It’s over; done and dusted; completo. The largest continuous expenditure of energy of my life has come to an end. I wondered back at the beginning whether this would be one of those trips that I hoped would last forever, and that I’d be really sad to finish. Well, it wasn’t, but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. Almost every day there was something to enjoy, even if it was only briefly. And I’d like to think I wasn’t ‘over it’ until the very end. My body and mind are good like that – they time themselves to be ‘over it’ at the exact end point, and in a way that’s the best result one can hope for. But that’s neither here nor there. Given the almost total lack of information contained in my
An Ode to Wind The lot of a cyclist can be good or bad, And the governing factor is weather. The whim of the gods can turn happy to sad, And bring a man to the end of his tether. Rain we can take and sun we adore: We just slap on some more of the cream. But there’s one weather system that strikes to our core, With the power to put paid to our dream. I’m not talking of darkness or locusts or hail; Such plagues we will take in our stride. No, what slows our pace to that of a snail, Is a South Island curse, far and wide. It is not, you might think, just a bit of a breeze, Or a freshness to blow our hair back. I mean massive great gusts that bring sheep to their knees, And buffet us right off th
Well it’s been a very exciting game since you last tuned in when Team Hedgehog got off to a flying start around the north end of Pounamu. Flattened bristles decorated acres of tarmac up around Murchison and it seemed as though the competition might have been won in the first few days. Hedgehog domination was challenged later on however by Team Stoat, who were so keen to get on the scoreboard that they were literally trying to run under Paul’s wheels. Fortunately they avoided the technical foul thanks some dynamic handling by the Ginger Cornishman. Local favourites Team Mice never really got started and it was a disappointing performance from Team Rabbit, who were really the favourites before
