Bicycle and Kayak Rentals in New Orleans (2-26-2013)

     This list is compiled from listings I have found on various websites.  Always contact the business you are considering engaging, by phone or via the Internet, for the latest details as to their location and operation.  Always.  Inclusion in this list does not mean endorsement.  As always, caveat emptor and safety first. 

BICYCLE RENTALS

A Bicycle Named Desire-- ABicycleNamedDesire.com. or 504-346-8966.  Located 632 Elysian Fields Blvd.   Going by their website, a bohemian bicycle rental business, a spin-off of a bohemian bicycle touring company, Confederacy of Cruisers.

Bike New Orleans- www.bikenola.net or 504.858.2273

Bicycle Michaels-www.bicyclemichaels.com or 504.945.9505.  About 300 bicycles for rent.  No reservations.  First come, first serve.  Some times they run out during Jazz Fest sometimes they don't.  Shop is at 622 Frenchman St. 

Joy Ride-www.joyridebikerentals.com or 504.982.1617

The American Bicycle Rental Company-www.amebrc.com or 866.293.4037

Zion Bike City, 504-265-0882 (shop) or 732-754-0802 (mobile).  4208 Erato St., New Orleans. Daily rental $20 and up.

Crescent City Bike:   info@crescentcitybiketours.com  or 504.322.3455.  Bike rentals for $35 a day (24-hours).  Three hour guided tours $45, morning or evening.  624 N. Rampart St., New Orleans, LA 70112.

BICYCLE RENTALS: NORTH SHORE (Tammany Trace)
(See post "Tammany Trace-Its a Vacation) for a list of bicycle rental businesses in St. Tammany Parish


KAYAK RENTALS (Bayou St. John)
Bayou Kayaks-bayoukayaks.com or 504.814.0551 or bayoukayaks@gmail.com.  Tours of Bayou St. John.

Kayakitiyat-Offers a guided kayak tour of Bayou St. John.  985-778-5034 or 512-964-9499.

Massey's-www.masseysoutfitters.com/rentals.aspx.  Pick up and return kayaks (and paddle boards) at the New Orleans store on N. Carrollton, 504.648.0292.  Email blake.gill@masseys.net for paddling destination information.  Rentals start at $25 for a single seat sit-on-top rented and returned during a single day's business hours.  Rent for as many days as you would like, rates vary.  A $500 deposit required for non-pedal kayaks; $1,000 deposit for pedal drive systems.  Tandems, fishing kayaks and canoes available.  No delivery: you pick the boat up and you bring it back. Rental fee includes paddles and life vests.  Other accessories--dry bags and additional PFD's and paddles--can be rented.  A universal roof rack can be rented for $10.

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Wilderness canoeing before ABS canoes and GPS

     "North American Canoe Country," by Calvin Rutstrum covers the basics of wilderness canoeing in the Canadian wilderness back when having a "wood and canvas canoe, fishline, rifle, two rabbitskin blankets, several pounds of flour, tea and a bag of salt," was considered well equipped.  The book, first published in 1964 and still available, is not a travelogue, though descriptions of route finding, portage trails and choosing a canoe outfitter, are grounded with numerous anecdotes from Rustrums' more than 50 years of paddling in the great north woods.
     When it was published 46 years ago it was a wilderness primer for anyone in the 1960's who was planning an extended journey in the trackless wilderness areas of North America at a time when there was just not that much in print about how to do a trip like that. 
     Today, the book is not much help in choosing and using outdoor gear available to 21st century paddlers.  Rutstrum writes about the simple and dependable gear he used making his way on the lakes and rivers of the Canadian wilderness; ax, knife, a "tent" which is really little more than a glorified tarp and wood and canvas canoes.  Much of the gear considered essential for outings in 2012, Gore Tex, lightweight tents and sleeping bags and GPS navigation, was invented or came into wide use after this book was published.
     He does mention aluminum canoes which he said were lightweight and durable and which in the early 1960's became widely available.
     The book has no photographs. The few illustrations are black and white drawings of wilderness scenes such as paddling on a quiet lake, a campfire scene, an Indian in a birch bark canoe, portaging a rocky trail, running rapids. These romantic and generic scenes of men in plaid shirts and suspenders may make the book seem quaint in our time of feather-light carbon fiber paddles and Kevlar canoes.
      What does make the book useful to today's wilderness travelers is the timeless and practical advice he gives, gleaned from more than 50 years in the Canadian backcountry.  The chapter on finding your way begins by busting the notion that some men have an innate sense of direction.  (There are only two ways to know direction, he says: by observation of the natural directional clues with the five senses and with instruments, he claims.)  Other insights concern portaging, the value of an outboard motor on a canoe and a paddle stroke better than the "J" stroke for moving a canoe.
     The book is an easy read. Descriptions of events and equipment are concrete and to the point.   The advice on choosing an outfitter for a week-long wilderness trek is probably as valid today as it was 50 years ago.  Ditto for info in the chapters on organized youth camp canoeing, and selecting a canoe route.  And his thoughtful and romantic ten-page discussion on why he sometimes, despite the danger and loneliness, goes on his own, alone, is the best justification for solo travel I have ever seen.

