Fitness

Freedom On A Tiny Boat

I’ve been wasting my life up to this point! That was Greg Miller’s first thought after pushing a kayak into the water for the first time, he says. He instantly fell in love with the activity.

“Just the freedom of being out there in this tiny little boat — you can make it go wherever you want, explore places you couldn’t go before,” he elaborates. “If you’ve never been boating, it just opens up a whole new world.”

Photo by Erika Doll

Greg, 52, has alternated between cycling and kayaking for exercise for about 20 years. He enjoys riding through the open countryside on his bike and then getting a great core and arm workout in his kayak, typically going out on the Ohio River three or four times a week during the warmer months of the year.

The Jeffersonville native’s favorite water excursions include 14-Mile Creek and Deam Lake, both in Indiana, as well as Harrods Creek in Louisville. Oh, and taking his kayak surfing on the wakes behind the Ohio’s barges and the Belle of Louisville.

“A barge puts out this wash in the back of it, sometimes 10-foot tall,” Greg says. “You can get out and surf on those, and when you’re done you can easily get back into calm waters. The Belle with that paddle wheel on the back, it puts out this mile-and-a-half long trail you can get on.” (Greg adds that this is not for beginner kayakers.)

Greg captured this sunset at Kentucky Lake on one of his many kayaking — and sometimes photography — adventures.

Photo submitted

When he’s not out on the water or the road, Greg works his day job as a computer programmer and spends time on his other hobby of ‘collecting hobbies.’ He’s into photography, astronomy (and combining the two, astrophotography), and pool, to name a few. He helped start the Louisville Area Canoe and Kayak online group, which has Facebook and Meetup pages to connect area paddlers and coordinate occasional group kayaking and camping trips.

For anyone who wants to get active, Greg’s advice is to plan your time around your workout. “I try to prioritize that a workout is the number one thing that needs to happen,” he says. “You have to say, ‘This is the most important thing.’”

By Jessica Alyea

Today's Transitions / Spring 2025