Extra daylight hours.

I seem to have been very busy lately. I know, I know....... who hasn't. The short days of winter restrict the use able hours down to between 11am and 4.30pm. Getting things done in these hours are a bit of a rush. When out on a bike ride, you know you have to turn around and head home no later than 2.30 or 3 at the latest, or you get caught in the very cold and dark of early evening

The setting sun a few kms from home.

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I had to make a rushed trip to Christchurch last week to see the surgeon for my post op check up. It was lucky I managed to get there. Both highways out of Nelson were closed due to flooding and mudslides. The powers that be, managed to get the northern then eastern route through Blenheim and Kaikora opened just in time for me. It was very dramatic with paddocks under water and debris stuck in the top rungs of the wire fences. The river was huge and wild. There were still patches of flooding to drive through. There were uprooted trees and forestry logs all over the road and 3 expensive looking cars who had tried to cross the flooding and had floated away into the paddocks and into the edge of the river. All of them were festooned with debris and mud. On the way back home again the other road was open again, so I went that way via Lewis Pass. The paddocks were muddy quagmires with no blades of grass left. There were a great many mudslides. The bizarre thing is how localised it was. Nelson was unaffected by the rain, and the east coast was warm and sunny.

My little rental car and the warm and sunny Kaikora coastline.

The top of Lewis Pass with my walking stick.

The normally placid Maruia falls after the flooding.

My trip was followed by a full week of work, covering a work colleague on holiday. It's been a busy month, no wonder my leg's are more swollen than they should be. Never-the-less, I am cycling well, doing good distances and plenty of hills, I would like to get strong enough to ride off the saddle.

Yesterday Niel and I did a lovely ride of 90 kms in perfect winter weather over 12 hills of various sizes. I'm feeling strong and the important thing is I have no pain what so ever, which means the operations have worked. I can now use the ball of my feet again. I can't wait to see what I will be able to achieve now.

Niel and I having a break at our turn around point, Riwaka wharf.



The view behind us - looking across Tasman Bay back to Nelson.

The days are definitely getting longer. But in just over 3 weeks we will be in S.E. Asia and back to short but tropical days.

Getting Better.

I want to get better so quickly, that I've done too much this week and my leg, ankle and foot have ballooned up to twice the size of the other leg. I once said I don't make a good sick person, ditto with being physically impaired. It's only been 2 weeks since surgery and I've been standing on it for up to 6 hours a day and that has really slowed down my recovery. Strangely enough cycling on it loosens it up and makes it feel better. What would I do without my bike? I know in a weeks time I will be heaps better and not be feeling so frustrated.

Our tickets to Hanoi and home from Singapore have been paid for, they are non refundable special fares, so there is no changing of minds. S.E Asia has the delight of being always raining somewhere. If it's dry in the north then it's wet in the south and vice versa. Let's face it we are going to get wet. It's also tropical and even doing nothing will bring you out in a sweat. So I have bought myself a cape or rain poncho.

My new rain poncho, but where is the rain? Notice the "moon" boot on my right foot.

What is it like being married to a mad cyclist? here is a snippet of my life. I prewarmed the oven to bake a cake. I took the cake tin over to the oven, and Niel yells "just a minute" and pulls his forks out of the oven!! [He was drying some paint on them.] Even the kitchen gets taken over by his bike stuff - now the tea towel has bicycle grease on it.

Niel taking over the oven with his bike bits.

I'm about to leave on my bike to town over the new cycle way and cycle suspension bridge that only opened yesterday. I am off to the travel doctor for my first lot of vaccinations. Rabies for example takes three injections, so you have to allow time to get all these done, and it's only 6 weeks till we go.



That will be a 65 km round trip, If my leg handles that I'll do a 75 kms ride later in the week. You can see how impatient I am to get better.

Wonder Woman.

Yes, you're right, I've been quiet lately. I may not be bionic, and I'm not exactly the 6 million dollar man, or woman in this case, and I'm not wonder woman .......... yet. But I've been 'rebuilt'. Both knees and both feet are now fixed. Hooray. It's taken 3 years of countless Doctors, Podiatrists and Specialist's appointments, x-rays, MRI scans and even a visit to Accident and Emergency at the hospital. I've had many ups and downs, and it's cost a lot of money, but I'm finally able to carry on with my cycling trips , and physical ambitions. Life is too short to put up with pain. As I said 6 months ago, if I'm willing to pay thousands to fix my poor cat, then why not myself.

