9 Months Away from Home - how do you summarize that?

As you may have guessed, I've not been writing here since my travels came to an end. This is a blog about wanderlust after all. I will summarize a bit of what's been going on since Japan, however. I flew back to Sydney and spent a few days there. It was cold in Sydney with winter falling over the southern hemisphere. I was glad to have my warm coat at my disposal. One of my close friends' sister from back home happened to be visiting the city when I was there and we connected and spent a rainy day together. That weekend I made my way back on the long flight to Canada.

Coming home was a bit of a shock to the system. I was happy to see my close friends and family again, no doubt, but the change in routine and the reality of not traveling anymore started to set in quickly enough and I was on quite a downer. I knew that actually living abroad would change things for me. That was part of the point of doing it. But I never knew I still had such a huge capacity for change after all the changes I've made in my life over the past 5 years or so. It just showed me that there is no limit to new experiences opening up your mind and broadening your horizons. The people I met while away were the real reasons behind this even more than the beautiful places I visited. One thought that permeated my mind while in Japan is that there are beautiful places in every corner of the world. People travel and say how beautiful this or that place is and how amazed they are at that beauty, but frankly, I've ceased to be surprised at such things. I'm not exactly unmoved by the places I visit, but I am now more than ever almost expecting to see wonderful things when I travel. And that's kind of cool. It emphasizes the fact that it's the people and the differences in culture and things that you learn about a place that are the aspects of travel and affect us and teach us the most. To be able to experience all of that amongst natural beauty is the bonus. At any rate, I can't say enough how lucky I have been for the experiences I've taken away in the time I was gone from my home. I have yet another new perspective on my own existence and I'm open to new ideas and experiences moving forward. It's made me even bolder, I think, to take some chances in life. And speaking of which...

I decided to take advantage of having some time off that I've actually never had in my life, and registered to take an intensive, 4-day per week, month-long French course. I wanted to just be immersed in the language and speaking it every day. I figured it would help me if I got interviews for bilingual positions. I can speak perfectly well, but I don't often get the chance to, so I can get a little rusty and trip over my words when I'm on the spot. I also got certified to teach spinning that month.

Since then I've moved out of my brother-in-law and sister's place into a house downtown (living downtown is so much more my pace!) with two roommates. It's working out well. I've got a part-time job at a health food store down here and teaching spinning once a week now. Still looking for something full-time and better paying in order to save some money and pay for the courses I took in July, but I've been so very grateful for all the free time here this summer. I've been busy, don't get me wrong, but it's been a totally different busy than I've ever known before.

I've been cycling a lot in the past month and a half (July wasn't the best for motivation on my part, nor for the weather). I'm madly in love with the bike at the moment, heading out about 6 days per week. I participated in a TTT at the end of August and had a lot of fun. I've actually done a faster TT before than what we did, but none of us had ridden together in echelon before (and most of the rest of my team had never done it at all), so there was a bit of getting comfortable with each other in the first lap of the race, then there was the fact that it was a tough course and some of us (ahem - moi) weren't in top shape at the time. Nevertheless, the point was to have fun and we did! We even got a second place medal!!! I've never had a medal in my life!! How cool is that????! I hope I'm around next spring for the next installation of this same race, as we plan to do it again and put our last result to shame. :)

I have plans for the near future that I'm working on, both travel and career related, but I will be keeping them all to myself until things are clearer and more concrete. In the meantime there likely won't be much activity here, but check in from time to time and we'll head off to another part of the world together soon! Thanks for reading and spending time virtually traveling with me. I'm glad I can share it. xo

Leaving Wellywood

Figured I'd blog while I had the chance - a quiet night on the road and good internet access.

I left Wellington today - for good. Wow! It feels like yesterday I was moving into my flat, and now today I've moved out. I knew that this whole living abroad thing would go by quickly, but it's still hard not to marvel at the passing of time and the turning of a chapter in my life experience. I do have one regret this evening - that I managed to let myself get run down and caught a nasty head cold on the weekend and thus, was not able to do one last ride in Welly before I left. Well, I did get out on the bike on Saturday, but I cut that ride short because I was not feeling well at all - the following day I was full-on sick. My friend Jess took Tuesday off work so we could spend some time together before I left - isn't that so cool???! If I had been well, even though it was a cold day it was a ride-able one and we would have gone for one last boot around the bays. Instead we hung out on Cuba St and had awesome Malaysian dumpling soup (made me feel heaps better!) at Aunt Mena's and then walked around that area, Courtenay Place, etc.

I picked up a rental car today which I managed to get as a relocation - meaning they need it moved back somewhere (in this case, Auckland) and you get a free rental, paying only for the petrol. I didn't get my packing done quickly enough, nor my bike broken down, so I was still sorting things out this morning. I had tried breaking the bike down last night but couldn't manage to get the pedals off - I even got a kiwi mate to try to help me and he couldn't do it. Thing is, my 8 mm allan key is just a wee one. I think I need one with a longer handle so that I can get better leverage. When you pedal your pedals tighten up you see. So they were on there pretty good. As a result I had to make a trip to the bike shop to get them to take them off for me - which added an extra task to my morning. In the end I left after 2 PM. Not ideal. Luckily I had no big schedule. I drove up the west side of the north island and when I stopped in a town called Paraparaumu, decided to hit up the i-site for thoughts on where I might stop tonight, as I was clearly not going to make it as far north as I'd originally thought. The lady there was awesome and gave me a few suggestions and tips on things to check out if I have time. So I've stopped in a little ski town called Ohakune. It's pretty much winter here - they are gearing up for ski season (yes, it's cold - it's been blisteringly cold in Welly the past week!). The nearby ski hill: Mt. Ruapehu seems to be the main attraction and source of revenue here. You can take a shuttle to do the Tongariro crossing from here as well, but I'm not sure it's as popular a spot to stop in for that as some of the others. So, since it's still early and no skiing yet, it's very quiet here and I've got a whole dorm to myself at the backpackers. The only others staying here are a family doing a kayak trip on the Wanganui River tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to heading north into warmer weather - and hopefully warm enough to head to the beach. I'm even looking forward to exploring some more of Auckland! I have two weeks left in NZ! Hard to believe!

My Dichotomy

I find I'm always split - travel, the bike. Sometimes the two go hand-in-hand very nicely. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes it's ok to hire a crappy old rental bike when I'm travelin' just to shake the cobwebs off the ol' legs. Sometimes it's just not good enough and I am desperate for my own two wheels. Sometimes I see other cyclists when I'm traveling without her and I long to join them. And then there is the back and forth, loss and gain of fitness every time I'm away from riding while I'm out exploring. It really can be a dichotomy for me.

