Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Slinking back to blogland
I have a sore arse (bottom, derriere, ass, bum -call it what you will, it's sore).
What way is this for our circumspect night-rider to begin blogging again after so long an absence I hear you ask? Well, with an absolute surfeit of unblogged anecdotes from my vacation, at the moment, it's the closest thing to, well, my heart - perhaps in view of the fact that I'm sitting on a hard office chair writing to you. So stopper your kids' ears and cut me some slack guys, I'm trying to get started on my new year's resolutions and last night I accepted an invitation to join a dragon boat racing crew at practice. Yes, my new year's resolutions included one to exercise at least 3 times a week rather than cutting it down to one as I did far too often in the dying stages of 2004.
Dragon boat racing- for the uninitiated- is a 2000-year-old Chinese sport. Long, narrow canoes with room for about 20 paddlers race maniacally across still water. The main feature of dragon boat racing is that the paddlers need to be synchronised so the boat makes maximum speed for minimum effort. Hah!! There is no minimum effort involved in this sport. And the seats are hard.
You need to throw yourself forward till your chest touches your knees, keeping arms outstretched and straight, dig the paddle deep into the water at the furthest point, drag it back through unyielding water that quickly feels the consistency of toffee, all the while pushing your body back as far as it will go, then quickly remove the paddle from the water, throw yourself forward and repeat - for an hour, at a speed resembling 'on the double' as barked by one of those insane platoon sergeants from a B-grade American boot camp movie. Oh, and staying in time is essential, not least to avoid colliding with the Amazon in the seat in front of you so that she doesn't knock your teeth out on the back swing.
Surprisingly my arms and shoulders don't feel too stiff - maybe they will when the numbness wears off! But my bum- oh dear Lord, I think the bones have cut clear through the skin.
The people are very friendly and welcoming - guess they have to be to find enough suckers to make up a team- and I must say the rhythmic nature of it has a grace similar to dancing that appeals. I just wish the rhythm was more in tune with the waltz running through my head rather than the chipmunks (anyone remember them? I tried to think of something ridiculously fast and modern but failed). I found digging in only every second stroke helped but I don't know whether I can get away with this as a long-term proposition!
I get two more free trials before I have to pay $90 to join the club for a year. Do I really want to punish myself this much twice a week to try to get fit or should I just go back to making excuses as to why I won't have a gentle hour walk this afternoon?
What way is this for our circumspect night-rider to begin blogging again after so long an absence I hear you ask? Well, with an absolute surfeit of unblogged anecdotes from my vacation, at the moment, it's the closest thing to, well, my heart - perhaps in view of the fact that I'm sitting on a hard office chair writing to you. So stopper your kids' ears and cut me some slack guys, I'm trying to get started on my new year's resolutions and last night I accepted an invitation to join a dragon boat racing crew at practice. Yes, my new year's resolutions included one to exercise at least 3 times a week rather than cutting it down to one as I did far too often in the dying stages of 2004.
Dragon boat racing- for the uninitiated- is a 2000-year-old Chinese sport. Long, narrow canoes with room for about 20 paddlers race maniacally across still water. The main feature of dragon boat racing is that the paddlers need to be synchronised so the boat makes maximum speed for minimum effort. Hah!! There is no minimum effort involved in this sport. And the seats are hard.
You need to throw yourself forward till your chest touches your knees, keeping arms outstretched and straight, dig the paddle deep into the water at the furthest point, drag it back through unyielding water that quickly feels the consistency of toffee, all the while pushing your body back as far as it will go, then quickly remove the paddle from the water, throw yourself forward and repeat - for an hour, at a speed resembling 'on the double' as barked by one of those insane platoon sergeants from a B-grade American boot camp movie. Oh, and staying in time is essential, not least to avoid colliding with the Amazon in the seat in front of you so that she doesn't knock your teeth out on the back swing.
Surprisingly my arms and shoulders don't feel too stiff - maybe they will when the numbness wears off! But my bum- oh dear Lord, I think the bones have cut clear through the skin.
The people are very friendly and welcoming - guess they have to be to find enough suckers to make up a team- and I must say the rhythmic nature of it has a grace similar to dancing that appeals. I just wish the rhythm was more in tune with the waltz running through my head rather than the chipmunks (anyone remember them? I tried to think of something ridiculously fast and modern but failed). I found digging in only every second stroke helped but I don't know whether I can get away with this as a long-term proposition!
I get two more free trials before I have to pay $90 to join the club for a year. Do I really want to punish myself this much twice a week to try to get fit or should I just go back to making excuses as to why I won't have a gentle hour walk this afternoon?
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