The Windy Road ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'm ## years old!
For my birthday me and some friends went for a tramping trip to Tongariro. Friday night myself "Fast turn", Connor "The Navigator" and Marek "The Real Navigator" drove to Turangi... the long way so much for my navigator and thankfully the backseat driver, Marek, knew how to get us there via the windy road :D

Check out the track
(':^)~(':^)~(':^)~(':^)~
Check out the pics

I'm going to try and add more links to things in this post. I have found it easiest to right click the mouse button when over a link and select "open in New Tab." Let me know if you would prefer I do something different.

We met up with Ali and Shawn in Turangi after heading the wrong direction after getting directions from Shawn to the meeting point a Shell/Burger King. Shawn's family has a bach (pronounced batch: a second home/cabin) between Turangi and Taupo. We brought the beer and had some good conversation. I knew Shawn from Ali's fancy dress party, remember the one where I was a gladiator! Anyway, when we rolled up and met at the BK Shawn said "I remember you, we dove together last weekend." Ahh yes I thought he looked familiar. He was doing his PADI Advanced course while I was doing my wreck specialty. NZ/Wellington is a smaller place than SLC yo!
Shawn was a cool cat and I'm hoping to get out diving w/ him in the next year.

We had some not so grand plans of being up and on the road to Mangatepopo Valley around 8am. Finally 10am rolled around and we were on the move :D We all piled into my car and made off for the trail.
The initial climb up to the south crater wasn't so bad but we were sweating for sure. This was nothing though as the climb to Mt Tongariro was steep as.

We had lunch and Ali said good by to Connor, this would be last time they will see each other for a long while, Ali held back but tears were still shed.

Shawn and Ali needed to get heading out because they were only doing the "Crossing," Mangatepopo to Ketetahi, and were not going on the overnighter with the boys. Come on Ali! j/k

We felt like we were being watched and my fingers were numb so we got moving. Conveniently, as we were passing over Tongariro there were ppl sitting on the ground looking like they were enjoying the cold!~ Freaks. Connor wandered over and found out that they were sitting on HOT dirt 8) a thermal vent was calling to my cold bones. Nice and hot on the bunz and fingers. We were on a pretty steep hill and I was a bit worried w/ Marek moving out over the edge but all was good. After warming up the race to the bottom was on!

Many many great view and some fun making another Sweet As sign but M needed to add an d an extra 'S' ;0

We covered many k's in 7 hours and by the time we made it to Waihohonu Hut I was spent! I had hurt both feet somehow and but I only cry'd a little. Dinner was made and we had some great views of the sun going down behind some clouds and Mount Ruapehu (Roo a pay hoo).

The hut was fantastic, gas stoves, a heater, lights and candles. There was a ranger in charge of the hut and took a couple of us out to set the possum traps. We were going to have possum for breakfast but we didnt' end up catching anything :(
That night we met a couple cool chic's from North Carolina and a uber tramper from Holland. We ended up drinking JD and Vodka while playing Gin hehehe.

We had another late start not getting out until 10 again. We caught the girls about mid day and ended up hiking the rest of the afternoon with them since they were going to take Connor with them and drop him in Taupo. These two goddesses ended up taking all three of us back to my car so we didn't have to take/pay and wait for a shuttle. Huge thanks!

I didn't shed a tear for Connor but I will miss the kid! Connor at 22 years old, has experienced so much and traveled shit loads more than I. Keep it up and I hope to tramps another path with you again.

Entertaining the Queen Day's 3-5

Check out pictures here.
Day 3: I hear a sure fire way to end a relationship is to do something in tandem...

We didn't have that problem at all; Jen paddled my ass around while I did some fishing. I could have done with out the comment here and there about sore shoulders and arms and I think I did well holding back the urge to give her some real pain to whine about...
Being of the hunter gatherer gender I felt it more important to make sure my tribe had sustenance. Not 5 minutes after dropping line I had my first real action. Reeling the bad boy in was a bit more work and extremely disappointing because I had to throw it back. The 7 foot Mako that I had in my hands was 6 inches to small. I should have just kept it anyway but Jen was all over me for even considering it... Damn goody goodies. O and thanks a lot Jen for not having the camera ready, GOSH now no one is going to believe me! Dinner turned out to be a bit less exciting, Coweye, what the locals consider crap/carp. We on the other hand liked it; a nice white, non fishy tasting morsel that accompanied our pasta and veggies nicely. I'm thinking the shark may have been better...

