Rebekah Rankin
Saturday March 10
Sitting at the back of the office Friday afternoon, the van’s had been, unloaded, cleaned up some and taken back. All the bags where gone (packed away in cars it was quiet… well as quiet as you’ll get in Manukau…but all the same quiet, to quiet.
Where was everyone?
Then it hit me… it was over… that really tired feeling set in. You know that feeling you get after you have been really busy and then suddenly you relax… that really flat, tired, down feeling? Yea well that feeling where you just feel drained, totally exhausted.
I’m sitting here in the study (at home) looking out the window over the back yard, the swimming pool in really clear, the trees are being blown slightly as the crickets make there racket, (the normal Auckland rain is making it hard for me to get the washing dry (what’s new))… it’s an interesting feeling to be home… I don’t quite know what to do with myself.
It’s like everything and everyone is just the same as when I left. Ok my sister’s gotten taller and so is my Bro, (nothing new there)…but apart from that everything is the same and for some strange reason I feel slightly lost… it’s hard to believe that the tour part of the Circle of Courage is over.
There is something so unreal about the whole experience…it’s hard to believe that we really did it… really made it to Cape Reinga. But we did… we really did. The last 20km on mountain bikes was a really hard slog but hey that’s life (you live with it)… and honestly it fit, I mean had it (the last 20km) been easy it would not have been so much of a personal achievement in getting there. (Cape Reinga)
It’s kind of crazy when you think about it… 2268km… (Bluff to Cape Reinga, on road bikes.) What an adventure…I mean come on, how many people can honestly say they have done that?
You have no idea how many totally awesome people we met… people that I’ve only ever read about in books… I’ve shaken hands with world record holders, gold medalists, tour riders, politicians (they looked like normal people)… and also amazing everyday people… I mean you have no idea how cool it is when the guys doing the roadwork’s or the local school kids stop and cheer as you go past… the police escorts (awesome not having to wait for the traffic lights) I could keep going, but like all things it’s come to an end.
This trip for me has been an amazing journey… a once in a life time adventure.
It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t limit yourself by what you think you can do… “you can do anything you want if you just let yourself do it.” It’s all in your head, heart and hands…so take a chance it and do it… follow those crazy dreams… because “if you don’t have dreams, you’ll never do anything …”
Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to everyone the riders, (u guy’s r da’bomb) support crew (totally couldn’t have done it without you), all those that sent us emails (much appreciated)…the sponsors (you guys rock)… to all those that have read my journal’s I really hope that you have enjoyed them.
“When all’s said and done it’s been an amazing adventure”
So here are the stats for the last time…
Day’s ridden 23
Km’s covered 2268
Flat tires 15
Pinged spokes 3
Crashes 3
Now it is your turn to be a part of the Circle of Courage … How?
Like the Nike slogan says
“Just do it”
Wednesday March 7
Well tomorrow's the last day. It's totally crazy to think that we started in Bluff...I don't know ages ago. But tomorrow it'll be all over, yep it'll all be over. I don't know what I'll do with myself when I get home. Ok besides taking a week off to sleep in, only ride when I feel like it and just take it easy.
Don't worry I'm only going to be lazy for a week, (if I can stay away from my bike for that long) I'll be back into it.
We climbed a mountian today and this morning when we where trying to sike ourselves up for it.
Neone said "the biggest mountain I have to move is myself..." I thought about that while we where going up the Mungamokas, and I came to this conclusion.
It's true mountains are big and as far as I know they are stationary, so it's up to us climb them...as my friends would say "it's all in your head"...its the way that you face things not the things that you face in life that makes all the difference.
I made it to the top of the Mungamokas, not in one jump but rather I made it to the top one pedal rotation at a time... It was hard work no doubt about it, but I made it and that's the way life is... It's hard but we can do it, triumph, get over the obstacles and that is what make's the pain worth it.
Well I'm getting sleepy...and we still have 115km tomorrow so sleep sounds good right now...so till tomorow.
5 March 2007
Hello again…
I finally found the thing that connects my MP3 player to Dad’s laptop. (YAY) so finally I can finally listen to music and write… well I only have a couple more of these left to write, crazy ay. I mean it wasn’t that long ago that I sat down to write my first Journal. I never thought I’d say this but I’m kind going to miss the challenge of writing this. Oh well I still have at least two to write…
We met these people today that had been to watch some of the most awesome stages in the Tour de’France… do you know how totally cool that is?
That is one of the things that I’d love to do, watch the Tour from the side of the road. It’s ok on TV but I’d love to be there…one day in my life time…
“Life”… it’s an interesting word. Someone once said
“It’s not the years to your life that count, but rather it’s the life to your years that count’s.”
I always liked that, but then someone else said…
“The meaning to life is that no one knows the meaning to life.”
