Tag Archives: racing

90 Second Escape: Huck Redux

Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
Today’s 90-Second Escape: Huck-A-Buck Redux

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This weekend: Cold stroke of fun

Photo courtesy whatsonwilmington.com

We’ve got hikes in the Piedmont (along the Eno River) and in the mountains (up Little Pisgah Mountain), and a hike, of sorts (walking on water counts, right?) at the coast.

Coast

The Cold Stroke Classic is on our “Pushing-The-Limits-But-Certainly-Doable” lifetime achievement list. Now in its sixth year, Cold Stroke lets amateurs and more competitive types compete in standup paddleboard racing, on protected waterways, at the coast, in winter. There’s a 3.5-mile course for more recreational types, a 7-mile course for the “elite.” read more

This weekend: Paddle for glory, hike for color

Chimney Rock in fall. Photo by Chuck Hall

Fall revs up in the high country with increasing color while paddling opportunities linger in the Piedmont.

Coast

We venture into the wild for various reasons. One of those reasons: to learn about, and see new things. A visit to Lake Waccamaw State Park offers some especially interesting learning opportunities. For instance, the park’s website informs us: “Lake Waccamaw’s water quality contributes to an interesting mix of animal life in the park. Several species are found only in or around the lake and nowhere else on Earth. These species are known as endemics.” Among those endemics: Waccamaw darter, Waccamaw silverside, Waccamaw killifish, Waccamaw spike and the Waccamaw fatmucket. read more

This weekend: It’s cooling off? Get out!

Young and old (I've done it several times) are embraced at the Huck-A-Buck.

Sure there’s a threat of rain — there’s always a threat of rain in summer; it’s the meteorologist’s ultimate hedge. But cooler temperatures demand that you start planning an active weekend earlier than usual.

Like now.

Piedmont

I usually don’t throw out mountain bike races as a weekend option because they’re typically targeted to a more adrenaline-influenced crowd and they can be expensive to enter. None of that applies to the venerable Huck-A-Buck this Sunday at Lake Crabtree County Park in Morrisville. The Huck-A-Buck has a competitive element, to be sure, but race founders Chris Pappas and Pat Lundergan with Happy Fun Racing have done a great job ensuring that the Huck remain a Race for the People — meaning people like me, who can show up and not be obviously out of place in the aforementioned adrenaline-happy crowd. I’m especially glad to suggest the Huck-A-Buck considering last year’s 10th edition was rumored to be the last. Long live the Huck! read more

Picture a great weekend

Are you the next Ansel Adams?

Can a camera lead to fitness? Is paddling in winter as cool (not cold) as it sounds?  And whitewater racing? Really?

Coast

Sometimes all you need to spur you on to an active lifestyle is the right motivation, a motivation that, perhaps, hasn’t yet occurred to you. read more