Jeff's Maiden Voyage

My buddy Jeff (above) got a boat this weekend and wanted to take it out sooner than later. So three of us got up early this morning and headed down to the river for a little water recreation.

We took our fishing poles with very little hope to catch anything. If you could see Mike's face in this photo, you'd see a great deal of disappointment. He's becoming the resident fishing junky.

I'm content to prop my legs up and take a nap on the water :)

Actually, the weather was so nice, I did take the opportunity to just relax and take it easy. With all the humidity recently, it seems that stepping outside is a chore. It wasn't that way today. The air was cool and the sun was warm. I just wanted to soak it in and chill.

I think Jeff is praying for a fish in this shot.

You're not out there long before you have to head back to the ramp if you want to get to work on time. I told Mike that it's completely unsatisfying, but better than not going out at all. Before work, you can get in about two hours on the water. Not bad, but a full day is better.

Get out there.

Morning Trails

This morning was more dirt before work. I didn't get any quality pics. But I thought I should share anyway.

Justin on the creek crossing.

Get out there.

Mornings in the Water

There haven't been many posts from me this week. Honestly, I haven't ridden much. I've been pretty busy and needed to have my car a couple days this week. Yesterday, I opted to spend the morning with my older kids fishing. They've been a little stir crazy this summer and I wanted to get them off my wife's hands.

Bliss caught her first fish ever. She was a proud girl. I caught a huge catfish, too. I didn't really get a good pic that's worth showing. But it was big... and gross. I hate catfish.

Today I got up early and hit the creek with a couple buddies.

It was a great morning. In the photo above, Mike got the first fish of the day. Many were to follow. I caught  total of seven.

Keens are the perfect creek fishing shoes. They protect your feet, but play well with water.

Look at all that wood in front of Jeff. It's pretty cool to think about the power of water to move all of that. This creek is ankle deep right now, but it can really flow when the rain comes.

You're jealous of my cool vest, aren't you?

We put in at a bridge that goes over the creek. I got back to the car early enough to circle around and snap a couple photos of the guys coming back. Walking through the water is quite a workout. 

I'm really enjoying fishing these days. It's a great way to get out on the water and spend time in the outdoors. This creek is only about five minutes from my house. So I may try to visit it a couple more times before the cool weather comes back.

Get out there.

Mud

I did some muddy trails this morning before work. I needed my car for this afternoon, so I decided to squeeze in some riding on the trails. The rain in the last few days made the trail really sloppy. I had to take it pretty slow.

The other day I told some buddies that I was trying to make the paint job on the mountain bike to be "tank-ish." Today I got to test my work. Looks like it blends pretty well to me.

Get out there.

After Work Trails

Yesterday after work, I decided to hit up the local park that offers a bit of trail riding on the mountain bike. As I was riding, I was trying to figure out how I would describe this park on the blog. It's a five minute drive from my office, so it's incredibly convenient. And most parks won't allow MTB's on the trails, if they even have trails at all. But in all honesty, the trails aren't much to write home about.

I spent about 45 minutes out there yesterday and pretty much rode everything about two and a half times. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. But it's nothing too exciting. I'd say it's comparable to a roadie heading out around their neighborhood and coming home. It's nothing too grandios, but at least you're out. I'd rather ride a simple short trail than not ride at all.

So I'll stick to it for lunchtime rides or after work stuff. It's worth it for the ease and accessibility. Plus, I just like being outside. It's fun to ride the dirt along the creek and get some fresh air.

Get out there.

No Bike Today

Today was some father/son bonding instead of riding. Best trade ever. I've been promising Clive that we'd go fishing soon. And since Angie is taking our daughter, Bliss, on a girls' trip tomorrow, I thought I'd squeeze this in for my big boy (I'll stay back with Clive and baby. Fishing with a two year old wouldn't be possible.).

He loved it. He must have said how much he loved me and how thankful he was 50 times. He was so appreciative and excited.

My boy caught his first fish ever!

Get out there... and take your kid with you.

Early Morning Outing

I managed to squeeze in a couple hours of paddling and fishing this morning before work. I'm not required to be into the office until 9am, so the possibility was out there to get up early and hit the water with plenty of time for an adventure.

Sunrise was beautiful. It makes getting up early completely worth it.

There's a boat ramp that loads into the Kentucky River then I paddle down to the Dix River. Right here is the split between the two. The Kentucky heads to the left and the Dix is to the right.

I hugged the bank to toss my line in. I had lots of hits on my line this morning but nothing stuck on the hook. I love being out there. So not catching anything isn't a deal breaker for me. But I would love to bring something in the boat at some point.

