A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
Sorry for the lack of posts lately - but i've been 'playing out on bikes'!
Yes, thanks to the wonders of the Buy & Sell Exchange (A Christchurch institution every Friday), i'm now the proud owner of a Scott 'Tampico', as well as assorted paraphernalia to go with it. I'm pretty happy with it so far, apart from the lack of suspension forks, and it's name sounding slightly like a ladies sanitary towel :o(
I've done a couple of rides up into the Port hills (The view) so far, and thanks to the various gadgets i've accumulated over the years, i can tell you:
I ascended 310m each time, riding to the Dyers pass (Altimeter watch)
Each ride covered 22km (GPS)
I reached a maximum speed of 64kph (Bicycle Computer)
My arse hurt at the end of the ride (My arse)
I was quite chuffed with my top speed on the descent tonight, especially as it was dark, and i managed to break the speed limit for the road. But mountain bike afficianados at work, Dave and Adam, have told me that it was frankly crap, and that they've been faster on the flat (Though whilst slipstreaming behind vans they later admitted).
I'm sure the Richard, the guy i bought the bike from wouldn't have been all that impressed either, as he finished 2nd in the Speights Coast to Coast challenge, NZ's biggest multisport challenge, usually won by NZ's fittest man, Steve Gurney. In fact that was the reason he was selling it, as his prize for finishing 2nd was a brand new mountain bike!
Despite now having a bike, i'm not going to be able to do Le Race, as i'm leaving Ch'ch on Monday to do the Heaphy track on Easter Monday, which is a 5 day hike, and i don't fancy driving through the night after that, to do a 100k bike race in the morning. As sadly i've not quite attained Rob Martin levels of fitness yet.
Not heard anything from Keith yet, but fear not, if there's a happy ending for the crazy-ass, love-lorn fool, i'll let you know.