This is the sunset from our first night camping, pictures never really capture everything. When is someone going to create a picture that contains feelings, smells, a breeze...? Now that would be the shit!



Day 4: The Tide 101
O man there was nothing getting us out of the tent. It was almost noon before we got to moving our asses. As it turns out this wasn't such a great idea. Don't get me wrong if I had it my way we'd have spent 17 more days in there :)... By the time we started moving the weather sun that was so brightly shinning all morning was replaced by dark gray/grey clouds and the tide was out. Not so bad you would think except for the fact that nearly the entire head of the sound had receded some 200 meters. We meaning I had to drag the kayak while Jen hooted about her jandle breaking under the mud; 8+ years is a good life for a flip flop! The weather the rest of the day wasn't very nice, rain and wind until we finally landed at our camp spot. We ended up covering a good distance 10+km all the while I was singing me song.

Yo, ho, haul together,
hoist the colors high.
Heave ho,
thieves and beggars,
never shall we die.

The king and his men
stole the queen from her bed
and bound her in her Bones.
The seas be ours
and by the powers
where we will we'll roam.

Yo, ho, haul together,
hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
never say we die.

Some men have died
and some are alive
and others sail on the sea
– with the keys to the cage...
and the Devil to pay
we lay to Fiddler's Green!

The bell has been raised
from it's watery grave...
Do you hear it's sepulchral tone?
We are a call to all,
pay head the squall
and turn your sail toward home!

Yo, ho, haul together,
hoist the colors high.
Heave ho, thieves and beggars,
never say we die.

We're sure glad that we continued on to the further camping area. It was just us and another Weka. I took some more time to drop a line but didn't have any luck and we were ready to call it a day. It's pretty hard fighting whitecaps all day. Whitecaps, for those of you not in the know, are waves that break and have a white foam top as the water falls ahead of the wave :P You know that ones that surfers are always trying to ride...

Another pasta dinner with veggies and some tuna that Jen brought from the states. She didn't think she was going to be able to eat so she brought her staples from home: wheat tortillas, tuna packets, turkey, scroggin (gorp/trailmix), energy bars... It probably didn't help that I told her she was going to starve. I was pleasantly surprised by her ability to eat a wide variety of foods. Most chicks I've dated are picky.

Even with it not being a superb day I couldn't have asked for better company in a better place.
Yarrrrrrrrr

The Amazon Queen in New Zealand Day 1-2

The Queen has finally come to New Zealand! Look out it's not the motherlands Queen but one from the Amazon. The Maori's may have a fight on their hands...
Jen Danker AKA The Amazon Queen came to visit me in Aotearoa for three weeks and I've got a full on road trip planned.

Day 1: Kisses Galore!
The ferry ride to Picton was fantastic clear skies and the sun came out in fashion. We took a picnic dinner and watched the sounds roll by as the sun was setting. The lovely weather didn’t last into the evening. I could barely see with the wipers full on as we drove around looking for our backpacker, the Jugglers Rest.
I finally found it along w/ the ditch next to the drive way. As you can see we’ve picked up our first bit of dirt and grass. I was sure that AQ would out do me but she kept the car on the paved and dirt roads, damn!

Day 2: Bloody hell!
We were off pretty early and that’s when I found out that my pack’s hipbelt had not come w/ me to NZ… Bloody HELL! It’s a good thing Jen didn’t opt for any tramps! We got set up with our rental bikes and jumped the water Taxi to Ship Cove, the start of the Queen Charlotte track. We were fortunate to have some dusky dolphins playing in the area so Jen got her first NZ wildlife sighting. We landed 3000 pictures later…

We hung around and took some more pictures and walked over to a small waterfall for even more …. Yep you guessed it, PICTURES! Just shortly after getting on our way in the saddle we were out and hoofing it up some pretty steep terrain. I’m SURE I would have made it if I had my own bike ;) We took our lunch break and had P&J bagel’s. Mmm P&J! We were constantly being harassed by this Weka and her chick. It was trying to burgle the rest of our sandwiches in a baggy situated between us; the nerve of some birds!

