Saturday Surf Session

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

So, this Saturday the 23rd I didn't actually go surfing.

I don't think my surgery is ready for the twisting and stress on my abdomen that surfing requires.

Instead, I went for a bicycle ride.  I busted out my Specialized Allez and rode The Los Coyotes River Trail down to The PCH and bombed down to Huntington Beach and back.  It was a great ride and a beautiful day.

Just FYI to all the hard-core roadies, I didn't have my aerobars on.  This is an older picture from a triathlon called Race on the Base.

 I ended up doing 29 miles in about one hour and 45 minutes.  You can check out my Strava details here.



My whopping 381 feet of elevation gain!  That's the major thing I dislike about my immediate location.  All the riding around here is FLAT!!  I can go "north", which is really east of here and get into hills at about mile 15.  Then it really picks up, but the first 15 miles are SO BORING that it's tough to motivate that way sometimes.

It's good to be sort-of back to training!
Clayton

Inguinal Hernia Surgery

Original photo by mil8

This past Monday, the 11th, I went under the knife to have an inguinal hernia repaired.

My hernia was on my left side and not bad at all compared to some of the pictures and articles out on the internet.  Mine was more annoying than anything and with the start of my new business I felt the need to get it taken care of.

The surgery was over quickly. I was given general anesthesia, so it could have taken HOURS and it would have seemed quick.  It really was fast though; total time was maybe an hour.

A friend at work had the surgery done about a year ago and forewarned me that I would need to pee in front of the nurse before they released me from the hospital.  Thankfully, I had to GO when I woke up from the surgery, so that took no time at all.

The day of surgery I was OK as far as pain, it was day two that was no fun.  I took Advil and that seemed to do the trick for me.  Day three and day four have been measurably better.

I need to hoe the long row because for the next two to three weeks I cannot lift anything greater than 15lbs.  So, no surfing, no cycling, no going to the gym.  I can walk, thankfully, so I am not bed-ridden by any means.

Here's to recovery!
Clayton

The 8th Annual 24 and 6 Hours of Halloween

On Saturday the 26th, a friend of mine shanghaied me into racing a 6 hour mountain bike race.  It was the 2013 24-and-6-HOURS-of-HALLOWEEN presented by The Dirt Club in Los Olivos, CA.  I only did one lap, 10.5 miles, which took me just over an hour.

It was a TOUGH course, my one lap had 1400 feet of elevation gain.  The climbing itself was very technical, lots of switchbacks and pretty steep at some points.  The descents were equally technical and fun.  Some were switchbacks while other descents were just straight as she goes.  The straight ones were sweet! I could just let it fly, no brakes, tons of speed.  The total lap was nuts and I was more than happy to hit the start/finish line and call it a day.

Plenty of people that were in no better shape than I am soldiered on.  It was impressive to see both their mental and physical states change each lap as they came through the start/finish line.  It was immediately obvious when they were completely spent.  I think most average riders, both male and female, only completed three or four laps before calling it quits.



My one measly lap was fun though.  I haven't raced or ridden like that in a very long time.  I could feel it in my legs immediately on the steeper climbs.  All of my riding this year has been commuting to work and back.  Where I live in SoCal that equates to extremely flat riding.  There is a gradual climb to work and a gradual descent going home, but it is imperceptible.

I'm pretty sure my friend does this every year.  He was saying that they had changed the course for this year's race and that it was tougher than previous year's courses.

So, now I know what to expect in October and I will be able to actually train for this event next year.  The ultimate idea is to complete a lap in about an hour's time.  That way you get in six laps or 60 miles of riding.  What is crazy is the 8500 feet of elevation gain that would equate to.  That is a fair amount of climbing for any ride.

Even more incentive: my friend placed 2nd in the 6hr solo single speed race! He even won some cash. In other words, I have my work cut out for me.

Clayton

Grain Surfboards - The Steamer day 4

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

This past weekend I spent Friday through Monday working with eight other surfers and the guys from Grain Surfboards building one of their Steamer Kits in the back parking lot of Patagonia Cardiff.

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Day 3 was a lot of work, but definitely not as much as the previous two days.  We did stay really late on Sunday getting everyone's boards set and ready for the final push on day 4.

We started our day with a fun little surf out at Cardiff Reef.  I was the only SUP guy which was really funny.  Everybody was really cool when we were in class and working together, but out in the line-up I got no love.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

So, as I do when I SUP anyway, I went off on my own and found my own peak to have fun with.  In the midst of the morning session I saw a little baby shark, cool but scary, as well as a baby ray.  The ray was awesome to watch fly through water.  So graceful, so fluid, so majestic.  It was a good surf.

My new Billabong Xero 302 wetsuit worked like a charm.  I really like it a lot.  Plenty warm, plenty of movement, and nobody could see my one arm nor my one leg because of the camo!  HA

But enough of my silly surfing.

Day 4 we flipped the boards over and attacked the bottom deck which remained untouched up to this point.  We used our spokeshaves and block planes to bevel the edges until they really started falling in-line with the rails.

Then it was time to think about the rail shapes and how we wanted our boards to ride in the water.  Mine was somewhat easy in that most of my rails are what they call 50-50 or round rails.  The tail section was the only tricky part where I needed a "down-rail" type contour to help the board carve and surf well in general.

Original photo by Clayton Plummer
It's only two letters, but I had
to practice that signature!

The other tough part was shaving the tail block.  This was difficult because you had to draw the tool towards the board, not away from the board.  If you drew the blade away from the board the block would chip.  The other issue with the tail block is that the grain is perpendicular to the rest of the board.  So, I had to shave it as close to the board as possible without nicking the top or bottom deck.

We finished the day by sanding the living heck out of the entire board.  Making sure all of the tool marks and and blemishes were missing from the wood itself.

As the sun set, we finished up.  It was a lot of fun with all the new tools and new skills I learned.  I met some cool people.  The Grain guys, Nolan and Mike, were awesome.  Very down to earth and friendly (though not out in the surf as much).  I was also introduced to Keith Malloy who worked with us the first couple of days before he was called away on another one of his awesome adventures.  I was also introduced to Jon Wegner of Wegner Surfboards.  He is a really cool California native that has been shaping boards, a lot of them wood, for over twenty years.  He helped everybody in the class as much as he could all the while working between two different boards himself.

I'm totally stoked on my new board.  Now I just need to get it glassed.  I have a fin, leash, board bag, and all of the other goodies ready to go.

Clayton