Yesterday's surfing was phenomenal! Brian decided that he wanted to come surf with Robin and me. When he called on Thursday night to see if we were coming down, I was unsure whether he meant he wanted to give us a lesson or if he just wanted to surf with us. It turns out it was the latter. He always tells us, "I like you gals." He brought his friend Bryan (same name, different spelling) too. He told me he wanted to take me out past the breaks, and the other Bryan would work with Robin on swimming out. So, we swam out in the rip of the rock piling pier, which can be hard work when reaching the end because of the rushing waves breaking. We had to swim through it. The important thing about swimming through it is not getting caught in the wave 'cause it will push you and the board back toward the shore and you'll have to swim back out to the rip and make it back out. I swam through the breaks though and looked for the bubbles...the bubbles can tell a surfer when the wave is about to break. We swam for what seemed like forever, but made it out. The cool thing about the waves out past the break is that they will carry you a long way, and they will get much bigger. This isn't always the case, but it was yesterday. Waves were 3-5 feet, which doesn't sound like much, but by summer Galveston standards, these waves are fantastic! I rode several all the way in, but never mastered the sharp curve back to the rock pilings so that I wouldn't have to walk along the beach. I maneuvered a little, but haven't quite gotten the hang of the big turn. It was phenomenal and, unlike the small waves closer to shore that I have been catching, these bigger waves gave me time to play with "foot" placement. It's hard to get these waves in the summer, but not impossible. I look forward to doing it again, possibly tomorrow. Robin had a good day too catching the waves past the break.
Today, I went on my usual Space City Cycling Club ride. I also had a great ride on the bike. The group went to Wee-Mart in Liverpool, which is our typical summer 60-mile ride. I rode with my 21 mph+ group. I managed to stay with the breakaways on the way back, not willing to let any of them get away no matter how fast they were going (26 mph+ in some areas). Cycling uses completely different muscles, but requires the same mental toughness that surfing does. The only difference is that surfing is a singular sport, while cycling can definitely be a "team" sport/competition. What a blast!