The next section of trail was some nice wide downhill. Hey Jen, what does Ryan tell you when you’re riding down a hill? She really did great and at a pace that allowed me to ride w/ one hand and video with the other. 8) Not long after midday the hail started in; hail, really, come on! Bloody hell! The ride was still enjoyable until we made it to the last 2k. The day’s journey 26.5km was supposed to take around 5 hours. We were getting pretty tired and I was sure we were only 10min away like 10 times. ;)
As most of my friends can attest, I’m always spot on w/ mileage and time estimates. The last 2km was wet slippery clay with loads of puddles that were not rideable. It was getting late, we were hungry, cold and wanted to relax and I knew if we didn’t get food in AQ the bad gunky would be around soon! That 2km took us another hour for a grand total 7 hours. Bloody h311! Some other bikers passed us a couple hard core riding and the rest in a hustle and one put it best, “I was a wonderful up until now.” After a quick rinse of the bikes we rocked up to the restaurant still in our muddy riding gear. After some back and forth deciding to cleanup first or get our grub on we settled on eating. Even though we were seriously under dressed no one gave us more than a double take on our way to the corner table with a view. :D We finally made it to the room and our gear was there waiting, a long hot shower hit the proverbial spot.

I don't think I can express how happy I was to have more time to spend with Jen. When I left the US I figured that I'd not be with my AQ again in a situation where we would "be" together. The wait was well worth it! Enough of the heart felt crap, robel robel out

For names sake

Well it was bound to happen one day, I have had my first Krumping experience. Man it was wild; crazy faces and arms flying everywhere. Pretty cool aye! So before you'll start thinking oo he's sick I can't believe rob would do such a thing... I said Krumpting not crumping, GOSH! I am so upset that I didn't have my camera, I had just taken it out after returning from the beach :(

Wandering up on this was just good luck, I was having some drinks my friend Lisa and walking her to the concert she had tickets when we saw a large group of Mauri kids all grouped together. Lisa headed off to her show and I had time to burn... so I went to check it out and it looked to me like a break battle but these kids sucked at breaking! I thought huh well maybe the kids on this side of the world don't have skillz? I asked one of the youngsters, prob 17, what was up and what they were doing. He informed me of the style of Krumping, it's heritage from Cali, and that this was a battle of two crews for a name. Crew A had given a new name to one of it's members, Killa. Said crew wasn't aware of crew B which already had a Killa so they were there to battle for the right to keep the name. The battle included Killa, Twin Killa, Twin, and some other crony... Anyway, I wasted a good hour watching these guys throw down. This style of dance fits really well w/ the Mauri culture since it allowed the kids to kinda dance like their tribal ancestors and make faces like them when they do their cultural performances.

Both crews were having a good time, in good spirits and not at all menacing which to me was sweet as

Check it out here on youtube

Cold Killa out

Labour day in Kaikoura

Weekend of October 25th, 2008. All Images

Man lets hope I can remember how all the great parts of this weekend that occurred over a month ago. First I would like to apologize to the girls for not getting this up sooner and for missing a write up about our last vacation, this one’s for my lesbian’s friends.
Thank you for inviting me share your last weekend/holiday in New Zealand. Bonnie and Clair have been in NZ for many months are now GTFO. Marek and I set out from Wellington while Matt jumped a plane from Auckland. Jenny had just arrived from the UK the day before and was seriously jet lagged when we met.

As we rolled into town the rest of the gang had just purchased a load of groceries and were on their way to make lunch. Me, always being the nice guy, pulled over and offered to take their goods to the backpacker. The poor starving fools would come to find out some 30 minutes later that their lunch had been hijacked and was not coming back anytime soon. I promise we didn’t know we had their lunch…. ;)

We spent that evening walking and playing on the beach. Is it still a beach if there isn’t any sand? It shouldn’t be if you ask me but hey, words are just words. This “beach” was just a load of fist size and larger rocks. It made a really cool sound as the tide came in and out, check it out here. Matt kept us entertained by trying to hit a seagull. We got his focus changed for a couple minutes trying to hit a stick out in the water. A boy can so easily be distracted, oo shiny! I found some fennel growing just up from the beach so I took a load back to broil up, mmm. I don’t think anyone else was impressed but hey, I didn’t have the make or break parmesan.