Honestly what is life? The best answer that I can come up with was this…
“Life is a small word that’s indefinable”
Life is one of those things that I’ll never really understand, because I’ve found that for everyone its meaning is different…so I’ve found that all I have to do is find that meaning, for myself...
Right now my brain can’t take anymore of this heavy thinking, because all I want right now is some sleep so I’ll sign off.
The stat’s are at…
Days ridden 20
Flat tires 15
Popped spokes 3
Crashes 3 (people involved in total 7)
As said “What would it be if you couldn’t laugh your way through it?”
3 March 2007
The last few days have been honestly crazy… ok we had three shorter days and one longer day, for some crazy reason we have just been going till we drop then before we know it another day has begun…all the emails that I should have responded to, have yet to be answered. (I will sometime soon)
Anyway the days we have done since I last wrote are
Taupo – Rotorua,
Rotorua – Tauranga,
Tauranga – Hamilton,
Hamilton - Auckland
Some lovely hills via that route… a couple of larger ones just to remind us that our legs can hurt. (No laughing) We got awesome a couple awesome receptions, had some really good town meetings and had some really awesome riding thrown in.
Yesterday most of us where up around 4:15 (that’s am) and we where on the road by 5am heading to Auckland… we had to turn off state highway 1 and use the back roads. It was really pitch black when we left Hamilton, most of us where wondering what we where doing up at that time in the morning. To be honest I had no idea till at around 6:30-7. We crested and rode along the top of a small hill and to our left, was the most beautiful sunrise.
Let me try and paint you a picture.
Close your eyes…Take a deep breath, the cool country air is blowing in to your face as your riding, long grass on the side of the road is covered with tiny dew droplets. Now look to your left through a break in the trees…what do you see?
You see a lake so still you can see the perfect reflection of the hill above it, through a thin layer of early morning mist, that’s hanging over it’s surface.
Lift your eye’s a little. From the lake’s still water you will see a line of hills, wrapped in a delicate layer of light pink mist… if you look up just a little further you’ll see the sky, the most delicate shade of pink that you have ever seen fades out through gold to light blue. Now blink… it’s gone
It was worth getting up early just to see that sunrise…honestly it was.
Well that was Friday morning now we’re in Auckland over the weekend (Saturday)… yay I get to sleep in my own bed for two nights!!!!
It’s funny how much you miss things like your pillow when you are away for longer than a few days…
Well it’s raining and I’m tired so I’m going to grab a book curl up on my bed and read. Tomorrow we leave Auckland on the last leg of our journey.
So till next time …
Days ridden = 18
Km’s covered = 1000 something (can’t be bothered checking almost 2000)
Flat tires = 13 (9 have been Jakes)
Pinged spokes = 5
Crashes = 2
26 February 2007
Tired? Yes
Tired is something that everyone is at the moment… the ride is starting to make it’s mark on everyone in the team. Maybe that is why Jake has gotten 7 fat tires in the last 3 days, we have had 10 as a team since we got the North Island it is totally crazy, we only had two in the South Island. What is with the roads up here?
For all you adults that wonder…Being a teen is like being on a rollercoaster… it goes up, it goes down, and you never know which way is up. Being a teen is like standing at a crossroads, you have no idea where to go. Do I do Journalism, Graphic design, some kind of Media study or do I go into something like OT (occupational therapy)
Oh man my tired brain can’t cope with all this hard thinking…it’s starting to make my head pound let’s go back to something easy to think about…
Ah here we are… the list
Flat tires 12 (Jake had 7)
Day’s ridden 14
Spoke’s pinged 3
“Who knows what could happen,
Do what you do, just keep on laughing,
One thing’s true, there’s always a brand new day”
Some of you will know who sung that song… but for now I am don I just can’t concentrate for anymore. So till next time
“gone crazy be back later”
24 February 2007
It’s Saturday…and yes I slept in and that is not normal for me because normally I’m a morning person, but for the last week my opinion of mornings has been
“I’d like mornings better if they came later.”
But as we all know the sun keeps on rising and setting even when we don’t want it to…I have to say that it’s just as well it does. With the other guys in the team I have earned the reputation of being a morning person, you know that irritatingly bright happy cheerful person. Yea well that has been me… sorry guys.
The sunn’ll come out, tomorrow,
Bet you bottom dollar that,
Tomorrow, will be fine,
Just thinking about, tomorrow…(ladadada)
Yea well you should know the rest
I have no idea why but that song was going through my head yesterday on the way into Palmerston North…I tell you it was on repeat yesterday, it was just going on and on and on… does that ever happen to you - a song gets stuck in your head and it just won’t go away?
It may have been because I had to get up at 6:20 or it may have been the fact that it was raining, with a head wind all the way to Levin, or it might just have been the 5 flat tires that we had yesterday.