Traveling with the bike is mostly challenging. It's great that it can be done, but it's costly, and tedious. I'm wanting to travel some more right now and I would love to be able to ship my bike home, but it's far, far, far too cost prohibitive. So I'm looking into storing her. I think I've found the place, but man! It's been a bit of a mission (to quote all the Brits I've met - I seem to have latched onto their expressions as much as the Kiwi's). I wish traveling with the bike were easier. Even when I store her I know I'm going to have moments wishing I could go put her back together and get out on the road.

The Ups and Downs of Travel

Through experience comes wisdom – or something like that. I realize that so far, bus tours are just not for me. I’m also not a backpacker. I’ve never really been in love with the backpacking lifestyle, however, it is really the only really affordable way to go about seeing places for extended periods of time. Not to mention filling in time with memorable experiences and saving money to do things that are really worthwhile – like helicopter rides up in mountains with glaciers.

I haven’t been overly enthused about the coach that I decided to try out this time around. I’ve done the full-on solo trips, both by the national bus line and rental car. I’ve toured around with a friend from home with a rental car as well. This time I decided to try one of these hop on hop off things that a few friends whom I’ve met here have done. They both had positive experiences. So is it me, or perhaps the driver of the first couple of legs of this trip that are making me feel less than satisfied so far? Could be a little of both, to be honest. I think I function better on my own. While I don’t want to fly solo all the time, I quite enjoy doing m own thing. I also think that needn’t pay for a coach with a driver who is never on time, quite disorganized, and rarely helpful. I don’t function well with hour-long delays. It has definitely been testing my patience. I’m also not impressed with having to stop at crap-holes in really remote places because it’s a ‘mandatory overnight stop’, only an hour’s drive away from the next town where there is better accommodation – this is just a ploy to keep crappier establishments in business. I was not happy with where I found myself obliged to stay last night – particularly when I found a bed bug on the sheet of the bed I was about to set my stuff down on. I moved rooms, but was quite anxious about the whole thing.

I usually maintain posts on the fun, happy, positive aspects of my journeys, but the reality is that travel, while highly rewarding and usually a lot of fun, also has its moments. It can get stressful and it can test you. But as with all things in life, there is a yin and a yang, and without the bad we cannot fully appreciate the good – and we learn from both.Yesterday I arrived in Wanaka, and as a result of stopping here got off the schedule of that bus and will be picked up by the next one – hoping that things will be better tomorrow with a different driver. I've really enjoyed Wanaka. It is a very, very small place but full of charm. It sits on a really, really big eponymous lake. The backpackers where I chose to stay is really nice and has a beautiful view of the lake. I hired a mtb and rode around the lake and practiced my bunny hops and got my groceries and stuff yesterday. It was a nice afternoon of down time for me. I really enjoyed it. I wish I had one more day here, but I’m off to explore more interesting things over the next few days. As a result of my experience the past four days I’ve decided to alter my trip plans a little so as to accommodate some detours from the coach route. Stay tuned for more as I make my way around the south.

My First Road Race

Earlier today I composed the first part, but didn't want to jinx the weather, so held off on posting it until finishing up the race tonight (post race analysis follows)...

Four hours until my first road race. We are, thankfully, riding the course we've been using the whole time for our TT's. I say thankfully, as it takes some of the mystique out of something that I'm doing for the first time. I've ridden this course more times than I can count now, so I know it. The unknown is riding with a pack of people with very little group riding skills, let alone having raced. Yes, there are some experienced chicks riding there tonight and I'm going to try my best to stick up there with them. I say this, and yet I'm not experienced at riding in a pack in a race situation. But I am comfortable riding in a pack in general, so I think that will be helpful.

One thing that is totally amazing for tonight is the weather forecast. No, it's not a beautiful, sunny day - it's kinda cloudy actually. But the wind is only 30 kph!!!!!! I've never ridden a race here yet in such little wind!! And check out the satellite image from the weather webpage:

I'm not sure I've ever looked at the weather page and seen this before. Usually there are many little yellow systems circling about those two land masses we like to call NZ, and there is ALWAYS one big one that circles around and over Welly. Tonight however, it is completely clear!! The universe is in alignment with us here today. I'll post later about how it goes.

Things have been busy here this week. I have so much to blog about, actually, and very little time to sit down and put my thoughts down into a coherent block of something for you to read. I will try my best to get something out this weekend... the operative word is 'try'.

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Post Race Analysis!

All afternoon I had this nervous energy about tonight. So much so that I started to hope that I wouldn't expend too much of my energy on nerves. There were 3 groups in the race tonight. They handicapped it. How this works is that you are placed in a group of similar ability based on your TT results. The slowest group (called Limit) starts first. Their goal is to keep up the pace enough that the groups that follow do not pass them. The next group (called Break) starts 2.5 mins later and their aim is not only to pass the group in front, but to also keep away from the strongest group which is starting 2.5 mins after them (that group is called Scratch). They put an experienced rider in each group to ride and coach and encourage people and keep people moving around in the pack to share the work. It was pretty cool. I was in the Break group. I didn't count the people, but I think we were about a dozen. The wind stayed at bay for the most part. There was a headwind as we started out toward the point where the little lighthouse is (see my last post). It was between 35-40 kph. The calmest wind in which I've done a cycling event in this city - ever!

That said, I started off the front with Jess and our experienced leader, Nick. He's the guy that met up with me last week at the start of the TT and was the reason I even did it (read last post). Into the headwind we were clocking about 27 kph. This is the fastest I think I've ever ridden into a headwind. Ouch. My turns at the front were painful. As we rounded the point at the little lighthouse and got the wind at our backs we picked it up. Actually we cranked it right up into high gear. We were now clocking anywhere between 37 and 40 kph when I looked down at my speedo. I started getting a cramp in my side and I also started to feel like throwing up.

The riders in our pack were strong, but fairly inexperienced with the pack dynamic so they were pretty set on holding their same position as they moved through a rotation, not thinking to move into gaps to keep people together, etc. Since I was hurting enough that I couldn't keep making my way to the front for pulls I started looking for spots opening up between bikes and moved in and out of them, trying to stay in the middle. Nick saw me suffering and falling off at one point and pulled me back in and pointed out a good spot. However, the pace just kept going up and we were now maintaining 40 kph. Wow. I can do 40 kph and up, actually, in a sprint. I can do 40 kph a bit longer with a real good (like 50+ kph) tailwind. But I've never been able to keep a steady pace of 40 kph or higher. This I could not keep up. I'm not there yet. Cramp getting worse. Pain going around into my back now. Throwing up - hmmm. Should I? Yeah, that was a thought. I started falling off. Jess was near the back as I was dropping off and she gave me some really kind words of encouragement and tried to pull me back but I told her to go on, as there was no way I'd be able to hang in. I later found out that she only managed to hang in about 3-4 km longer than I had.

