Monthly archives: March 2008

08/03/08
Greetings all my bashful friends. As you can see by the picture, I finally had the opportunity to do my naked mile, a time-honoured tradition where the cyclist disrobes in a celebration of a long journey through nature. For me, it came somewhere after the 3800km mark, on the canal road between Twizel and Lake Tekapo. A unique set of circumstances allowed this to happen, one of which was my old friend, Mr. Wind. And in case you are wondering, no one helped with the picture. If they had, it would have been much easier and taken me far less time to get the shot. Of course, for all the details, you’ll just have to read more of this post, and check out the map, where you can pinpoint exactly where I pulled this off. Enjoy!

07/03/08
Of all the possible hardships that a cyclist faces while on the road, I have to say unequivocally that the most damning thing for me is wind. There is nothing quite as frustrating as a constant force pressing against you as you try to make forward progress. It is even more frustrating when that forward progress is in an uphill trajectory. So begins and ends the entire story of my day. It was probably the hardest emotionally of almost all my days on the bicycle. I only covered 63km in the same rough time that it took me to cover 93km yesterday! Boy, am I glad that I decided to add an extra 25km onto my ride yesterday, rather than trying to slog it out today. I don’t think I would have made it. I really can’t put the extent of my frustration into any words or pictures, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one people! Anyway, read on and check out the accompanying map for my ride from Kurow to a Merino Sheep and Cattle farm 9km north of Omarama.

06/03/08
Hello rock-hounds. I have another day full of rocky miracle stories to share with you today I suppose. My trails today took me 87km from Waianakarua to Kurow, along the way passing some mighty impressive rock structures, including the Elephant Rocks, some Maori Rock Art, as well as some very amazingly shaped rock cliffs. Now I’m by no means a geological expert, but I certainly appreciated seeing these things, even though it meant I had to take another ‘scenic’ route, which meant a whole pile more of climbing as well as twists and turns, narrow roads, and even a gravel section due to a slight navigational error on my part (actually turned out to be a distance shortcut, but the speed was much slower). To learn more about my day, read on, and to see just where I saw some of these cool rocks, don’t forget to check out the map I’ve got up for you as well. Who loves ya, babies? Oh, by the way, big congrats out to Alyssa and Greg, as well as Trevor and Julie on their recent arrivals! Best of luck sleeping 🙂

05/03/08
Greetings folks. Well, as you’ve already seen by the bonus post added to the site, I started my day with a rather taxing attack on Baldwin Street. Although my cycling day was to be 90km, I still had to give it a go on the way out of town, as it would be my only chance to ride up that street on my bike while in New Zealand. What a way to start my day! I was totally exhausted at the top, but had to bounce back quickly, as the next part of the ride was a rather long climb up to around 500m to get over Mount Cargill, which is the scenic (i.e. torturous) way out of Dunedin heading North. The day was a hodge podge as far as weather, scenery and accomplishments go, so without any further ado, I invite you to browse my little map and to read on for a few more exciting details.

EXTRA
Breaking news story just in this morning of March 5th, 2008. With great crowds of cheering supporters, ActiveSteve climbed the world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, atop his trusty bicycle, Epicus, while the Burley Kid watched from below in admiration. This feat caused burning lungs and the taste of blood rising in the throat with the pounding heartrate, but the feat was over almost as quickly as it began. Onlookers were most impressed with this achievement, proclaiming aloud their respect for the task. Several keen eyes were even more impressed by the fact that ActiveSteve remained seated for the duration of the entire climb, and choose to attack almost the entire climb straight on rather than weave. However, in the steepest sections, the traditional alpine style of climbing was adopted for a short section, by weaving left and right to ease the slope. To mark the achievement, a certificate was acquired proclaiming the feat. The onlookers, so impressed, were clamouring to become signed witnesses to the act, even though there was no such place on the certificate. A quick addition to the scroll by ActiveSteve made a fellow from Pensacola, Florida most proud to sign his name proclaiming the validity of the climb. With great smiles and satisfaction, ActiveSteve, Epicus, and the Burley Kid continued back on the road, ready to tackle more hills for the day, albeit at much lesser grades!