Yes 5 tires is the record for one day, Jake had three… now how does that work? You have two wheels on a bike (or two tires on a bike) and he (Jake) got three flats. It is going to take him a while to lose his reputation. Dad had the other two. Really funny how he got one of them but I won’t go into detail. (Sometimes you have to be there to understand the humour.)
Yes well as Forrest Gump would say ‘and that is all I have to say about that”
So life moves on and the tally is getting longer so here are the stats
People fallen off 4 (we had someone rear end the other going up a hill in Wellington)
Flat tires 7 (Dad 4, Jake 3)
Broken spokes 2 (Jonathan 1, Jake1)
Day’s riding 12
Km’s covered 1000 and something can’t be bothered checking
So with that I think that I’ll sign off…I’m cooking tea tonight. (yes I can cook so there) that’s all from me till next time later.
22 February 2007
Well I’m on the ferry looking out the window watching the Marlborough sounds go past.
Dad is on the phone (he is sitting behind me), Melody is across the table on her computer, Neone is trying to stay awake…
Talking about the guys, Steve had to leave this morning, (it is called work) he rode to the ferry with us then his wife picked him up.
Steve is one of those people that still has that kid living inside him. He has been awesome fun to have on the trip, the sprints, the laughs, the challenge of trying to beat the other up a hill (he always let me down). I’m really going to miss having him on the team.
It’s hard to believe that we are halfway there... half the trip is over; yes I have ridden the length of the South Island. It is crazy how fast the time has gone. The days seem to have run together and when I look back over the last two weeks all I can see it one big experience, filled with challenges and wow moments. Someone once said "It’s not the years to your life that count, but it is the life to your years."
Riding down the Kaikaura coast on Tuesday was like wow. Every corner you came around all you saw was the sunlight reflecting of the water, it was like there was a path of millions of sparkling diamonds, set in the water that was a beautiful grey aqua, it was perfect.
We stopped at The Shop it is along the coast it is this really awesome Café place, it is really unique. If you are ever down there you so have to stop in, the view from their back deck is totally awesome.
Anyway Dad want’s the computer so I have to go. Till next time.
19 February 2007
Well guess what? We had our first real crash today. You want to know who fell off? It was the same guy that has had the two punctures… hmmm
It was Dad… anyway if you read his journal you’ll hear about it.
I’ll just give you a quick rundown so you know. We were riding along in the 10 second echelon. Doug and I were in the front and I think that Dad was in the middle of the pack and he hit a stone… well need I say more. (He fell off, and slid across the road)
Anyway I heard the sound, turned around and saw Dad lying on the road, at first I was like "ok he’ll get back up", then he wasn’t moving and I was like ok "maybe he is really hurt".
Anyway when he came to (like 20 seconds later), he didn’t know where he was and kept asking what had happened. It was actually really funny. (In hindsight) When it happened it actually scared me… his helmet was written off, and there is this big hole in his windbreaker, his bike is ok, and besides a headache, bruising and a grazed hip and elbow he is fine… although he can’t remember the accident at all.
Well that is enough about that. At the moment I am trying to check my emails at the moment, but the internet is so jolly slow that I’m considering giving it up… but I really want to email Rachel (my little sister), Mum and Caleb (my little brother) before I go to bed.
It really irritates me when the internet is going slow. But then it does everyone…oh well at least we have it.
There is this really cool jewelry shop in Kaikoura… it has all these really amazing shell necklaces most of them are carved, it is really amazing what they can make out of a plain shell, bone or stone. Some of the stuff that they do is really amazing. Really if you are in Kaikoura you should go there… it is like on the main road next to the surf shop almost under the railway bridge.
Doug has just finished fixing up some of the bikes, he is always fixing up everything on the bikes… by the time that we have finished this ride he’ll be able to start his own bike shop.
I’m going to give up on the computer for tonight…we have a longish day tomorrow… so it’ll be an early start so for now the tally stands at…
Punctures 2
People fallen off 2
Buckled wheels 2
Km’s covered 800
“Life’s a laugh”
Boy is that a true statement… it’s like this “life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% what you make it… so go crazy and make the most out of what you’ve got.
17 February 2007
Today is the first rest day of our 27 day trek…guess what I did!!!!
I slept in…yep till 8:30 and, and, and I didn’t sit on my bike seat for a whole day!
You really don’t know how good that is. (Unless you are a cyclist) to be honest with you my butt is nowhere near as sore as I thought it would be. Trust me that’s a very good thing.
The ride to Christchurch yesterday was a long day. 176km according to me… the thing that I found was that after a few hours on the bike you go into neutral, it’s like you break through this pain barrier that you fight for a few hours then your legs start just going. Doug said it’s being in zone.