Oh, I failed to mention that by this time we'd passed the slowest group (the Limit group). That was really cool. I felt encouraged when we did that and tried my best to stay in our pack, but just couldn't. Luckily, Robyn (experienced leader of the slow group, former NZ Olympian, and captain of the women's club here) had kind of dropped the slow group as it was just too slow for her I guess. She picked me up - surprisingly I was able to keep up 33-34 kph with a massive cramp in my gut, side, and back. She offered to pull me up to the pack, as they actually weren't that far out of reach as of yet. We tried, but the extra effort was soooo painful. I just couldn't. We rode together up to the hill and she stopped halfway up to wait for the slowpokes that she was mentoring through the race and wished me luck.

The hill f-ing hurt. Small ring. Bummer. I got passed on the hill by some of the fast chicks. I was thinking - 'OMG, they are so f-ing fast. I hope I can get that fast in a couple more seasons.' I gained some speed on the descent. I'm starting to love descents again. :) And I came up on a young girl that I've ridden with before. She was all alone and as I passed I asked if she wanted to grab my wheel. She did and we rode the last 2.5 K together. I pulled the most. When I'd caught her she was suffering and I figured if she rested for the first bit she'd be able to pull near the end when I wanted one. My plan worked. She offered to pull around the start of the last km. When we were within 250 m and could see the finish I pulled out around her and said, "You ready?" And I click-clicked it up 2 gears, stood up, and sprinted the f-ing hell out to the finish. That was F-U-N!!! I love sprinting. Maybe I shouldn't put that in writing.

We had a post-race/end of race series gathering at the community centre down the road afterwards. Jess got most improved female!!! I knew she'd get it. Last week she pretty much blew the thing apart! And I got the 'attendance' award. lol! Yes, I went to every single race. My prize is this little wind vest. It actually came in quite handy, as it got quite chilly tonight and it was dark by the time Jess and I were back in town. It's maybe a bit geeky, but it works. :) And it's actually a cool souvenir of riding and racing here in NZ, as the website it lists at the bottom is: www.gw.govt.nz/cycling . And to think that some people I used to work with back home who've visited this country said to me before I left that there wasn't a lot of cycling in NZ - what do they know???

The ride home was good but my cramp never ended. I have two guesses at the cause: 1) maybe what I ate this arvo? 2) I was anaerobic far too long.

Looking at the data, I've confirmed what I thought when I checked in on my HR during the race. Actually, my guess post-race was that I was full-on anaerobic for around 7 km (my HR was around 198 for quite some time!). Looking now at my data, uploaded to my computer, my HR was in zone 5 (anaerobic) for 14 mins!!! I got my blood lactate test done last month and anything over 191 is anaerobic for me. And my max HR is around 200-202 (I reached 200 in my sprint). So I'm figuring that the most likely cause of my cramp is that I was beyond my limit for a bit too long. Ah well. I figure it's good training right? Gotta push beyond that limit as much as possible in these situations. The other rides are about the other stuff. The endurance and fun. Not that this wasn't. Actually, even with the pain and nausea it was one of the funnest nights of cycling I've had here. And the post event stuff was really great!

So ends my dabbling in racing and finding out what I'm made of on the bike here in NZ. And I expect a new beginning for it when I get back home. :) There is still more cycling to be had before I leave - in fact I got the day off work this Sunday and Jess and I have some plans that include spandex and two wheels. But the time is ticking down on this part of my experience here. I'm really happy that I took the chance back in November and headed out to my first time trial. I've had a lot of fun and made new friends and learned a lot more about myself on the bike. As I rode up the long hill home, I felt the smoothness of my wheels turning, the street was quiet, and the air still (wow!), I thought, "I love my bike".

Last TT in NZ

Tonight I rode my last TT here. Last week's got canceled due to a storm, so tonight they went with an ITT in order to handicap us for next week's race. I'm feeling a bit sketched about racing next week, but I'll see how it goes I guess.

At any rate, this evening I felt really, really good. Funny enough, it was a really lovely day here weather-wise and very low winds. As I got ready to head out the wind picked up (we're going to have another big storm here tomorrow). As I rode down to the site of our races (about 1/2 hr ride from my flat) I felt quite discouraged. I'm actually getting real tired of all this wind. It's been great training. I've learned some good skills on how to handle the bike in the wind. I'm gaining a lot more confidence and agility in doing it. But tonight the wind started the break me.As I rode around the bays and suburbs of Welly I looked down at my fork and realized that I'd forgotten my timing tag at home. DOH!! OK. That sealed the deal. If I couldn't even get a properly recorded time I was out. I got to the corner before the turn-off to the start of the TT and waited there for my friend, Jess, deciding to tell her that I was just going to ride around the loop and back home so she wouldn't worry that I wasn't there. Yep. You got it. I gave up on the race. I was sooooo not in the mood to ride hard into a 50 kph headwind tonight. I do realize that TTs are about testing yourself and your will, but as I've said before, I have very little in the way of a head for this, so tonight it was dead in the water for me. As I waited for my friend one of the organizers rode up and chatted with me. I mentioned that I'd forgotten my timing tag and he said, "Oh, no worries. We have heaps of them tonight. You can borrow one". OK. I'm back in. He and I rode over to the start and Jess was already there!

I borrowed a timing tag, got myself on the start sheet, and lined up. We start 30 seconds apart. Jess ended up being first to start since she was there so early. I was fifth. As per usual, the headwind was killer. I'd cooled down enough and couldn't be bothered to warm up again before the start, so that my legs hurt like all get out for the first ten minutes. I started in the big ring, but moved it to the small ring after about a km of pain. Kept warming up and did ok into the wind in the small ring, but still in a reasonably hard gear. I kept gaining on the guy in front of me (a junior, but still, they usually pass me). I felt encouraged. He was having a hard time with the wind. Every time we got a good gust of it he didn't have the experience to push into it and manage how it pushes you all over. I learned how to manage this better from Mario, one of the shop mechanics. I did not move into an easier gear. And I passed this kid as another gust of wind pushed down on us real hard. Sweet.

It's about 3 km out into a headwind on this course when we have a northerly. Then you hit this point, and you are getting absolutely blasted by the wind from the front and the left, but there is this little beacon of hope: a tiny little lighthouse. When you see the lighthouse on the point you know the pain will soon be over, because this is when you turn out of the headwind. As I rounded that corner, being pushed around on the road by the wind, I prepared to move into the big ring again. Around the corner, big ring, and 50 kph tailwind. Sweet as! Now I'm gaining on the girl who was in front of that kid I just passed. I pass her around a beach called Scorching Bay. I was surprised, actually, at how fast I went by her. I big ringed it up this small hill that takes us down into a town called Breaker Bay. At the top of this hill though, I got caught. I have to say, I was wondering when one of the elite girls was going to catch me. They were only started a minute and a half and two minutes behind me. But here we are, on a course that is just under 14 km, and it took this girl, with full aero set-up, until the 11.5 km mark to catch me. I must be improving! I descended the hill, and now with about 2 km to go I get passed by the second girl. I was able to keep them both in sight until the end, which I felt happy about. Even though my legs were hurting a bit at the end I still tried for a sprint and, looking at my data, managed a decent 7 kph increase in speed in the last 250 m. :) Not quite as good as the last one, but on the last TT I was well rested at the end, as I'd sat up for part since I'd been feeling pretty bad that night.