I saw some campers out on the bank. There seemed to be a few of of them in a couple boats. I'd love to have permission from someone to camp off the river here. They were asleep but the smell of their smoldering fire was awesome as I passed by. By the time I headed back, they were awake and making breakfast.

It was a great morning. I headed back, loaded the boat and was walking in my office at 8:47am. You can't beat that for a pre-morning excursion. It may have to become a regular thing.

Get out there.

Last Week at Capitol View Park

I forgot to post all my photos for last week's mountain bike trip to Frankfort. Here it goes...

The new MTB build was great. Everything worked (for the most part). I need a new seat post. It seems that this one is defective and won't keep the seat tightened. 

There were two buddies with me. Jeff is up top and Justin is below.

 Some technical sections were fairly new due to a recent race at the park.

Rest time.

Look at Justin's shoulder here. He went over the bars at one point and skidded across the dirt on his face and shoulder. That's a sign of pushing your limits!

We've developed a bit of a tradition to hit Wendy's for Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers and Frosty's. You can't beat that after a sweaty day of dirt.

July MTB at Capitol View Park from Derrick Purvis on Vimeo.

Get out there.

Solitude

One of the things I value most about riding my bike is the solitude that it offers. That's not to say that I don't enjoy a social ride every now and then. But being alone is a huge value for me.

I work in a pastoral and leadership based job. That means I'm surrounded by people and in conversations nearly the entire work day. My favorite place on the planet is my home and it's filled with my favorite people on the planet. But I've learned that I'm a better man for my wife and three kids when I get some solid alone time throughout the week.

I'm trying to make a practice to stop off at least once a week and sit outside in a special place to read and be alone. Today was a great opportunity for such a break. No cars. No people. Just a cool breeze, a good book on the Kindle and a thermos of coffee.

Get out there.

Wild Lunch

Yesterday I planned on riding to a local park with some MTB trails. My hope was to get in about an hour of riding, half on the trails and half getting there and back. My buddy Justin had his bike at work and decided to join me.

The ride started out great. The sky was overcast and offered a bit of cool air amongst the humidity. Everything was great for about 20 minutes... until I heard the sound of flesh, metal and wood crashing behind me.

Justin had lost control of his bike and somehow got tangled up in his frame as he went down. He banged his ankle up pretty good. It was bad enough to end our excursion and call for someone to pick him up.

This is Justin calling his wife to ask her to come pick us up. She's on the the other end of that line telling him that he's not allowed to hang out with me anymore :)

You'll also notice in the picture that some major rain began to fall as soon as he went down. We were caught in a huge thunderstorm. It was seriously sheets of water coming down on us. We needed to get Justin to the street, and the only foreseeable way to get there was to cross that stream in the background. So I grabbed his bike and carried it while he limped through the water slowly.

I headed back to my bike and was going to ride on to meet him at the street. Somehow, I lost him and ended up riding for about thirty minutes trying to find my injured friend. It was incredible. The water was coming down so hard I left my iPhone in a ziploc bag in my pocket so I don't have pics. I didn't want to risk it getting wet.

But the ride was so fun. The trail was covered in a couple inches of water. And several times I had to cross drainage ditches that were waste deep with water. The water was moving so fast, I had to carry the bike over my head. Every time my tires would hit that moving water, it would pull too hard for me to hold onto. It was just easier to carry it over those crossings. But the riding was great. The ground wasn't soaked through. So it was wet and wild, but not sloppy mud.

It really was an epic lunch. We got into some stuff we never expected... which is better than you could hope for. I'm glad we headed out. By the way, Justin is feeling better today. He still has a bit of a limp, though.

Get out there.

July 4 Kayaking

I decided to ring in America's birthday with a little water yesterday morning. There's access to the Kentucky River about 20 minutes from my house. From that access point, you can paddle to the Dix River, which is a great little river for kayaking.

There were two other kayaks and a canoe with a couple guys that joined us. The hope was to catch some fish in the early wee hours of morning.

Shortly after the boat launch, we paddled under High Bridge. It's a train bridge that's rather high... it's not just a clever name.

The Dixie Bell paddle boat.

Early morning mist.

Beautiful morning.

Cow hide and seek.

There's a raccoon there on that branch. I'm pretty sure he was rabid. He was all shakey and his eyes were super crusty. Plus, you shouldn't see a raccoon out in daylight like this. Poor guy.

A little dicey.

It was a nice cool morning that was well spent. There's nothing I love more than a nice cup of coffee outside. And when you drink that coffee sitting in a boat, the world feels pretty perfect.

Get out there.