It's just past the shortest day. It may not be getting any warmer, but it's always a milestone I'm pleased to get to. Spring can't come soon enough. There are small signs of the Spring in the garden. The little Jonquil Daffodil's are flowering and there are big buds on the fruiting trees. The 'Autumnalis' cherry tree is in flower, so named because it always flowers in Autumn and carries on flowering till Spring. These are only small signs, but I like seeing the seasons progress - reflected in the garden.

And of course Spring is special to me this year as it means cycle touring S.E.Asia. We can start looking up airline prices, now that I am 'fixed'. Niel may already have had his vaccinations and his Visa to enter Vietnam, but I will have to do mine.

I might be bandaged up and on crutches, but I'm felling happy and content that the process of eliminating my pain is finally over, and that's wonderful, so perhaps I am wonder woman after all.

  

Look out world.

2kms, 2 1/2, 3, 5, 12, 22. Every day since i could bend my knee enough to do a rotation of my bicycle pedals, I have gone out on my bike. Initially I wasn't really pushing with my injured leg, just letting it follow the pedal rotation. 5 days later I am actually using my leg to push [all be it slowly], and the swelling has reduced so much, my toes no longer resemble chipolata sausages. And it's only been two and a half weeks.

My first tentative trail on the bike.



I'm pretty happy with the progress so far after just two and a half weeks, and now know I can plan our S. E. Asia trip with confidence that I'll be recovered from both legs being fixed and regaining my lost fitness. Watch out world, Vespa Chick is coming and she has years of pain eliminated and has something to prove. I can't wait. It's given me an objective to get me through winter.

Watch out world - I've  got something to prove.

Niel is happy to be home and has no regrets about not continuing the round the world race. "it was no holiday" he says. Cycle touring together - sharing the experience - is what we do, it's what we should have done from the start. But what Niel achieved was awesome.

What really happened.

After weeks of waiting, everything happens at once.

I had to go to Christchurch for a specialist appointment about my feet and knees. It was awesome, the specialist was better than the one on Nelson. He saw all the problems straight away, and agreed the knee problem was caused because of the foot problem, and it was only sensible to fix both at the same time. Surgery was booked for 5 days later. That put me on such a high. Two decades of pain finally getting fixed. I was so ecstatic I didn't mind the long trip home.

12 hours driving in one day is a lot, but the high stopped me getting tired at the wheel. Never-the-less, it was a long day, only to get up early for the early shift at work. So with my bike in the back of the hire car, I dropped it off after work, and cycled home via the supermarket to do the weekly shop. I was very jaded. So after dinner I thought I'd check for emails from Niel before going to bed.

Help! Where are you? I need HELP.

oh my god! What had happened. Niel had made it to Casablanca in Morocco, but nothing else had.He was trying not to bawl his eyes out. His beloved bike and all his gear was lost, gone, disappeared, or - god forbid- stolen.

Now let me explain something here. Niel LOVES HIS BIKE. It's his best friend, a piece of art and a useful means of getting around sure, but more than anything, it's his alter ego, loosing it was like loosing his soul. Yes his gear was gone too, he didn't even have a toothbrush, let alone a jacket to put on in the chilly 14 degrees Celsius.

He pleaded for me to try and find it by computer. It boarded the plane at Rio De Janeiro, there was no record of it on the plane from Heathrow to Casablanca. British Airways had lost it. A lost luggage report was made, but true to form British Airways lost luggage computer site had crashed and there was no way of getting through.

You think this was straight forward enough. Think again. Put yourself in Niels shoes. Stuck on the opposite side of the world in a foreign country where nobody and I mean NOBODY spoke English He was dog tired with jet lag, stressed to the eyeballs and in total despair. On the plus side, he had a hotel, and his net book, and his wallet, and thankfully the hotel had WIFI, so he could get in contact. But the contact was tenuous and kept cutting out. Add to that our travel agent couldn't be gotten hold of as she was overseas.

OK that's Niels side of the story. I was working everyday until my surgery booked in 4 days time and I had to hire a car, pick up the car, get sedatives for the cat to take him with me, there was no way I was leaving him.

OK now you have a better picture. Massive stress on everyone's side.

In absolute despair and, while I still had time to organise it, an emergency flight home was booked [through another travel agent]. People don't realise that it was really the only option we had. Niel had to end his cycle race around the world. How can you cycle without a bike? I had to work all hours of the day organising my trip to Christchurch for surgery [ with the cat], go to my job and be on the computer virtually 24 hours a day to try to keep Niel from going insane.