Saturday we went out for a walk on the Peninsula(map), six would start four would finish. You get pretty hungry on these long walks and the weak never seem to make it home 8)
The wind and ever threatening rain wasn’t so nice for Jen and Clair so they headed back the way we came, too bad for them because the sun came our and the wind wasn’t so bad on the “beach.”

Turns out that Marek and I wandered into a seagull nesting ground; the sign was on the trail and we were walking the “beach.” Anyway we were snapping off some pics of flying and nesting gulls and some seals out playing when we notice some guy waving at us. As we wandered back that way this guy was asking if we knew how to read, to which I said no speak English ;) na but I really wish I had. This guy was pretty pissed that we missed the sign… O Bonnie everyone/thing gets stressed it’s just part of life. ;) The tide was in and we were unsure if we could make it around the rocks. After some tricky jumps from rock to rock and tide surge timing we were able to make it to the final dangerous crossing. A big lazy seal was napping right where we had to pass, no more than 2 feet from biting our ankles off! We made it but Bonnie almost got us all killed. Being the only girl with us she would have to be the one to step on the only stick in the area making a loud sound to stir the beast. It had probably just finish off eating the last tourist that passed by and was too full and tired to move so we make it back w/o spilt blood. I’d have to say, I sure would like to know what seal tastes like.
Little did we know this was only a taste of our adventures to come. I had found a waterfall hike, 10 min return, about 30km out of town that morning and now being back in the car full of energy Matt suggested we check out the falls. On the drive we passed the seal colony and Matt said, “I wonder if the seals ever swim up all the river and streams in the area?” As we arrived at the falls, Matt first noticed a couple pup seals swimming and playing under the falls.
Guess that answers that question! I love it when things like that happen.
It was pretty damn cool being so close, we hung out for a long while watching them and they eventually were quizzical enough to come up. Matt and Bonnie used some flax to splash up the water. They liked it and came over to investigate and ended up playing for a good five minutes. Cute little buggers with their sleek bodies, long whiskers and big round eyes. There were five pups and not adults to be seen. Three were playing in the water, one sleeping on a rock and wouldn’t couldn’t be bothered and another somewhere in the bush that Bonnie and Matt sought out.
Topping this night off was a nice spa soak, drinks by the fire, food hunt in the rain which turned out to be expensive gourmet pizza that was so delish!

We had booked a whale watch for yesterday but because of the weather and waves it was postponed to today and what a beautiful day it turned out to be! Clear skies, albatross, dolphins and one whale made the $130 trip worth while, well maybe but I need to convince myself so ya it was great!

Unfortunately Marek and I had to hurry back to catch the ferry so the weekend had to come to an end :’( Number and hugs were exchanged with full expectations of seeing these great people again in the future.
Good luck on the rest of your trip Clair. Bonnie, back to work for you and I hope you get “sorted.” I’ll come and visit both of you in the next year or two max.
Matt lets make some SCUBA plans and Jenny try to remember what it is you came to NZ for or where you put your shoes for that matter.

Speaking of shoes, huge props go out to Matt for shipping returning to the backpacker to get my Chaco sandles and shipping them to me! I owe ya...

View Larger Map

Day Trip with Marek and my new rig!

So here she is my NZ girl, what shall I name her? I bought this 1996 Subaru Legacy Grand Wagon AKA Outback. I was told she is green, right? ;) She treated us very well today easily cruising up over a few big hills and taking the winding corners w/o a squeal. Not so great on petrol consumption 11L/100Km. Marek said it best, "Dis is not so good." Marek is a partner in crime here in NZ. He has relocated here from Czech and will be staying until his visa is up next Nov. He's a good guy and hard to understand sometimes but we manage pretty good.

So I ask Marek to head out on this road trip with me to the beach. I was having a look see at the map a couple days before and picked out this place. When I told Marek he said he had been there a few times already and loved it. These are his pics.


This here is the scene when we first roll up. I'm already in love. NZ has such character. "Home of lost soles." How suiting, there are so many soles and souls here from all around the world. I have met many people that have come to this country to escape what is the rat race most of us live on the daily... I'm one of them and loving it but home will probably always be the SLC for me.