Jess didn't get passed so she started first and was the first to finish. That was really cool! I wish we could've done a TTT this week as we would have kicked some butt!! She and I rode home around the rest of the bays and battled the ridiculous headwind up our 5 km climb on Happy Valley. The final hill to get home out of the Aro Valley is a steep and hurting one, but as it usually happens when we reach the top, it always feels great when you get there and know you've done it. I suppose the endorphins don't hurt. Not to mention the view.

And all of this after initially giving up on doing the TT altogether. Yes. I'm happy that I did it. It felt good. But I will say one thing - I'm really looking forward to a vacation from this wind. And I'm really, really looking forward to riding when I get back home, with no wind. Now that's sweet as.

Wind and Work

Windy Wellington has certainly been living up to its reputation. While life here the past few weeks has been relatively low key, the wind and weather definitely haven't. Last week I rode my bike once. The other days the wind was up to 70 kph and we had lots of rain. Our race on Thursday was canceled. A bit of an autumn prelude. They do not call autumn, 'fall', as we do back home. I've been working a lot and reading a lot these days. Just kind of settled into a day-to-day life groove here right now. Finished 2 books and onto a 3rd this week - this in only 2 weeks' time. I get into fits and spurts of reading sometimes and it seems I'm in one now. This is good, as I love reading while I travel, so I hope to trade in one of the books I picked up two weeks ago for a used book to take on my next trip - the south of the South Island. I should have far more to post on when my trip gets underway. Fortunately, yesterday we had a turn in the weather and I'm off for a nice ride this evening with my training partner, Jess. :)

On the Bike Down Under

Traveling, exploring the world, and the experience it brings are quite obviously three big reasons for me being down here in NZ for an extended period of time. The ability to spend a bit more time on the bike, however, was a big determining factor for me taking time away from life in Canada. For the cyclists in my life who read here, you'll probably enjoy this post. For those who aren't, it's nap time.

I've met enough cyclists at this point to know that, while I am an avid cyclist, I'm not a crazy one (yes, believe it or not). I recently read one of my favourite blogs, written by a competitive cyclist, and she said that it takes both passion and crazy to be successful in cycling - and do I ever believe that! I can be quite passionate about this sport, but I love it for the camaraderie, the health and fitness, being outside, and seeing the world using two wheels and my own physical power. I'm not sure I will ever have the mind of a competitive cyclist, and I don't really care if I do or don't. However, I do get a lot of external pressure (mostly from the boys at the shop). And this, if I let it, sometimes negatively affects my perspective on cycling, because when I feel pressure to do more, ride more, ride harder, or whatever the flavour of the day is for them, the less I enjoy my rides.

Is cycling a major component of my life? You bet. Do I really love the sport? Definitely. Would I like to have more time for it? Yep - even today in NZ I could honestly use a little more time on the bike and less with other commitments (do I ever wish I were independently wealthy!!). Am I willing to forsake everything else to do it? No.

So then, what has cycling been like so far in NZ?

I sometimes get nervous being solo on the bike in the middle of nowhere in a country that is still fairly foreign to me. Yesterday I decided to ride a route that I have ridden in company before, but not alone. It was a great thing to do. It's a very nice route. And in the end, quite safe for one to take on their own. Sometimes I just need a little extra coaxing, or maybe a good push to dive into the deep end and test the water.


I took this route yesterday because it goes inland, away from the water, into some hills, and into what I'd hoped would be a more sheltered area. Wrong. The wind here is just simply mad. I can't express this to you enough. They really have aptly named this city. Yesterday it was up to 60 kph, and I was unable to escape it, roaring down the valley between the hills I had climbed up through to get down there. So I had to use some new skills that I've learned here to cope with it - pushing a bigger gear, feeling a bit more in control of the bike when the wind gusted up on me and knocked me around the road a bit. I actually had thought it would be nice to have a heavier bike in those conditions!! How telling! It was a real scorcher yesterday. As they would say here: it was hot as! So the one positive thought I could think was, 'thank goodness for that wind - who knows how much I'd be baking right now without it!'

The roads here are all 'sealed' roads. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but back home we are SPOILED!! Smooth asphalt roads are a luxury here. From what I've seen they lay down some sort of sticky tar-like stuff, flatten a lot of rocks/gravel on top of it, then lay down some more sealant kind of stuff to hold it all together. Sealed roads are not smooth. They are very rough and there is a lot of road vibration. It kind of takes the life out of you when you ride. We sell a lot of 'tyres' at the shop, as the roads wear them down quickly. I have to say, when I get home and I'm riding in pretty much zero wind, on smooth asphalt roads, and hills that are less than 10% grade I won't know what to do with myself!! Ha-ha! I hope I can keep up the hill-climbing fitness that I'm very thankfully getting by riding the hills here.

Speaking of hills... in Wello they are mostly short and steep. My longest climb on the routes I like to ride is about 5 km, and it's the least steep with a pitch averaging around 5% I'd say. The rest of the hills I tend to climb are short, but are most frequently >8% and quite often >10%. Now that I'm getting fitter on the hills I'm starting to wonder if I need to start climbing longer ones. Yesterday as I pondered some of the thoughts I expressed at the beginning of this post, I started to think about setting some goals. I believe that no matter what activity you like to do, it's good to have fitness goals. They keep you motivated to push yourself a bit more and get more out of your sport. Maybe I'm on to something here... should I start looking for a longer climb? Oh boy. Am I starting to sound like someone who actually enjoys climbing hills? That's verging on the side of crazy, now isn't it?

New Year, New Experiences

I've been lax on updating the blog the past couple of weeks so I do apologize. How bad of me - particularly when most of you are back at work and in need of a distraction from life in the cube farm. ;) I've been busy. Life is full. Things are good. So where to start?

