Photo by Jana Bitton
Mike Bitton and Jud Clark relax at the beach in Lincoln City, Ore., after spending a week together working on Mike's kayak that Jud built last year.
Last week my friend Jud Clark came to visit from San Jose. He wanted to help me put foot pegs into the wooden kayak he built last year, and gave to me on a long-term loan. We got the foot pegs in, and even came up with some great deck rigging.
We took my boat, and a second strip-built kayak Jud made, to my favorite local training haunt, Lacamas Lake. Where else can you do all three core adventure racing disciplines (mt. bike, run, paddle) so close to my home? Nowhere else.
We launched and I promptly dumped my boat, filling the cockpit with water. Note to self, buy a bilge pump! Jud loaned me his and within minutes, I was ready to try again. No probelms the second time around.
We paddled the length of the lake (about three miles), then continued up Lacamas Creek for a few hundred more yards. We took a little break to stretch our legs, then paddled back to the place we put in. We were out for two or three hours, so I'm definately counting the trip as training!
The boat is much easier to steer with foot pegs in place. The wind came up quite a bit on the way back to the launch, and with the pegs to brace myself on, I felt very much in control. Thanks, Jud!
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