These next two pictures show where we are heading and coming back down. To the left of us you can see the hill in the background that we are about to climb. The climb looks like more work than it actually was, we made it up and down in about an hour with a sandwich break and watching the waves on the other side.

To the left is my favorite picture of the day. I took some time with this one, I hope it captures you as the scene did me. Click here to see the rest of the album from this trip.


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Yum

 For the poor around the world fret not for no matter what corner of the globe you find your self there is cheap noodles not so far away. Check this college boy meal out, my first taste of cheap noodles here. These bad boys are even selling me on the "Simple Goodness" and "No artificial colours or flavors" Sweet as!

This is where you ask, now why would this well to do computer programmer be eating such rubbish. To which I would respond: Fuck'n hell, no matter what salary you make here it's just not enough ;) In all reality I was just way too preoccupied this week to make it to the store: reporting stolen road bike, buying a car, working a shitload to cover for holiday when Jen comes out, planning a road trip, riding, and buying some previously owned books. More to come on each of these topics…

I've got to remember to buy some replacement noodles for my flat mates, shhhh I took these w/o asking. Well I really couldn't have asked anyone anyway because I've been left alone, again... So I've been in the flat now, maybe 3 months? In that time I have seen one flat mate, lets call him Michael Burns, twice and spoke to him once. My other flat mate, AKA Tom Smith (go figure I'd find the only Smith in NZ!), travels for work and has been here a total of maybe 3-4 weeks. This makes for a lonely flat :( I like my place very much but damn someone to say hi to at the end of the day would be nice. Maybe I'll order me one of them mail order girls from Russia. I’m good, some more messages from ya’ll would be great HINT HINT.

I’ve got send props out to Momz, there is no way I would be able to be here and keep all my shit together back in Utah. Love you mom!

 Bike, ug well she’s gone and I miss her! This last weekend my road bike was taken from outside a friends flat, seriously people! Nope the bike goes have still not forgotten me :( I filed a claim today and got a replacement quote for around $5,999 NZD. I have a $250 excess (deductible) and they are going to depreciate the bike. Since it is a 2002 frame and I put all new components on it in 07 and 08 they had better not screw me. I've put some watches on TradeMeand put the word out to a few bike shops. I figure I'll go check out the police station for seized bikes every couple weeks for a bit.

Car, a 1996 Subaru Grand Wagon AKA Outback. It has 145,000km on the odometer pretty good for that year right? It seems to run good but I’ve not really driven it. I bought it yesterday and it’s been parked since LOL perhaps I’ll use it this weekend. I’m hoping to do a bit of a road trip maybe 100-300km to see how it goes. They don’t clean their cars much around these parts. Every vehicle I saw hadn’t been vacuumed in what seemed to be a year. Even after buying this car they did not clean it, Gosh! I’ll be making this baby mine if it survives the weekend. Wish us luck.

Holy hell I can't keep blathering on like this all night; that reminds me of a certain girl friend of mine. If you want know the rest you'll just have to email me or wait for me to get bored again.

Cheerio's mate

The Big Dog

  Today at the coffee shop I was out having a mochachino and this guy comes with his little black dog and sits next to me... Instantly my thoughts go to Driz, I miss that guy so much. I have reminders of hime just about every day picking out a piece of his hair from my cloths or finding a scrap in a book that I've had a while.

 

Mom huge thanks for taking care of the boy and if any of my friends out there have a chance pick him up for a hike or walk. I'm sure mom would appreciate the break and Driz would love the additional socialization.

Always look on the bright side of life (whistle)

I passed I f’n passed! I got 805/1000 where 700 is passing. As many of you know I’ve been studying for a Microsoft exam… if not then read my blog more often… GOSH! I might try to continue the cert path but can’t imagine my next test would be within a year… Time to play.

I’m watching a classic tonight, can you guess the show w/ these names:
Bigus Dikus
Naughtius Maximus
Incontinentia Buttus

Always look on the bight side of death, life’s a piece of shit when you look at it…

Robel Robel

Biking gives me such a high!