Well, the Christmas holidays mark the start of summer down under and I'm feeling the vibe of the season a lot these days. Every time we have a nice day there are heaps of folks out at the beaches. I've been wearing singlets (kiwi word for tank-top) and jandals (kiwi word for flip-flops) a lot more. I even bought a pair of shorts over the holidays. I've been riding my bike a lot. I'm feeling really good on the bike these days. This was one of the goals associated with taking this time off and away from home. I had hoped that I could start to build some real strength and power on the bike on top of the base I have from the past 5 years of cycling. I think it's starting to come. The hills here are just killer. As Andrew experience when he visited, you really cannot imagine the hills (and the wind of Wello) until you are here. I don't think he truly believed what I'd told him about riding here. There are all varieties: short and steep, long with steep parts, long and gradual - you name it, you've got it. It's the best kind of cycling training I could hope for. And then you just throw in some good 40 kph headwinds every other day for good measure, and you find yourself thinking that relatively windless days and 6% grades are easy. Choosing this particular location to live has been fortuitous in many ways, but this one may be one of the more significant for me. I cannot wimp out and do a flat ride. It's just not possible. Even recovery rides include some form of climbing. So - I have become a little more confident in my abilities on the bike and hopefully this will continue to grow. One of the mechanics at the shop is an ex-Euro-pro and I finally got out and rode with him last week. Now he's keen to ride with me at least once, if not twice a week (as he says I need to do 2 really hard rides per week and he intends on pushing me hard). I'll keep you posted on how that turns out. Protege of an ex-pro? haha! Who knows.

Another great thing about Wello is that so many of my friends have been coming through to visit. I even just hosted a friend of a friend of a new friend. Haha! Yes. An American girl (and bike mechanic) on her way through to the south island on a solo bike trip - all of her gear on her bike. I picked her up at the airport on my bike and we rode into town around the bays together. She loved the intro to the city. At the same time I had another friend in town visiting (one of the first people I met when I arrived in NZ three months ago) and the three of us hung out the rest of the day and just had a blast. We even got video-taped sitting out at a cafe downtown for the city council's website advertisement for tourism here. Too funny. I'll let you know if we get our 30 seconds of fame or not. I have at least two more friends coming to town in the next few weeks. And I shouldn't forget to mention that I've been having a blast with my new kiwi friends and my flatmate. They've been introducing me to kiwiana every chance they get and they are simply very kind to me. We have decided to have a kiwiana-themed party at our flat later this month. Should be fun!

I'm happy to report that so much of what I have wanted from this experience is coming together. I'm taking a break from life as I knew it and finding the time to breathe. I'm learning more about the bike - in every sense (I even know the difference between a hard-tail and a full suspension MTB - haha!! Who woulda thunk it?). I'm immersed in a different culture than my own and having a ton of fun with it. I'm connecting with others and making heaps of new friends from many different countries. I'm carving out new opportunities for the future. And I continue to learn about myself and grow. What else can one hope to achieve?

More on the south island and Noel down under

Kia ora and merry Christmas from NZ!! Today is Christmas Eve down under and we have rain. Just arrived back from the south island adventures yesterday (really it was 1 AM when we arrived so we had the whole day here). The weather was fantastic the last two days of our trip, but we had some really crazy weather on the west coast.

Last I posted, I was in Nelson enjoying some sunshine and riding the bike. The following morning we packed up and headed out on a very long drive down on the west coast to glacier country. We traveled through some interesting and cute towns, full of gold mining history (many of them are only a whisper of the towns they once were back in the gold mining hay-days) and on to Okarito, where we had rented a bach (what we would call a cottage in Canada) on the beach. This was a really nice reprieve from backpacking life and a good chance for free washing machine facilities to launder our clothes. haha! But seriously, the bach was really amazing. I have lots of photos of it. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, but lucky us - we experienced a typical west coast rain system. Fantastic. The glaciers are a 20 minute drive from Okarito, and the following morning we got up early and set out, hoping that maybe the rain would ease up and we'd have a decent day for glacier hiking. Not. We arrived 45 mins later in Fox Glacier and proceeded on to Lake Matheson where we did a quick trek along a walking track around the lake. Unfortunately due to the inordinate amount of rain and mist and fog we weren't able to get the really great views of the mountain and glaciers that you would normally see at the lake. However, we made due. There is one thing you really cannot control in life: that's the weather. Not sufficiently soaked, we decided to do another 30 min trek on hiking trails around the Fox glacier to get views of it. The Fox glacier is the largest of the sixty some odd glaciers in the area. They descend into rainforest and right down to sea level at the west coast. It's truly a sight. We hiked through rainforest to get views of the glacier. Apparently on really rainy days you can still hike on the glacier itself but it's not so fun so we opted instead to head back up to Franz Josef (which we'd driven through to get to Fox) and went for a massage and a hot tub at their new spa pools in the town. Sweet as! Our massage therapist was a Canadian lady who'd been living in glacier country for a few years now and got there by doing cycling tours. Did we ever have a lot to talk about!!

The next day we left Okarito, unfortunately unable to do the famous kayaking in the Okarito Lagoon - home of the white heron. We had hoped the rain would ease up, but instead it got heavier. Our drive north and then east was precarious at best. There was flooding along many roads (luckily this is commonplace enough that they have road signs to warn you so you know to expect to slow down and drive through the flooding in a safe manner). When we got to the highway that leads to Arthurs Pass (the famous pass we wished to cross over to Christchurch - and which Andrew had planned to ride on his bike, weather permitting of course), there was a road closure and the nice kiwi gentleman manning the closure informed us that there was a "slip" (i.e. a landslide) and a bridge was washed out. We had to do a detour. Luckily it was before the one place that the detour rejoined the pass and we didn't have to abort our plan. If it had been further up, a detour would have meant taking Lewis Pass (consult your map of NZ) further north and frankly, would have changed our plans altogether - cancelling a visit to Christchurch. At any rate, this did not happen and we simply added an hour to our drive and got to Arthurs Pass. It was a cool thing to see, but the views were not as dramatic as they would have been given a clear day. There was a lot of fog and mist and the rain was still coming down hard. Andrew, quite obviously, did not ride as it would have been quite dangerous. There were a few things which I cannot describe clearly enough, that divert the water from such rainfalls from the road on the pass. Here is a photo to more clearly explain:We arrived in Christchurch pretty tired from the trip and it was raining there too. It was quite chilly and I'd wished I brought some gloves to be honest. We had some nice Thai food though and relaxed in our little backpackers hoping for a change in the weather (which NZ is famous for - ever changing weather). The following morning we woke to the weather on the verge of clearing so we headed to a little town on the Banks Peninsula called Akaroa. This is a primarily French settlement, which is kind of neat for NZ. As the day went on the weather continued to improve, so much so that we decided that since we were taking the late ferry the following day we'd have enough time for a bike ride in the morning. And that's just what we did. The following morning we got up early, packed up, and headed out for a ride up Dyers Pass in Christchurch - quite the climb. Here is one photo of the view of the city from 2/3 of the way up (if you look closely you can see the mountains in the back):
We then went back to the backpackers and showered, changed, and headed off on our drive back up to Picton for our late-night ferry ride back to Wello. On the way we stopped in a really cute little town, famous for its whale-watching tours, Kaikoura. The drive was fantastic and the views out of this world. We drove up through the foothills and into the wine country of Marlborough. We had a really nice dinner in Blenheim, after touring its vineyards and quirky little spots. And then as night-time set in we got on the ferry, loaded onto the train deck (yep, where they would put the train cars if there were a train on board) and headed back to Wellington. Here is a nice shot of the city as we came into the harbour:
I feel like I'm leaving out so much. It's hard to post so long after doing many of the things on the trip. I hope to be more on top of the blogging on future trips so I can give more detail on each place. When we got back here yesterday the weather, as I mentioned, remained gorgeous so we headed out for a nice ride and then to a proper Kiwi BBQ at Lauren's house. It was fab!! Today we explored Te Papa since it was raining, as well as getting up to date on things we'd missed while traveling (like email etc). I have uploaded the first installment of photos from the south island trip. Will update you as more become available (if I don't run out of space on my web album!!!).

