Riding Road X

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If you were curious, two days of cycling from dusk until dawn amount to the equivalent of a two hour drive. Mind you, time estimates are determined by super highways, not super cyclists. What with tea and tinkle breaks, my travel time averages around 11 kilometres an hour (~5 mph).

Fortunately, there are fewer monster trucks and speed demons to compete with on the farm roads, which remain nameless in my dodgy book of maps mistakenly labeled the NewZealand Handy Atlas . There are, however, a plethora of serious cyclists who look back with pitiful expressions as they whish past on their way "around the block"... certain to be no less than 30 k's for these krazy kiwis. At least fifteen of these high-intensity tri-athletes have zoomed past, but only one remembered to wave.

While the bike divas are dismissive, locals along the route pause with intriguing grins and encouraging waves to observe the cycling spectacle as it passes like a circus act through their front yard. Out visiting his mailbox, Brett invited me in for some filtered water. Bernadette whipped out her roadmap to show me that the street I was looking for was called Volkman , not "orange one." And the guy at the post office in Leeston gave me a discount on postage so I could lighten my load.

Each of my farm road detours tacks additional kilometres onto each leg of my journey, but it is well worth it for several reasons:
1. There is no danger of being blown off the road by aggro truckies consumed with road rage.
2. You can slalom between the centre road lines instead of hugging the shoulder.
3. You can sleep soundly between some trees on the roadside.
4. You can pee practically anywhere
5. There plenty of sheep and cows to sing to (both of which prefer "Dancando Lambada" over Snoop Dogg)
6. There is ample room on the road to attempt new dance moves like the bike bamboleo or cycle salsa

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Comments

[greg]

some more dance tricks
Try to ovoid the flat tyre rumba, that would make a break in your tempo.

[hockey stud]

Wish I was There
G'day mate! Sounds like you are having a great experience over there. I wish I could escape the craziness of my life and join you in the far less complex world of cycling, tinkling, singing to cows and sleeping between trees. I suppose I will just have to keep pretending that I'm right there beside you........I hope you are having a wonderful time and I can't wait to see you again soon. Hopefully in New Castle eh?! I miss you soph. LV Kel