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3 men
October 06, 2005
jo and i just just got back from the cycling trip through central otago. it was such a good experience! first day we got up at 5:30 and met at the foundation building then took a two hour drive up to ranfurly. fixed up the bikes and got all kitted out, and then guess what!! i got back on a bike for the first time since the accident. i was pretty :\ about it before but then i did it! and it was a really great feeling. i'm definitely glad that it was on this cycling trip that i did it cos it's memorable :D anyway we started cycling at about ten, and it was fine and sunny for awhile but then the weather suddenly turned so sour! there were these gale force winds which made us wobble all over and literally pushed us PLUS rain! it was so so so freezing cold and we had like 20+ km to go. and i forgot my gloves back at the van. if you guys have ever put your hands in snow and left them there for about half an hour you'll know what i mean. so so suck your toe i've got frostbite. my hands swelled up to twice their normal size and i couldnt even take my ring off and now they are itchayyyyyy!
some of the people found it pretty hard going that day but we all made it which was great. it reminded me a little of mg in the way that no matter what, everyone would always encourage each other when the going got tough. so after the 32ks we did the first day we had dinner at a bar and went back to the farm we were staying at which was 6000 acres big. huge! bathed, killed a bug and went to bed where i got the hardest punch in the face that anyones ever given me. lucky i've been trained well in respect to jo's sleeping habits from the first five weeks of being here when we used to share a bed. eh josephine? :D got up at 7 and we did another 23k. the weather was alot better today. even though it was still very cold there wasnt rain or wind so it was fine and dandeh although i couldnt sit on my bike for the first 15 minutes cos it was so sore. it was a really good trail to do cos there were lots of tall bridges over rivers and railway tunnels to go through. when you're going through the tunnels you get the weirdest sensation cos it's pitch black and you can feel that you're walking but you can't see anything that you're walking on and you can't see anything ahead of you so it's like you aren't even moving even though you're feeling the ground moving underneath you.
there were loads of these little bridges called cattle grids which are just bars of metal across the ground to prevent cows from crossing and everytime we came to one jo didnt like crossing them so she held on to the sides. then we came to the second last one and jo said okay! i'm gonna do this! and forged ahead. and she went so smoothly through i was so happy for her! but once she had crossed over to the next side she seemed to be going downhill and i couldnt understand it cos it was a flat road. and it was cos she had just kept going over the bridge and over the side of the hill and to stop herself she just lolled over onto her side off the bike. hahahaha i dont know how to explain what it was like but the whole situation was just so funny! cos she was so like yeah come on man i can do this and she actually made it over her first one and then she fell slowly out of sight and the whole time i was seeing it in slow motion and the thing is when it happened it was like all the sound had been sucked out of the world and i was watching her silently, slowly and very calmly collapse right off the grid. ahh. hahahhaha.
i almost fell off my bike again from laughing during the very last leg of the cycling when we were entering the little town which was the end point. hans was cycling in front with his bright red helmet glinting away merrily in the sun when a magpie flew overhead. aaand? it's mating season. first swoop down at his helmet we thought it was just a one off thing. by the sixth hans was peddling furiously off track. so now jo and i were ahead laughing and laughing and suddenly hans shot past us shouting "run for your life, its got ringo!" and we turned and saw our friend ringo's blue helmet ducking up and down in the distance. hahahaha it was so hilarious i just couldnt stop laughing oh my gosh. HAHAHAHAHAAA!!
hahaha. hahahaha!
ho ho. after that we took the taieri gorge railway- which is a train, back to dunedin. all in all i'm very glad i went on it. thanks jo.. here's to sore bums, rugby girl caps and crazy riding!
