Sunday, August 29, 2010

 

Biking to Grasslands Regional Park, Yolo County, California, USA.

A cool Sunday morning was a good time for a bike ride in the country out to Grasslands Regional Park. I treated myself to a big breakfast in downtown Davis, CA. Then I got on the bikepath at 1st & B St, continued on the bikepath under Hwy 80 and on to Montgomery Ave (markers A to E on the bike route map). Then I went south on Mace Blvd (County Road 104) past South Fork Putah Creek Preserve (F) and continued south to Grasslands Regional Park (G).

Map of Bike Route to Grasslands Regional Park.

Instructions for online interactive topographic maps & road maps.
• Click on Map button for road map, Topo button for topographic map.
Full-Screen Map - Bike Route to Grasslands Regional Park.


The park is mostly flat, featureless grasslands which were toasted brown at the end of the summer. It also has an incredible number of horseshoe pits that were being used by the members of the Horseshoe Club. See my Grasslands Regional Park pictures.

Map of Grasslands Regional Park Property.

Full-Screen Map - Grasslands Regional Park Property.

Zoom in on this satellite view for a close-up of the horseshoe pits.
Zoom out to see where this park is located in relation to other local landmarks.

On the way home I got on the bikepath from the top of the Mace Blvd bridge over Hwy 80. The reward for pedaling up the bridge was gliding down on the bikepath next to the westbound on-ramp. The bikepath continues along the south side of Hwy 80 to Olive Drive. This wasn't too bad with the light traffic of a Sunday morning, but its terribly noisy on weekdays when the traffic is heavier. I biked the entire length of Olive Drive, rejoined the bikepath and continued home (markers H to J on the bike route map).

For more information:
Biking, Hiking & Camping Trip Reports - BRT Insights.
Olympus Stylus 720SW camera. Photos edited with IrfanView software.

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Saturday, August 28, 2010

 

Kern River Camp 3 Wave - Park & Play Kayak Freestyle Surfing

North Fork Kern River, Sequoia National Forest, Tulare County, California, USA.

This kayak freestyle surfing wave is located on NF Kern River at Camp 3. The Camp 3 Wave is located 5 miles north of Kernville, CA on the Kern River Highway (County Road 521). This is in the middle of the NF Kern River - Cable to Kern River Powerhouse #3 Run (class III-IV, 3.5 miles).

"Wave seems best at flow rates around 2000 cfs though still fun around 1200 & below." (Camp 3 Wave - backcountrysecrets.com)

River flow data updates: NF Kern River flow At Kernville - DreamFlows.

Driving Directions, Distance, Estimated Time & Road Conditions.

Mapquest provides directions, distance & time from your house to the river.
• From Davis, CA to Kernville, CA - driving time 5 hours 45 minutes - 350.48 miles. Obviously I'm not able to go there very often.

California Road Conditions (Delays or closures due to weather, construction, etc.)
California Travel Information - highwayconditions.com.
Road Conditions - California Dept Transportation.

Road Map, Terrain Map & Topographic River Map.

• The map is interactive. Click and drag to reposition map. Map user FAQ.
• Point on the red markers to see their names. Use the tool on the left to zoom and pan.
• Map button = road map. Terrain = 3D shaded topo map. Topo = topographic map.
Full-Screen Topographic Map - Camp 3 Wave, NF Kern River.

Zoom in on the Satellite view of the map to see the whitewater!!

More River Landmarks - Geographic Coordinates.
Copy/paste the coordinates below into the search box at Google Maps or into the Find box at Acme Mapper.
• N 35.80928 W 118.45495, Camp 3 Wave (A).
• N 35.75473 W 118.42541, Kernville, CA (B) Elevation 2800 feet.
• N 35.75449 W 118.42337, Gaging station (C)

Local weather in Kernville, California.

Click for Kernville, California Forecast

Online River Guides & River Flow Data for Paddle Boating.

Kern River Wild & Scenic whitewater river paddleboating guide. Describes 17 boating runs covering 108 river miles.
Kern River Whitewater Boating Directory. (Display options - alphabetical 100. See sections 1 & 2.)

Whitewater River Trip Reports

• I'm happy to post or link to well-written, whitewater boating trip reports from guest authors, especially if boating pictures are included. Please contact me to submit your trip report.
Camp 3 wave California - Backcountry Secrets.

Whitewater River Recreation Links - Kern River.

Kern River Recreation Directory. (Display options - alphabetical 100. Section 1=whitewater, 2=rafting, 3=conservation, 4=fishing, 5=camping-hiking, 6=local-info)

More about:
River Surfing Guide - California & Nevada Locations for Whitewater Freestyle Kayak Playboating.
San Joaquin River Valley Region Whitewater Paddleboating Guides.
Whitewater River Kayaking, Rafting, Canoeing & Innertubing Guides for California.
How to use guides to white water river rafting and kayaking - BRT Insights.
California River Maps - Atlas & Gazetteer by Delorme, 2008.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

 

Grape juice sports drink homemade recipe for hydration and reducing muscle soreness in athletes.

Help relieve your delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) with a healthy, natural sports drink.

Cherry juice has been promoted for helping to reduce muscle soreness in athletes, but recent information suggests that similar effects are also produced by pomegranate, grape and blueberry juices. When you understand that fruit juice can provide more than just flavor, color and sweetness it is easy to understand why it is worth buying these high quality 100% fruit juices. More testing will be needed to determine which of these colorful, antioxidant-rich fruits and which processing methods produce the juices with the greatest effects on delayed onset muscle recovery after exercise. More information is also needed on how much of these fruit juices to drink per day to have the greatest effect on reducing DOMS.

Purple grape juices make great, all natural sports drinks !!

Purple grape juices are the least expensive of these colorful fruit juices, so recently I've been making lots of grape juice sports drinks to help me get through another hot summer. Because of its high sugar concentration a 64 oz bottle of purple grape juice makes over 2 gallons when properly diluted in my recipe for homemade sports drinks. Precise dilution is critical to make a drink that will be rapidly absorbed into your body. This helps athletes to maintain optimum hydration.

Welch's makes some grape juice blends that taste much better than grape juice alone! Blueberry Pomegranate Concord Grape!! Black Cherry Concord Grape!! Yum, yum!!

Straight out of the bottle the purple grape juice is much too sweet for my taste, but when diluted in the sports drink homemade recipe it has a light, refreshing fruity taste that helps encourage me to keep drinking enough to stay well-hydrated throughout the day. No matter how much I have read about the importance of hydration I have never been able to drink enough boring plain water in a day to maintain good hydration. Having something that tastes good makes it easier for me to remember to drink, drink, drink throughout the day. Whenever I try to drink only plain water I always find that it is easy to "forget" to drink enough and I always end the day severely dehydrated.

Do it yourself (DIY) grape juice sports drinks taste better and provide more benefits than commercial sports drinks.

If you were planning to drink one or two glasses of grape juice per day in hopes of helping with muscle soreness, then you could also dilute that grape juice into a larger volume of the sports drink recipe and use the grape juice sports drink for all of your daily hydration needs. I would never drink the junk food, empty calories of a commercial sports drink throughout the day to satisfy my hydration needs, but I'm happy to drink homemade fruit juice sports drinks all day for the combined benefits of hydration, muscle recovery and whatever other nutritional benefits these high quality natural fruit juices provide.

More about:
Grape juice: Same heart benefits as wine? - Mayo Clinic.
Hydration Fruit-Ade homemade sports drink recipe - BRT Insights 22sept2009.
Athletes need good hydration for optimum muscle performance - BRT Insights 09sept2009.
Food & Drink for Outdoor Activities - BRT Insights.

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