And the beatings continue! Hey BW, you would have enjoyed watching this crash. Yet another dumb rob move. So we're coming down this hill on Mount Victoria, AKA Mt. Vic, pretty fast and of course it's been raining. Well at the bottom of this hill is a right turn going up on some asphalt... need I say more? So here I am doing about mach 1 w/ mud on my tires, which I'm very aware, there's asphalt which is wet of which I'm also aware. Putting all this data together when my brain has been racked over the last month just wasn't happening. So there I go front tire looses traction my ankle hits first then my knee, shoulder and finally a loud crack which was thankfully my helmet and not my skull. OK well that was a fun show for all the new MTB riders I've met today. If they ride w/ me some more they'll be seeing much more of that. I'm an idiot most days...
I'd been pretty bummed about not having some close tracks to my flat until now. I rode this area when I first got here but was just kinda winging it. The trails I took sucked and of course it was raining a lot harder hen and everything was slippery. Todays ride was a preride for next weeks race which I'm not going to make because I'm heading off to Tongariro w/ some friends should be sweet as! Tongariro Crossing

Wow aren't you lucky, two postings in two days!

Now for some more brain food and study :D

robel robel

I will have a life here…

I can see the light! As some of you already know from my insechit whining I have been studying for about a month. My company has requested that I start a Microsoft certification path. Why you ask, well because they are a “Gold” partner and that means two things. One, they get referrals from MS when a company contacts MS asking if there is a company they recommend that can do (what we do) and two, they get all the Microsoft software for free while we maintain the “Gold” status saving them bookoo bux! To be a “Gold” member a percentage of all developers have to be certified and when I hired on they were falling short this year so I agreed to help out. WTF was I thinking? I am in a new country working on starting a new life and here I have been studying nearly every day for the last couple weeks… To top it off my test is Monday and I have not been able to pass one of the practice exams. The stress is building! This is the first of potentially 5 exams to make it to the Enterprise Architect title. That’s not happening any year soon! Regardless, I am learning a shitload and at the same time most of it is getting used in my daily job, I’m crazy stoked that I’m not spending time learning something that never gets used.
To accomplish this feat of strength I need an office so I bought a table and took up a corner of the living room. I also need brain food so a shit load of ice cream has been consumed. This Ice cream contains Hokie Pokie’s which are tasty little chocolate covered honeycomb pieces.


I’ll bet you’ve had enough of that droll.

I went through some serious down times the last couple months missing many of you and the big dog! I think a lot of that had to do with this exam and shit weather every time I get some free time. Well things are perking up, I see the end to this test, it’s starting to warm up and my good friend Jen will be visiting in four weeks! Jen, I hope your as excited as I am. On top of that many of the things that I want to do require a car; this crux too will be mended in the next couple weeks. I’m not going to be able to get anything that would even compare to the Element; damn you Kate for taking him away from me.
Some of the things a Car will do for me, transport to some of the great MTB parks and trails that are just a pain to ride to ride to. Scuba and gear transport. And tramping weekends!

Come next week I’m also going to try and get on a sailing crew fro some races here in the harbor and at sea. BW has been riding me about this so I can help out on our outing in January in Auckland. I have to admit it seems like a NZ thing to do since around every corner is another bay w/ valet boat parking ;)

One more thing, I came across this American band called Animal Collective an alternative strange band but really fun to listen to and I think you should have a listen. If you want to sample let me know and I'll hook you up.

OK off for some drinks on the town before I ride and study some more tomorrow.

Robel out

Damn almost a month since my last confession! Father forgive....

My apologies to many friends and family for not keeping in touch! I've been gone 9 weeks now, have you even noticed? I'm in a new country starting a new life give me a break! 8) Seriously though, I miss you all very much and hope that you will come visit.

I've been keeping pretty busy, so much for a slowing of my life. Raise of hand if you didn't believe me when I tried to sell you on the fact that I was going to chill out?

SCUBA: Only dove once since arriving and it was crap, 3 meter vis, extremely cold and a short dive to boot. However, that didn't dissuade me one bit. Over two months have gone by since I signed up for my Wreck dive specialty course and I've only a manual to show for it. Three times we have had the course scheduled, one tomorrow, and have all been canceled due to weather or wind. WTF mother nature, I've got plans, get w/ my program...

New Friends: I've met a few and lost a few, namely Marek a guy from Czech, Connor from Ireland (left today for a 1000k tramp from Invecargo to Abel!), Ali and a few others. I've not penetrated the biking scene but am looking to do so in the morning. I'm heading out on a 5 hour road ride w/ a few guys from the local bike shop, thanks for the invite Brett.