Well, I wish you all a very merry Christmas! It will certainly be a different one for me (it's not feeling much like Christmas right now). I will post more on what it's like to be here for the holiday season over the next couple of days. Until then - stay warm, and drink a rum and eggnog for me!

Riding in Wellington

Now that I’ve settled into Wellington for a couple of weeks I’ve had a chance to get a really good chunk of cycling in. As I alluded to in an earlier post, Wello is mainly built into some pretty big, steep hills that border the southern coastline of the north island. Unless you have a genetic gift, I’ve come to believe that climbing hills on a bike takes a lot of years to get really good at. I’ve only been riding seriously for nearly 5 seasons now. Hopefully as I spend time here climbing more hills than I typically do back home, I’ll see continued improvement in my abilities. I’ve been getting comfortable with the roads and finding my way around certain parts of the city since I built my bike. It’s funny how people will say to you: “You know there are much better rides than around the bays”. But they’ve been living and riding here for years. Can you imagine a nicer way to spend a day than riding your bike along the road that follows the coastline, watching the sailboats, windsurfers, ferries (which I’ve seen on every single ride)? Not really. Back home we have some great roads for riding, but they certainly don’t offer a view of beautiful green hills rising out of an aquamarine pacific ocean, waves crashing in on the rocks, lighthouses, little beaches, and signs warning you to watch for penguins crossing. So I’ll endure the hardship of it all as I continue to become acquainted with the area and feel more comfortable venturing out onto new routes. ;) The only thing I really need to do on an upcoming ride is to capture some of it for you with my camera. As I also mentioned earlier, the roads in the city are winding and steep. I’ve found more than one way back to the flat now, but none are easy going. As with about 85% of the population here: I live on a hill. While some live on the side of one, I live on the top, which is actually a good thing – at least I don’t have to try to come to a stop and enter my flat on a 17% grade or something. I have, however, been climbing some hills that are anywhere between 12-17% grade to get home. This is very good practice, particularly on the windy days when you get to climb those hills in a headwind. It almost seems sadistic doesn’t it? If these can become routine and ‘easier’, the Gats will be a breeze for me when I get home.

I went on my first ladies group ride this week. They call it “bunch” riding. It was really good. The group really focuses on learning new skills and on the flats they ride in a proper echelon which is really cool. I got to practice the smooth transition of the echelon for the first time since I took the learn to race clinic back home this summer. Since it was so windy (we’d had a really bad storm that morning and the winds were only starting to ease up to 50-some odd kph that evening, instead of the 120 kph gusts we'd had earlier) we really stuck together to shelter each other from it as it comes at you from different directions on each bay. Sometimes a headwind, sometimes a crazy crosswind that nearly knocks you off the bike! And nobody was really able to surge ahead too much and cause that elastic band effect. It was a good effort and smooth echelon. Fun stuff! I hope to keep riding with that group each week and see what other new things I can learn and practice.

I have another little project that I want to undertake so I can try to show you the city. Wello is a really cool place, in that, with everything built into the hills, there are little secret, or not-so-secret but sometimes hard to find, pedestrian accessways so you can find shortcuts up and down the hills into the neighbourhoods that make up the city. I mostly travel by foot here, as the place is very compact, but to make it effective you need to find these little paths and stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. They are everywhere! It’s a really different thing. You won’t have seen anything like it back home. I haven’t. So stay tuned and I’ll try to get some photos and commentary together to share the experience with you.

Kiwiana - #1

There are heaps (an expression used here a lot) of roadside attractions here like the giant kiwifruit in Te Puke that the little towns erect to make themselves stand out and attract tourists. These roadside attractions are one example of kiwiana, although the term itself means anything distinctly kiwi. I hope to capture as many as I can, as I have a few friends who love the roadside attractions. ;) I guess this is something that Kiwis and Canadians have in common.

First I’ll tell you about the housing here. They like to build houses into hills – not just in Wellington, although I’d say it’s one of the more distinctive examples. So there are all kinds of crazy walkways and stairs and driveways in the most unusual spots that you’d never see back home. Or if you did it would be a place of interest and everyone would know about it and go check it out. Most houses here are quite old and were not built with much insulation, nor heating. None – zero, absolutely no heating whatsoever. No furnace, no radiators, no electric baseboards. Nadda. And it’s not warm here. I have to admit – I could not live here during the winter. Spring is quite enough of a taste of it for me thanks. I know, it’s funny to hear that from someone who lives with minus 30 Celsius winters – but we insulate and heat our houses. It’s a damp cold here. at least in Wello it is. Up north wasn't quite as chilly as here, but it still did get down close to single digits at night. I believe it’s quite similar to England. So, to stay warm everyone dresses in layers, and wear shoes in the house, and have little portable electric radiator-looking heater things that you can plug into the wall to heat that one space, and hot water bottles in bed at night, or electric blankets. Yep. That’s how to stay warm here. Considering the drafts that come into the house I believe that this country is not very energy efficient. Now, all this to say, newer houses, I have been told, are better insulated and have central heating. I haven’t been in one though. They really depend on the sun to warm the houses here, so places that are in valleys that lie in the shadows of the hills are not as sought after in which to live. In all the ads and when I visited places in person, everyone would emphasize how much and which rooms got sun. My room gets morning sun which is nice, but I also realize that the rest of the flat will be cold when I open my bedroom door so I’m not that anxious to get out of bed in the morning. Or should I say: get out of air mattress.

