Other activities

[PhreefalN]

I am curious...other than the obvious,(diving)...what other outdoor sports activities do you participate in...or plan to at least try....This December...I plan on taking hang gliding lessons...Do any of you do this...? Have done it? What tops your to do list?

[Phoenix]

I used to Kayak and Abseil all the time
I was a young instructor for both during my years in the Scouts and the Army Cadets
I also Cycle, Hike, Rock Climb, Scull, Camp, Go for walks in the park lol, and when I get the chance, Sail, Canoe, Shoot, Archery, Golf
most of the latter are pretty hard to get done in the middle of london

[Inspector#2]

From Sept 1 to Jan 16 my wife becomes a widow while hunting season is on. Any spare minute is spent in the fields, forests, and lakes.
Every so often I still dive.

Dave

[Spectre]

My first love has always been skiing. Although mostly all I do now is racing, but once or twice a season I get out for a good cruising day, and we've been trying to get out once a year to ski Tuckermans Ravine at Mt. Washington, but that didn't happen last year [Tuckermans always ends up a bit of a bummer and I liked ending the season last year on one hell of a high note].

I'm already getting itchy for snow, but until then I'll be getting wet.

I've been fairly active in a number of things over the years... I climbed for about a year before I started diving, and I've just not gotten back to climbing yet. Through college I did quite a bit of inline skating until I destroyed my shoulder [and figured out that I wasn't actually indestructable]... I tried to get back at it a couple years later but I just couldn't get the 'fire' back...

I do a lot of fishing, and a bunch of other things that I just don't end up getting to [hiking, mountain biking], and then there is the huge list of things I'd like to do [skydiving, hang-gliding, bungie jumping, kayaking, white water rafting, the list goes on and on...]

[Kronos13]

I put on a kilt and throw stuff.

Dave

Caber Up!

[Inspector#2]

What's up with the spandex Dave? I thought you guys went commando under those kilts!

Dave

[Kronos13]

Inspector#2 once bubbled...
What's up with the spandex Dave? I thought you guys went commando under those kilts!

They're compression shorts. Not too likely to get a hernia hoisting a pint but tossing logs is another thing all together.

Dave

[socaldiver]

play a little golf, do some sailing in the Long Beach harbor (of course I can't do this right now since I am landlocked), nice long walks, and naturally play on the computer.

[Rockhound]

since diving usually attracts folks who do more than just "play golf" on Saturdays.

I used to race sailboats offshore, but now that we have kids, we just sail. We go out at least twice a month, sometimes overnight, but we've yet to do a real "cruise" (except in my dreams).

I like to "camp" in our tent trailer. We head out every month or so. Once a year, we take a long two week camping vacation that I sometimes combine with diving. Favorite spots are St. Andrews in Panama City, FL and the mountains of New Mexico.

I like to ride bicycles. Currently, I'm training for the William's 100K Classic, which I will ride as part of the Houston Police Dept.'s Bicycle Relay Team on October 5. Even though I'm not an officer, a member of this team has ridden for 6 yrs. in "honor" of my 7yr old son. Past destinations have included Fairbanks, AK, Calgary Alberta and New York City (bicoastal, via LA).

This is as part of their fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.

This year, the Executive Committee of the Team voted me in as a full member. If I meet my fundraising goal, I will ride with them to Edmonton, Alberta next summer. (Given that I'm a 250 pounder, I think I was allowed to join so they could all draft behind me.) Even though I'm pretty big, I ride well and fast. I'm worried more about my ability to raise the funds. So far, in 20 yrs., there guys have raised over $2.5MM and ridden over 46,000 miles.

I was into powered parachuting, but my wife has grounded me temporarily. It is a lot of fun and fairly safe when you follow the rules (not unlike diving). I was very close to buying a two seater last fall when a friend was killed and my wife "pitched a fit" at my foolish "mid life crisis" behavior. .

Hang gliding? I tried hang gliding as a teenager. I liked it, but the training and equipment back then was poor and I witnessed a bad accident and quit. These days, it is fairly safe when you are trained properly. In Texas, the best school is located in Austin.

I still want to try flying a "trike" (weightshift ultralight), but I need to wait until my kids get older and my wife becomes more understanding. Trikes look like a hoot to fly.


Things I want to try:
Flying a big plane (took one lesson in college, but realized I couldn't afford it.)

skydiving (for my birthday. I've already asked).

skiing (been to Whistler and Blackcombe, but as only as a geologist. I've never skiied.)

Things I used to do:

Hunt, shoot handguns competitively, collect fossils ( I stopped because I just didnt have time).

Things I have NO interest in:

Golf

[landlocked]

I just play golf. I used to chase elk with pointed sticks (see profile) but I quit this year. I used to run (organized and put on the first Mesa Falls Marathon) but I had to quit when I picked up a second job. Used to fish but standing in ice cold water wasn't as much fun after I quit running and the shin splints healed up. Anyway, I guess I'm a used to. Now I just golf. Dive and golf and eat and dive and go to work and dive and golf and harass folkes on the Scuba Board! Ooops. I forgot, I do ski during the winter. The water gets a little hard for diving around here and the golf balls are a little hard to find under four or five feet of snow.