the saddle, things were getting a bit uncomfortable.  And while you are riding 16+ hours with a friend (Sigman), you start asking yourself... "why are we doing this?"  Granted, it was Sigman who was doing more of the questioning... but it was definitely on my mind too...

... and it's a good question.  I told him, "it's FUN.  Everything is fun... it just depends on what type of fun..." and here's are the basics.

Type 1: Fun planning it, fun while doing it, fun looking back on it, and would probably do it again.
e.g. skiing pow, canyoneering, unicycling, mountain biking, playing soccer... most of my activities are Type I to me. 

Type 2: On the border of fun while doing it... but after a night of rest, recovery, eating, and drinking... you realize it was actually pretty fun, and you'd probably go back and do it or something similar again.
e.g. Big wall climbing, a hard 300k+ ride, a long trail run, skiing Shasta twice,   

Type 3: No fun, a complete sufferfest... you'd never do it again... unless you are an uber masochist, you never plan for a Type 3 adventure.  A Type 1 or 2 adventure morphs into a Type 3 adventure when things go wrong or when the unexpected happens.  BUT... these are the adventures that get retold and have the longest lasting impressions.  Just ask Aaron Ralston or Krakauer.
e.g. running a marathon w/o any training, getting flipped on a double kayak in the gulf of California, fully committed on a chossy run-out climb with a dark cumulous cloud rapidly approaching..., or from what I've witnessed labor would probably qualify as Type 3.

Activities requiring abundant gear... like kayaking, rock climbing (especially aid or bigwall), skiing, mountain biking... have a greater risk of going from Type 1 to Type 3 fun with a quick mistake, gear failure, or accident.

In all honesty, most of my adventures are Type 1 or Type 2.  I haven't had a Type 3 adventure in a loooong time... but I sure do miss em.  There were times on my 400k that I wasn't having much fun.  My stomach was churning a bit towards the end, my legs felt like rubber, and my wrists hurt from riding... but riding 250 miles in one go was fun.  I had a good time... and I'm glad to know that I can do it, so I can look back to that experience when I decide to do longer rides like a 600k, 1000k or 1200k.  Some folks say that the 400k is the toughest distance as it's too short to catnap during the ride.  I'm not sure about that, but I'd like to find out.

I forget who actually taught me this concept of types of fun... but I'm guessing whoever it was listened to Fitz.
http://www.dirtbagdiaries.com/fun_divided_by_three
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Speaking of Type III fun... holy moly... really?
http://www.radiolab.org/story/runners/

And here's a blogger that can actually write, describing her motivation to do Type II/III adventures, in a more poetic fashion.
http://www.wilddefined.com/2013/05/why-pain-is-good.html