The roads in Wellington are narrow and winding. Well, it is a city built into hills after all. I was a little nervous heading out on the bike for the first time. I’m glad I didn’t wear my HR monitor that time, as I’m sure it was elevated just from stress. It went well though, and I think I will get comfortable with it. Most drivers here are quite familiar with cyclists. There are lots of them here. As many people seem to commute by bike as by bus or on foot. There are some cycling lanes and lots of signs telling motorists to watch out for cyclists. Parking is at a premium in town. Many residents park their cars on the street, as it’s not always easy to build a driveway into a hill or up one. So while cycling you have to be really careful of all the parked cars. There aren’t a plethora of roads, so you really must ride in the city to get out of it, but once you do there is great riding to be had! I rode partway around the bays on my last two rides and it was fantastic!!! I saw heaps of cyclists out as well.

More kiwiana next time…

No Longer a Tourist

I’ve been searching for work now that I’ve gotten settled into my new flat. Looking for work has not been as easy as I’d anticipated, but I’m sure something will happen when it’s supposed to. Timing is everything. I also built my bike on the first day in the flat. It was a busy day: unpacked my suitcase, inflated my air mattress (need to get a bed) and built my bike. I rode down to the bike shop that sells Colnago and had them take a quick look to be sure I put her back together correctly and that my rear derailleur wasn’t out of whack. Aside from one little, slightly critical part that I hadn’t tightened (oops – I’m pretty lucky, having ridden down there), I did a good job! J Woo-hoo! So I went out for a ride. It was a nice day, although a storm was to come in that evening and the wind was picking up. They have lots of gusty wind here. At one point I was rounding a corner on the bay and nearly got blown over! You have to watch out for that here. Then I climbed back up to the flat… ugh. I have to say, months of that and I WILL be a hill climber. Geez! There are three main hills back to my flat, the first one being the hardest. At least you get it over with first. I messed up the computer and hadn’t started it so really none of my ride had been recorded, but going up this hill it was on and I looked down to see 12% grade – for somewhere in the range of 750 m – 1 km. The last few meters you get a break when it levels off to 10%. Ouch! Considering it’s been a good month off the bike I felt that one.

I’ve been walking everywhere here. Wellington is a very compact, walkable city. But if you live up on one of the hills, which is likely, you just have to climb back home, that’s all. There are little stairs built in the hills all over, so I need to explore a bit more to find the short-cuts home. It’s a funny little place in that way. It’s still pretty chilly here. I can’t wait til it really warms up. Jan and Feb are supposed to be the warmest. Looking forward to it. For now I have a hot water bottle in bed with me at night and fuzzy socks and a hoodie. But I’ll have to post more about the kiwi-life in the next post.

Kia ora tatou!

Which means: "hello everyone!" in Maori. I have arrived safe and sound. The flight was much less painful than usual, even given it was a total of 19 hours flying time (plus a short 1.5 hour layover in beautiful Vancouver). It was also shorter than I had anticipated, given what I'd been told by others. The Air NZ folks were totally amazing.

So what to tell you about first. I haven't seen much yet. Just got here an hour or so ago. My lovely hosts here at the B&B got my room ready in a pinch, even though the person occupying my room had just left. Very sweet of them. I need a shower... that will come next (certainly before I head out to explore the city). The only thing to fill you in on so far are the particulars of the journey.

Of course there were tears at the airport when Beth & Andrew sent me off. To be honest, until I got into the airport I had only felt excitement for the trip for the past 1-2 weeks. At the airport I started to feel nervous because it was all actually real for the first time. Although, I also have a feeling that my nerves were caused by a mixture of adventuring out into the unknown, and worrying about my bike. When I took her over to the oversized luggage area and set her down on the conveyor belt I prayed that I'd get her back in one piece on the other side of the world. As I waited for the oversized luggage to come out at the Auckland airport the anticipation was nothing short of waiting for a loved one coming back from a long trip - I kid you not. I almost kissed the box when I grabbed it. Didn't open the box until I arrived at the B&B - the sweet little girl (granddaughter of the owners) helped me open it. She was pretty excited to see my bike, and complimented me on how nice it was too. :) So far so good. A little paint scratched off one spoke - no worries (getting down with the kiwi venacular there if you hadn't noticed). I digress...

I only had my executive seat for the YVR-AKL leg of the journey confirmed last week - one of the most exciting days this year! Executive from home to Van was nice - from Van to Auckland was fantabulous!!!! I had my own little pod, in-pod entertainment system, a foot rest, and the piece de resistance: the pod converts into a full lie-down bed!!!!!!!!!! Side note for those who aren't aware: I saved all - ALL - of my points to get this ticket and I have never - NEVER - in all the travels, all the flights I've taken in my lifetime, ever flown business/executive or any other classification other than economy. This was an experience that I appreciated immensely. We took off from Van at 9 PM -> midnight for my internal clock (and the rest of you on EST). They proceeded to serve dinner. I was fried. I was not hungry. So I ate a little bread and some salad and (since I HAD to) had a vodka and soda (which was amazing - this NZ vodka that has some sort of honey taste) and promptly curled up in my pod all scrunched-up-like with the big pillow and the eye mask they provided and fell asleep. I could not keep my eyes open. One of the crew came by at one point and covered me with a blanket, and I knew they had but I couldn't get myself to move. Next time I woke up was after the dinner service when one of the crew was trying to adjust my blanket which I probably moved or something. When I got up he offered to convert my pod to a bed and I was so all over that. Next thing I'm in my little bed and snuggled up and I can't fall back to sleep because I'm so damned excited about how awesome this little bed thing is! Eventually I did sleep - most of the night. It was great. Got up a couple of hours before the breakfast (which was fantastic) and then we were landing.

Landing was great. I got a nice view of Auckland as we came in overhead and then swooped back around to approach it from the west to land. The landscape around in the rural areas we flew over (and some totally uninhabited areas) was beautiful: lush and green and hilly and ocean and sand. Next few days I'll tour Auckland and fill you in. Until then: Haere ra!

Final Preparations for NZ

Yes, I've been uber-busy. And none of it would probably be interesting enough to write about, so I've spared you all the boredom of reading about the finer details of packing up, moving out, quitting my job, moving again with my sister & her hubby, organizing and re-organizing my things, continuing to get rid of things I don't need, and now... coming down to the final preparations to up and leave. Only a few days left here in the great white north (albeit, not so white at the moment). I'm glad to be here to enjoy the fall colours. I hope to get in a good ride on the bike tomorrow. I learned how to take that lovely steed of mine apart and pack her up for the trip. I've been in touch with some friendly folks down under who may be able to help me along the way. And I'm starting to be more excited than nervous most of the time. :)

So I've transitioned from having a well established career, my own wonderful little apartment, company car, and many a success to jobless, homeless, and car-less. However, even with the nasty cold I was fighting the past week, I've proven you only really need two wheels and a little extra planning to get around. Although there are plenty of people out there who already know that. My current state of being (i.e. jobless, homeless, car-less), perhaps thought to be a little crazy for some, is quite clearly a conscious choice and I don't mind it at all. Well, perhaps I've been too busy to notice. I am nonetheless looking forward to exploring the other side of the world, as well as having far less responsibility than I've had in recent years. So, I may not post again until I arrive. Until then... stay tuned and Happy Thanksgiving!

