| |
| Back in October I posted about a stolen bike that belonged to a lovely lady who was on the Adelaide to Melbourne ride with me Well, it has been found and the lady has her beautiful bike back. Yay! In other news it was only a matter of time before the new personal trainer had me doing the plank. Twice this morning, for 45s each time, so I'm quite pleased by that. | |
|
| Finally managed to replace the battery in the cycle computer today. I'm discovering that the livejournal is useful for remembering things like the wheel size when I need to reprogam said computer. Of course not having readings for a couple of weeks means that, officially, I didn't even manage 5000Km this year. At least not according to BikeJournal (where I am also using the arcadiagt5 handle). Whilst I probably did manage 5000KMs it was a lot less than I was hoping for this year (some nasty bouts of flu and the knee didn't help). I'm not sure what to think about riding a quarter of this years total in one month. I have spare tubes again, which is a relief. I've also bought new SPD pedals that I can add toeclips to the other side. Once I've got that set up I'll be able to ride in ordinary shoes as well as the cycling shoes. Trust me on this, toe clips are the minimum for a trike like mine, and clipless better still (the words "leg suck" spring to mind), but there are times when cleated shoes (or sandals) aren't appropriate or necessary. And whilst I was out spending money I bought a new pair of lightweight riding gloves for summer weather. Of course this means that I'm assuming that summer like weather is on the way which is entirely unjustified based on the weather thus far in December. | |
|
| A lovely lady from South Australia who was on the Adelaide to Melbourne ride with me has had her favourite bike stolen. She thinks it may pop up interstate and has passed out a warning. An image and some details are beneath the cut - if you should happen across it please leave a comment and I'll pass the information on. That bike is truly beautiful, and to see it stolen just sucks. EDIT: The owner has been in contact with me again, and a reward for valid information is offered. | |
|
| ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nevryn's recent posts about the Great Ocean Road reminded me of my own tour through there so I've updated my photo index post to include the relatively few photos I took on that tour. Since the LJ layout I'm now using lets me use a post as a guest book for the journal, its now up there on the menu bar as "Places I've Been". And because I can get to it so easily it may grow links to other photo rich posts over time. :) | |
|
| Well, I'm back at work having spent the morning unpacking the boxes moved from the old office. I have a desk that looks like a desk rather than a disaster area so thats good. I've deleted most of the 100+ emails that were waiting for me. Also good. I have my IT On-call Support mug handy, tea bags, and milk in the fridge so in short all is right with the world. :) And I've changed the journal theme from "Travel" (since I'm not anymore) to a reddish one that I think is easier to read. Besides, red ones go faster. :) Oh, I've also added a link to Adventure South to the sidebar. I thoroughly recommend them as a company to go cycle touring with, and I suspect that they'd be just as good at the other types of tours that they do. I certainly intend to take more tours with Adventure South, and having the link there will be convenient when I do. | |
|
| Well I'm back home and feeling much better after a good nights sleep. One of the messages on my mobile was from my manager asking me to take Monday off because I won't have a desk again until Tuesday. Plans were afoot to move the project back to the main building before I left, obviously there's been a minor delay. This has been one of the best holidays I've ever had; I am so doing this again as soon as I can manage it! Commentary on the day 18 & 19 photos can be found at Day 18 - Manapouri to Otautau and Day 19 - Otautau to InvercargillHopefully I'll process some more of the photos later today but I might have to do some domestic stuff like acquiring food 1st. And that may require reassembling the trike so I can get to the shops, etc... | |
|
| I went to the Christchurch Museum yesterday which was good and then had lunch on the main cafe strip on Oxford Tce. I think thats where I may have gotten food poisoning or a nasty 24Hr bug that hit me really hard last night. It has been raining the last couple of days, and I haven't been exercising at anywhere near the same levels so that may be why I was vulnerable. Today I'm just feeling like an old man but at least I'm not vomiting which is a big improvement. Still not looking forward to two flights today in this condition. And thats all I'm going to say about that. On to more amusing subjects I've loaded the photos for Days 16 - 19 to the galleries but I've only done the commentary for: Day 16 - Queenstown to Te Anau and Day 17 - Te Anau to Manapouri and Doubtful Sound | |
|
| Yesterday we farewelled Rick and Pam who were entering airline hell in Dunedin. Sometime in the subsequent 24 hours they should be back home in Seattle.
Then we drove to Christchurch along the main highway which would have been fairly unpleasant touring given the traffic. We dropped Johan off with the friends he was going to stay with for a bit and me at the hotel.
I left the trike at the Adventure South depot because I couldn't face cleaning it yesterday. Instead I spent the afternoon just... wandering around Christchurch on foot.
This morning I walked over to the depot to strip, clean, and bag the trike. I'm expecting Australian customs to be at least as feral as NZ customs when it comes to bikes (and rightly so!!!!), so cleaning it now was necessary.
Then I came back to the hotel and tested out the wireless capabilities of the laptop for the very first time. Since these posts are getting to the journal (Days 20 - 22 are now up) I guess its working. I may get some photos posted over the next couple of days.
Now that the trike is bagged and in storage at the hotel I can relax and maybe do some normal touristy stuff in Christchurch, I'll see how things turn out.
I definitely want to come back and tour again with Adventure South. Anyone interested in a ride next year? Say, February/March? | |
|
| A good selection today, at least I think so. :) | |
|
| This day trip from Dunedin is an absolute must, especially if you get the weather we got today. And now (drum roll please) the final stats for the tour:
| Total Distance | 1325.1 Km | Distance Today | 53.82 Km | | Total Ride Time | 78:17 | Ride Time Today | 3:19:40 | | Average Speed | 17.20 KPH | Delta | -0.01KPH | | Tour Maximum Speed | 70.1 KPH | Maximum Speed Today | 51.8 KPH | | Odometer | 9260 Km | | |
All in all, very pleased with the tour and my efforts. My first ever 10,000Ks on a bike is in sight & I'm sure I'll be coming back to NZ again. | |
|
| NB: The image beneath the cut may disturb or offend. | |
|
| Some good photos today, mostly taken before lunch. NB: One photo will be going into a separate post for those who wish to avoid it. Hint: Welcome to the Road Kill Cafe... | |
|
| Memo to self: "Only" 30Ks between breakfast and lunch is not necessarily cause for celebration... The views of the fog hanging over Dunedin as we drove into town were magic. | |
|
| Several photos today, including nice bird photos of species that I of course have no idea what they are. NZ natives though so that should add a challenge for the Oz-based ornithologists in the audience. :) | |
|
| Lets not do that before lunch too many times OK? Just loved the views in Curio Bay, and the prospect of sleeping with the sound of waves crashing to the nearby shore is really appealling right about now... | |
|
|