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Louisiana Iris in NP are coming back s-l-o-w-l-y

Before hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, crowds would visit Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Barataria Unit south of Marrero, LA each April for Spring in the Swamp to see the large beds of wild Louisiana Iris blooming purple in the park's wetlands. But salt water washed in with the storms and decimated the park's wild iris population. Surviving plants were few and far between and for five years put on a disappointing show. Visitors to this year's Spring in the Park (March 31-April 1)will see more purple blooms. Not a lot more but more than the previous five years. Park rangers and volunteers say some plants are blooming in clumps of four to six, a big improvement over the solo blooms of the past five years. But they did bloom early this year so hurry to the park if you want to see this year's blooms. But the only way to see them is on foot. The many canals and waterways in the park are too clogged with vegetation to paddle through. A mild winter and a diversion of nutrient-rich water from the Mississippi River to guard against the BP oil spill from seeping into the park has clogged the Kenta, Pipeline and Coquille Canals with a thick mat of giant salvinia which is living up to its scientific name salvinia molesta..

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Paddle of the Month: Black Creek (MS)

Where is it? In the De Soto National Forest, south of Hattiesburg, MS about 110 miles northeast of New Orleans, LA. What is it? A docile and scenic winding stream flowing the color of Mississippi sweet tea. There are only a few blow-downs stumps and strainers making this a great trip for beginners and families. How many miles is the trip? The longest float trip in the national forest is 33 miles:Big Creek Landing to Fairley Bridge Landing. Four other access sites--Brooklyn, Moodys Landing, Janice Landing and CypressLanding permit trips of almost any desired length. A popular overnight trip is the 16-mile stretch from Brooklyn to Janice Landing. Twenty-one miles between Moodys Landing and Fairley Bridge Landing has been designated a Wild and Scenic River and between Janice and Cypress Landing the creek passes through the 5050 acre Black Creek Wilderness Area. Services. Black Creek Canoe Rental, on the creek in Brooklyn, MS, is a large and friendly livery that rents canoes and kayaks and runs shuttles. A tandem canoe (two people) rents for about $35 for a day and about $55 for a weekend, shuttle included. Planning the trip. Check the USGS gage at the link on the Black Creek Canoe Rental site. A reading of between five feet and five and a half feet is about perfect. Below three and a half feet and canoes may have to be dragged across gravel shallows. Creek can rise quickly when rain falls on the watershed upstream. KNOW THE WEATHER!!! Alcohol. Alcohol is permitted on the creek and sandbars but not in the campgrounds or put-ins and take-outs. NO GLASS OF ANY KIND PERMITTED ON THE CREEK. COOLERS CAN BE SEARCHED AND THERE ARE STIFF FINES FOR VIOLATORS!!! Permits No permits are required to paddle the creek or hike nearby Black Creek trail. For more information contact Black Creek Canoe Rental at their website or the Black Creek Ranger District office in Wiggins, MS(601) 928-4423.