The Future

Still getting ready...

Thought I'd post this for fun. Can't remember where I got it right now. More later.

I'm back!

I decided to slack off on something I'm supposed to be doing right now and write here instead.

T. was ok. I find meetings tiring and they test my patience. I get impatient when it's all didactic (I find I can only sit and listen to someone else speak for a couple of hours - one of our days it was all day long). I also find it difficult to be patient with others when they are dissecting the clinical papers to death and getting hung up on the minutia and falling into the trap of looking at them from a microscopic point of view instead of stepping back and seeing the big picture. However, I also recognize that it's part of the learning experience for me. I have to learn to have more patience with these things, with other people, and know that work isn't always easy (i.e. sometimes you have to sit through 8 hours of didactic lectures in a day, get a sore back, and suck it up) - this too shall pass. The fun part about T. was exactly what I had mentioned before: the people. I was really happy to see the majority of my friends and colleagues before I head off and leave them for some time. I really will miss so many of them. In particular, my old manager is someone I will miss tremendously. He has been an important person in my life over the years that I have worked with this organization and I learned a lot from him.

Today I got out on the bike. I have not been riding very much in the past few weeks. In fact, not at all in the last week and a half. Last weekend I felt that funny feeling you get in your throat when you are about to get a cold, so I stayed in on Sunday instead of riding with the gang. I was really bummed about it, but I really wasn't up for it and did not want to get sick. I was still feeling this bug niggling at my throat and in my ears when I left on my trip on Tuesday, but with proper rest, lots of extra fluids, my vitamins, and echinacea I was able to fight it off successfully! :) So I hope this means that in the upcoming weeks I'll be getting out on my bike a lot! Oh. And I saw something new today while on my ride: cycle polo. And this is where I saw it. Now that would be a great way to get better bike handling skills. It looked pretty neat!

I've also been doing a little more research on NZ. Learning about the places, things to do, etc. I have some ideas about the cycling communities there through some of my research. And this is giving me some ideas about some places I'm going to check out. But all of that will come when I'm actually there - so you'll have to read then to find out. ;)

Adjusting

So last Friday I moved all the stuff that I hadn't thrown away, given away, or sold into my new storage locker. I could never have done this on my own:
The movers screwed me I think - charged me way too much. At any rate, I was too tired and too brain-dead to care or to complain. It was done, I'm glad it's done and I was on to more pressing things: get the remainder of the little things out of my place and into my sister's and clean the apartment up for the new tenants - some cool people I know.

The rest of the weekend was nice and I had some time to come down from all of the stress and trauma of moving out of my beloved apartment. I may sound slightly melodramatic, but it truly was stressful and traumatic. It has only been a few short days, and living with my sister and her hubby is still better than being a real guest in someone else's home, but it's also still an adjustment. I don't want to do something that they might not like and I also don't have everything my way. In fact nothing is my way really. That's ok, but imagine having absolutely everything in your environment and your life your way for years at a time. I knew when I moved out on my own that I would come to this kind of crossroads one day. So here I am. It's not all about me. But I'll stop whining. Life really is pretty good. I've got a sister who loves me enough to have me stay with her (and I guess my brother-in-law thinks I'm pretty ok too). I'm heading off for a totally amazing trip of a lifetime pretty soon. But with all changes in life I guess you grieve the things you leave behind.

And hopefully not everything about my place is gone with me leaving it... tonight when I was out for my little ride on my own I ran into Robbie-O and I got to ride with him. He helped me get my first real bike, my second f-ing amazing bike (the Colnago), he changed several tires for me in a pinch when I was running late for group rides and had flats, he taught me how to change an inner tube, and introduced me to lots of great people to ride with, amongst other things. In all the years I lived downstairs from him we never did ride together. Took me moving out for us to run into each other on the bike path and head up to the park together.

Growing up and moving out

I should be heading to bed now since I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow... last day to finish all the little things before moving all my stuff into storage Friday. I've never moved an apartment into storage. I've certainly moved enough times in my life. Let's see (me looking up and thinking), this will be move # 9. That's a lot of moving. Mind you, I didn't do all the work for all of those moves, as 6 of them (seven different places that I lived) were while living with my folks as a kid and since we moved due to my dad's work we had movers do just about everything - including the packing. But I digress... like I said, moving into a storage unit - sigh - it's not easy. I've gone to bed almost every night of the past week visualizing the unit and thinking about my stuff and almost praying (but not really since I'm completely non-religious) that it will all fit. I've gotten rid of so much stuff either by throwing it away, putting it at the curb for passers by, giving to charity, and I sold one thing. It's nice to minimize - take it all down to what I really need and some stuff that I really truly want. The rest of it someone else can love (or hoard). I had a box of cassettes of old 80's and 90's cheese that I knew some collector-type would want. I left it out at the curb with a note: "Help Yourself" and sure enough, after a few had been pilfered someone came along and took the whole box of 'em - within 2 hours. At any rate, moving into a storage unit is stressful. Much more stressful than moving to another dwelling. It will all be worth it though.

I'm going to miss this place. The four years I've lived in my apartment have gone by really quickly. I feel like - no, I've actually grown up a lot living here. It's been an important journey. I was a bit of a messed up kid when I moved here. I think I'm leaving as a fairly well-rounded and better grounded adult. I think I know how to still be a kid in the best ways though, and when I forget I have some friends that are always around to remind me. Okay, enough sap for tonight. Big job ahead and a long weekend to round it all out. I need to get back on the bike. It's been so sporadic the past week and a half. At least I had a really great 100K ride last weekend in the heat with the gang. Gotta get this moving thing wrapped up so I can get back to the important stuff... on two wheels.

TV

I don't watch TV much these days. In fact it's been a few years now since I've actually had a 'show' that I follow at all. Since the Olympics have been on I've been tuning in, mindlessly watching whatever sport is being broadcast (or re-broadcast) at the time that I decide to eat dinner, or take a break from packing. Unlike most people, I'm not really that interested in watching the closing ceremonies either (don't I just sound old and crotchety? haha!) so I think I'm going to pack up the TV tonight. Might as well. Now that there is nothing left to watch on it anymore. The one disappointment over the past couple of weeks of Olympic TV-watching, BTW, was that I never did get to see Liz race on the track. I was definitely hoping to see it since I started reading her blog on Bicycling mag website last year. Oh well. Maybe if I were a morning person I would have had the chance to wake up at 4 AM to catch it. Nah - who am I kidding?
OK... back to packing. The countdown to departure day is on...