On that note Biking: (Photos)

Bryon Wright (x utahn) and I rode in the 12 Hours of Taupo MTB race last weekend. It was a race but we didn't take it too seriously. We both did 11 laps which came to about 90km in the 12 hours with a couple long breaks and a life saving thermal stream soak at about the 6 hour mark. I can thank Voltarin, our kick butt alt to IBU, for keeping me happy and pedaling. Me and BW (pronounced BeeDub) will also be participating in the Alpine Epic come next year. When our boys Ryan and Derryl come out in March we'll race the AY UP Lights 24 a 24 hour MTB race in Rotorua. fyi, Ryan is a new daddy and the same guy that got his ass handed to him riding up LCC by a girl! giggle love ya Jen.
I'll probably put together a team in May for Moonride, yet another 24 hour race in Rotorua. In case you haven't caught on, Rotorua is the MTB mecca of NZ. Riderotorua.com It's time I make another trip up there... Here in Wellington there is a village called Makara that has a full on MTB XC and FR park. It's pretty rad but getting to it right now w/o a car is a pain since I'm spent by the time I make the hour plus road ride. I have met a few guys that go night riding once a week to Makara and now that my shipment has arrived with my lights, I will be joining them. It doesn't hurt that the weather is also starting to pick up.

Click image to see larger view:

Wellington AKA Windington and Rainington: man the rain and wind have been in full effect since I have arrived. ahhh enough about the weather, I don't even notice it any more, NOT. But on a nice day it's absolutely great!

Health: I've been battling a nasty head cold and serious chest congestion for the past 3 weeks or so. It's getting better now (fingers crossed). I'm not sure if this is the same cough that I thought I was over that I had had for over a year. Anywho, I'm feeling better and staying active. My company subsidized a gym membership so I've started to swim which kicks my ass! I feel so weak only being able to swim 120 meters w/o stopping and then having to stop every 60 or so after that... so much for being a bad ass at everything I do ;) My goal with that is to do a duathalon in the next year. I got the idea from my girl Jen and her triathalon training, what a monster that girl is.

And until my next confession, party on.

Costume Party at Ali's New Flat

Ali's flat warming party was last night (Pictures Here); the costumes had to be made out of newspaper, bags or cardboard. I went a bit overboard w/ my outfit but hey why not. It took me about 5 hours to put it together. Me being new to NZ I had nothing necessary to complete the job so I was off to the hardware store for some paint and utility knife, the second hand store for a teeshirt and dress, and finally the dollar store for some fake diamonds and string. I wanted to be a gladiator so I went to the all knowing Google for some help finding out what one looks like. I came across this site called Instructables (http://www.instructables.com). Pretty damn cool place to find instructions for making a lot of things, not just costumes. I used the instructions for the belt and the rest was all me. A sword from cardboard with a couple diamonds glued on the pommel. A shoulder plate for off hand defense in case another warrior dared to show or step up :D. Wrist bands from the cut up dress and an old gray shirt cut down the front w/ some ties holding it closed. I also made a head band w/ another diamond in the center but paint got on the inside and when I put it on I would get a black ring around my head so I didn't use this piece. I am pleased with the overall outcome! What do you think?

Getting to the party was a bit more... how do you say... challenging. I met Marek at the bus stop and we had to hang out for about 15 minutes. Needless to say most people driving by looked over to stare or made comments. Dressed up like this in your own house or at a party is one thing, going out in public is another. I kept a smile on and thought to myself how proud I am of being able to grin at all those jealous people that don't have costume making SKILLZ!
Sitting on the bus proved to be another challenge, the slats don't bend; this means I'm going to be standing all nigh too, doh!
The party was great fun. So much drinking, laughing and dancing made for a long night that felt entirely too short. I met most of these people while staying at the Worldwide Backpackers here in Welly. I am extremely pleased to have met these great people the of whom I now consider friends: Marek, Connor and Ali. Not to say that the rest of the people are any less nice or friendly, you know what I mean. My costume was a hit and if I may say so won the Gold! Ali mentioned multiple times that she had wished that she had some prize to give, no worries Ali!

