Welcome to the Flash Blog…

08/02/08
Hello friends from around the world. Today I made my way over Haast Pass, the lowest of the passes from west to east over the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Whew, it had some tough parts. Although the overall pass was only 564m, the first section was a killer, as everyone I encountered has agreed. I’m glad that I opted to do it in 2 days rather than only one, as now I can enjoy a leisurely ride in to Wanaka, and hopefully be there by mid-day. I’m hoping that once there, I can find a bar televising the Coast to Coast race, and I’ll then proceed to drink and cheer on all the local athletes rather than competing in it myself 🙂 I chose to play a bit of a tourist myself today, opting to do all the side trails on the way to Makarora, in order to break up my day and not finish off too early, which believe me, would be boring here in Makarora. Know what’s here? Nothing. Just the ‘resort’ I’m staying at, and a DOC information center, which I spent 40 minutes at already chatting about tracks around here. Anyway, read on for a bit more about the day and what it held for me. I also have a pile of pictures on the map for you to check out.

Hey gang! Well, I’m slowly making my transition into my humdrum existence back here in Ottawa. Understandably, I’m having a bit of a challenge finding my focus again, but it’s coming. As I decide what my upcoming racing and traveling plans are, I’ll share them. Looking at my ‘countdown’ is depressing, since I have nothing to look forward to at the moment! However, for now, I can still be happy with the fact that I’ve put together my ‘best of’ pictures of both the North and South Island. It was a tough cull, and I still ended up with 1756 pictures, but at least I did a first sort. These are all up in full resolution should you wish to use them as wallpaper 🙂 Up next: getting the NZ ‘Mega-Maps’ done. I think I’ll do North and South separate. Otherwise, the files get pretty unwieldy. Without further ado, please check out the following links:
Best of North Island Pictures
Best of South Island Pictures

02/02/08
Hi folks. I hope you’re all doing well, and feeling better than I am at the moment! You know, it really sucks when you get a summer cold, doesn’t it? Right now, I’m feeling absolutely miserable as I write up this post. I have full intentions of finishing it up, grabbing a bite to eat somewhere, and going straight to bed where I may listen to some music for a while before I [hopefully] fall asleep early. Today was actually a really good day on the bike, in spite of the weather, but tomorrow, thanks to some boneheaded mistake by me and some pre-booking, will be my first 100+km day, ending up somewhere to camp hopefully. Yup, I mis-read my guide book, and missed a 30km distance marking. Oops. I got excited, and pre-booked my ice-climbing day on Fox Glacier for Feb. 5th in anticipation of getting there in 2 days, and already paid 50% for it. So, that means I’ll just have to slug it out tomorrow and ride a long day. Hopefully the weather will be similar to today’s, which blessed me with a tailwind. Read on and check out the map for all the gory details!

28/01/08
Well, what a fine day to you all! At this very moment, I find myself at the end of a long day in the saddle, with a sore butt for reasons I’ll reveal in just a moment. I’m listening to some great tunes on a record player of all things, in a farmhouse on a 400 Hectare farm of sheeps, goats, pigs, and cows! I’m hoping to buy some fresh sausages in a little bit if the hostel owners ever show up! Yup, the sign said make yourself at home, so I have. I had a nice shower, and found the record collection. Matt and Rob would be most impressed. I’ve got limitless choices of classic rock and a good record player for the evening. The view is pretty awesome too. So far, I have the whole place to myself. Not bad for 20NZD. Of course, I’m really in the middle of nowhere, and the place is called the Hu-Ha Bikepackers, so you know it caters to cyclists, which is a nice change. It’s in a good location for bikers, as to get here was a full day’s ride, but there’s nowhere else really close, so it’s an ideal cyclists stop, but not for car travelers. Anyway, read on for today’s tale, and check out the map.