When you are in zone it’s like you zone out and nothing else is clear except for the road that is ahead of you. Ok you are aware of the things around you, other riders, cars, road surface, wind etc. but they are all kind of blurry. It is like you are in a bubble and while that bubble is around you nothing really hurts…the only problem is when you have to stop or something bursts your bubble, then you can feel every muscle in your legs and butt.(and sometimes even your feet)
You know when you are living in such close quarters to other people for more than a few days you start noticing traits of each person… just little useless things that they do.
Doug and his coffee (the trouble he goes to just to get one cup), Melody and her computer (she’s addicted), Neone and his stomach (he is always sucking it in), Jake and his camera (if we let him stop every time he wanted to take a photo we would take at least 3 hours longer every day)…I’ll continue the list when I have more time we have a meeting soon… to talk about the week and how it went…
I think overall it went really well, I’m loving it, ok it may be crazy but I still love it….
13 February 2007
Hey,
Well I’ve just finished cleaning my bike and do you know what I can’t tell the difference… maybe it was all in my head but I really thought it looked dirty but well maybe it wasn’t as dirty as I thought it was. The scratches that are starting to accumulate probably don’t help any. Hey my poor bike has done over 6000km since I got it in February last year so it is entitled to a few scratches… I really never realised how much riding I had done in the last year, it is adding up and I have some nice bigish numbers to prove it.
Well anyway today we road from Balclutha to Dunedin, that’s around 93km give or take a bit. It was really good riding, Cold but good we had this really nice stretch where there was this tail wind, smooth roads and we where ticking over. It was great… then we had a couple of good climbs coming into Dunedin. The good thing about hills is that for every hill you go up you get to go down the other side. It’s the going down the other side that makes the going up worthwhile. Good fun.
We went to this Thai place for tea… I love Thai food, all the fresh veggies, the flavour (as in sweet chili sauce, ginger, sweet and sour etc) it really tasted good. I enjoyed every mouthful of it.
I have a 7:30am start so I’ll have to be up at 6am so I’ll sign off and hit the sack, till next time later
11 February 2007
Hey,
Well the first day is almost over, from where I sit in the motel room I can see the last glimmers of sunlight flickering through the trees that line ether side of the road in Gore. After 93km and five hours on the road (including the stops, lunch etc.) one flat tire (nicely done by Dad), and believe it or not Jake hit the road…literally (he tipped over and well I call it falling off but you didn’t hear that from me) anyway we made it to Gore.
Yes Gore is where we spend the night tonight. It is really quite a cool little place. Not that I have seen much of it in the few hours that I have been here, the tree lined streets are really pretty. (well I think so)
The day started out in Bluff. Have you ever seen the sign that welcomes you to Bluff? Well I love what it says
“Where the Highway Begins”
I don’t know about you but I’ve always thought of it as where the road end’s but no crazy as it sounds that is exactly what it is. Bluff is where the highway begins. (for today anyway)
Well I’m going to sign off for today…
So till next time the tally stands at:
Flat tires 1
People fallen off 1 (no not the same person as the flat tire)
Km’s covered 93
Don’t you love it…
10 February 2007
Hey,
Well it’s Saturday afternoon, I’ve been here since Thursday night.
I flew to Christchurch Thursday morning, Steve and his wife Monique met me there because Dad was late. Doug had left his mobile at the motel that they had stayed in Kaikura, the night before and he hadn’t realized it till they where quite a way down the road.
So when they eventually got to Christchurch Airport, they picked Steve and me up. Then of course we went and had our Subway. It is this ongoing joke that when you travel with Dad you get Subway at least once a day. Don’t get me wrong I like Subway but after a few trips you get slightly sick of eating Subway for lunch and or tea.
Anyway after we had our Subway we (Neone, Doug, Steve, Dad and I) hit the road, squashed in the van 5 bikes, all our bags, cycling gear, boxes of broachers, CD’s, the sound system and almost ever other thing that you can think of.
The van was packed… I was literally surrounded… even boxes under my legs. Anyway that is how we where for the 600km to Invercargill. Man don’t even try talking to me about cramped legs…oh boy. I was sooooo happy when we stopped in Dunedin for tea. (We went to this really great Thai restraint.)
Have you seen the Velodrome in Invercargill? Dad took me to see it yesterday.
It is soooo cool. It is the only indoor Velodrome in NZ… totally awesome. I so wanted to see it, they are having the NZ track championships there this year in March.
I love Track cycling…It is really different from road cycling, even the bike is different.
Once I tried it I was hooked, adrenalin rush if you look down. It is really fun, hard work and all that but more fun than anything else.
I need to finish this up so I can get some sleep tonight, because tomorrow morning we are starting out on an adventure and crazy as it is I love it!!!