The day before he flew home, his bike turned up. No explanation, no apology, nothing. I think that is appalling, surely someone knows what happened to it. Do they realise they destroyed a man's dream.

The minute I'm being administered general anaesthetic, Niel plane lands in New Zealand. He was there, when I opened my eyes back in my room. Sounds romantic, but I was in lala land. We were both so tired. Niel from stress and jet lag, and me from stress and anaesthetic. We've been sleeping 12 -13 hours each night.

A few days later, with Niels bike, gear, and the cat on board, we drove back to Nelson.

How's that for a busy week?

Waiting.

I've been quiet lately, I've been waiting. It's seems my whole existence involves around waiting at the moment.

Niel and the World Cycle Race contestants wait for their next food and drink stop,  it can never come soon enough.

Some people wait in queues.

some people wait in traffic jams - not me.

What am I waiting for?

Well you all know of my battle with the health system, waiting for appointments, that never led to any solution, just to more waiting for more appointments. I've reached the end of my tolerance for waiting. After talking to my Mother, 400kms away in Christchurch, she was convinced things would happen faster for me there. So leaving it in her capable hands, I now have an appointment to see a specialist  and even a surgery date, in the space of 2 weeks, not 6 months as it is here at home in Nelson. Thanks Mum, you're a gem.

I've also been waiting to hear from Niel. That wonderful man of mine has completed his crossing of the South American continent, from Lima in Peru to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. If you've been reading my blog, you will know it hasn't been easy for him.Snow blizzards and endless mountains in the Andes. Then tropical heat over 30 degrees Celsius. Deplorable roads that turn into mountain bike tracks for 200 kms. Dodging scary animals. Going hungry and thirsty and foregoing meals just to make the distance before loosing the light in the short tropical days. Not to mention blistered lips and 2 bouts of food poisoning. Then there's the loneliness and communication problems. But he's done it.

At times he couldn't contact me, and my imagination worked overtime. I imagined  him kidnapped and held for ransom in the mountains, or mugged and left in a ditch, or bitten by a snake or crocodile, or hairy spider and left dead or dying somewhere, I wait and try not to fret and then I get an email and I can smile again.

This is playing havoc with my levels of tolerance and patience. I can't be patient with stupid, annoying people at the shop. And there is plenty of people who are stupid and annoying.

Then I have to begin waiting again. I've decided I'm not pshycologically disposed to waiting.

I'll tell you something funny that happened today. I was late for work. is that funny you're thinking, well no, whats funny is why. I had Bird trouble. What?!?

The chicken wouldn't get out from under the dining room table, in the end  I had to get the broom and push the chicken towards the open door. Just as she goes out the door a fantail flutters in. A fantail for those that don't know, is a small native bird that has a tail that fans out. They torment cats because the expertly flutter around them without the cat being able to catch it. So, I had to open the door again to get the  fantail outside, the chicken trots in again. Arrgh....... Out comes the broom again.

When I get to work and explained why I was late, my boss said: " If anyone else had used that as an excuse, I wouldn't have believed them".

Missions.

Well I was right about my hub bearings. By working out the problem, it only took $15  to get it fixed. Didn't I do well?

I have another mission this week. Curtains. We have an old house [1880], so there are gaps and draughts everywhere. Yes there are curtains on the windows, all be them being old and a horrible peach colour. However it's the external doors I've decided to put curtains on. I noticed last winter - a very cold draught coming through them.

Men are probably thinking - what curtains? why not use some draught stop stripping? Quick answer - I'm not a man. Also a lot of heat is lost through window panes - of which there's a lot of on the external doors. And there's not a man here to stop me. Also the electrical supplier in all their wisdom have put the cost of power up yet again.

However it doesn't stop there. I've decided to replace the peach curtains too, so that they are all the same colour. You know I feel driven to get things done, that I never seem to get around to. I already know what my next mission will be. You'll just have to wait to find out.

my trailer full of curtains.

That's my week, pretty tame compared to Niel's. His mission is to survive the Brazilian swamps and get back to civilisation. He is dodging very large road kill and going for it to cover the large distances till the next town as there is no way you want to freedom camp with these nasties.

As I write this he will be on his last day of remoteness, from now on there are constant towns all the way to the Atlantic coast and Rio de Janiero. 11 more cycling days and he'll have a few well deserved days off sightseeing and waiting for his flight to Morocco.