St.Francisville Ferry replaced by new bridge

In May the Mississippi River ferry connecting New Roads with St. Francisville closed for good replaced by the new John James Audubon bridge. The opening of the new bridge is important for long-distance bicyclists because the ferry was the only crossing for miles of the great river that was not either dangerous, illegal or both. Bicyclists riding the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier crossed the Misssissippi River using the St. Francisville ferry.
The new bridge is "bicycle friendly" thanks to the work of bicycle advocates in Baton Rouge and East and West Feliciana parishes. Cyclists are permitted on the eight foot wide shoulder the length of the bridge and there are no rumble strips, say riders who have ridden the bridge since its opening.
Approaches to the new bridge are south (downriver) of the old ferry landings. New highways (approaches) were built to connect the bridge with U.S. 61 on the east bank and New Roads on the west bank.
The bridge was not scheduled to open until late summer or early fall but was opened early to traffic because high water in the Mississippi River forced the closing of the ferry, adding about 90 miles to the round trip from New Roads to St. Francisville. Construction continues on the bridge but the work that remains is cosmetic.
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Ask Jack

Jack,
My new bicycle computer displays a calorie count when I ride. How accurate is it?
Ms. Pattie Fattire

Pattie,
Not very. Calories, a measure of heat, are used to measure energy in food and the energy, from food, we burn to power exercise. Calories in a food are measured in a lab. A food is incinerated in a calorimeter and the heat given given off is measured and converted in to calories.
Getting caloric expenditure in humans is not that easy. Calories supply their energy to humans on a cellular level--not an easy place to stick a meter. However, accurate calorie counts can be made indirectly--by measuring the amount of oxygen the body uses to process the calories used to power exercise.
'Calories used' charts for hundreds of activities from typing with an electric typewriter to long distance running come from thousands of measurements of people doing those things while hooked up to an apparatus that measures, minute by minute, their oxygen consumption. The technology to do this and to do it accurately has been in laboratories for over 100 years.
Also, in a laboratory, variables which greatly tax the exercise effort such as headwinds and hills are eliminated.
In fact, calorie counters in treadmills can be quite accurate if variables that effect caloric expenditure, such as the weight of the exerciser and the degree of incline can be programmed in to the machine.
A one-ounce bicycle computer the size and thickness of two Wheat Thins strapped to the handlebars is not that sophisticated. The directions for my Cat Eye VELO8 state clearly how the calories are measured; "The calorie consumption data is only the accumulated value that is calculated from the speed data of every second. It differs from the actual consumed calorie."
What that means is that the computer does not know if your 14 miles per hour is coming from coasting (very little calorie burn) or from standing on the pedals breathlessly cranking up a steep hill (a serious caloric expenditure.) It only knows 14 miles per hour and that is what the count displayed on the screen is based on.
(Remember that even using exercise machines that can account for variables uch as weight and give fairly accurate calorie counts, the result includes calories you would have used if you had been sedentary during that time. Just because you are sitting still does not mean you are not burning calories. To get the contribution the exercise made to your daily caloric expenditure, you would have to subtract the calories you would have burned if you had spent the time not exercising but reading, watching TV or sleeping, from the total.)
I hope this helps you out. Keep up the good work.
Jack
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Bicycle Love: It's Complicated

I love my bicycle. But, like most intense love affairs, its complicated.
My Trek touring bike, a 1985 620 frame with a mishmash of components is easy to love for many reasons. The soft ride that 46 inch wheelbase, axle to axle gives me, the beautiful and shiny and new cobalt repaint job and the touring handlebars that make it comfortable to ride on the drops most of the time, satisfies any bike lust I might have.
But even well oiled and adjusted, the friction shifting 18-speed has its moments. Like the times when wiggling that barcon will just not bring it into gear I am reminded it is not an easy ride to love. And those old style cantilever brakes may me long for the dependable stopping power of V-brakes on a mountain bike.
But brifters (levers that combine braking and shifting) are just not me. I have friction shifted thousands of miles. I like the feel of it when it works which is most of the time. And I rarely ride in a pack so I don't need the precision brifters give. And I like something I can work on in the field. Who has overhauled an STI lever at a park picnic table after a 60-mile ride?
Like I said. Love is complicated. Even when its with a bicycle.
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