Today I didn't get out of bed until 3pm and still fighting to think clearly. I can thank my friend Marek for getting my ass home and paying for the taxi.


http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37136&l=4faa4&id=730638300

The Robinator

So I met some friends while staying @ the backpacker that invited me to play a game called squash. I've heard of the game but didn't know anything about it. So if you're like me let me now learn you. Think racket ball w/ a ball the size of a foosball but rubber, a tennis racket that is slightly narrower and more rules.
I've played a couple games of racketball, OK a few games in one day, but still, I'm pretty athletic and can run around swinging a paddle like some loon. The first game was a total lose, 1-9 against Chris and Irish blok :( Second game, was not much better , I scored three right towards the end; I think the French guy gave me those.
But the third game was all me, this girl Ali, was also new so I was able to crush her w/ sheer strength :) Now that's better!
Feeling better about my game ;) I played another Frenchy, this was a much better match for me, back and forth both of us scoring. On game point 5-8 I turned my ankle, not f'n cool. I haven't done this in a couple year and thought that I was over those days. I called the rest of the game and went out to elevate my foot. Frenchy didn't have another player since Conner was chatting away w/ chris. I was feeling like a puss because I took this guys win away by "faking" and injury; at least that is what I would have thought since I wasn't reeling on the ground in agony. So I sucked it up and went back to finish. I wasn't feeling a sharp shooting pain so I knew it wouldn't be that bad, lets just hope it doesn't happen again. Those damn wood floors just grab your feet some times!
I was feeling good and we went back and forth a few times until it was 8-8 and I make the final score! Booya kasha! With a real win under my belt I was ready to bring the pain to another and I hadn't yet played Conner. Conner is pretty good but I was hot! My serves were just so that it was hard to get a strong return and I was banking like I had all the money in the world! That final game ended 2-9, o ya watch out all you pro squash playaz Bob-o is rock'n the plexyglass...

Now I'm sitting on the couch stuffing chips in my snout, writing to you and icing. Thanks for reading peeps ;)

Remember kids, if you uncle Harry asks you to touch it, pull as hard as you can :D

Daily Ritual and Coworkers

Every day 3pm is hack time. A group of us head down to the parking garage if it's raining, the location for most days, or outside to the parking lot for some sun and hack! I think they were impressed when my mad skillz; I can thank my brother Scott and friends at senior corner during high school.


Clockwise from 9pm: Dongbo, Wayne, Jamish AKA Jamal, Shane, Raymond and Richard

This here is Wayne, my Jedi master. He has been w/ the company the longest and has a great understanding of software, he reminds me a bit of my friend BlaineC w/o the chattiness . He's also a pool shark.

NZ Bike Gods got word of my arrival

I had thought that I out tricked the bike gods by moving half way around the world, NOT! I have somehow gotten bad bike karma, I've done nothing to upset them unless they take offense to cursing?

I almost didn't get out of bed this morning due to my sore shoulder and general aches but there was something coming through my shades. It was different, white and bright. The sun does show its love here. Well I couldn't well sit in bed on the second day of sun in over 15 days so I decided to make give Mt. Victoria, Mt. Vic for short, a go.
This location is just up the hill from my flat so getting there took all but 5 min, sweet as! It was muddy, rooty and Rob wasn't impressed at all. This is supposed to be the location of a world cup race a few years ago, I must be in the wrong location... as I'm riding up a steep hill my bike stops and I tip over, no laughing please, turns out I had a link pop and get caught in the rear der. I guess I should be thankful that it didn't pull that off. This chain has less than 40 miles on it! What is it that I do or how I ride that makes brake at least 3 chains a season? I clean and lube them after every few rides and after every ride if they get wet or muddy, anyone got a clue?
I'm extremely skilled at chain fixing now and was back up and running in less than 4 minutes. Made it up the hill and was crossing a soccer or cricket field when some more popping started. I stopped and had a look to find the bugger.. Two more links about 6 inches apart had popped rivets, holy shit! As I'm changing them out in the middle of the marshy grass a lady approached and was nice to stop and chat. She asked where abouts I was heading and she told me not to even attempt. It was steep, muddy and generally not a good idea. So for the first time in my life I listened to a woman and turned to head home after 3 hours of climbing w/o much payout. The woman did affirm my suspicions that Mt. Vic had to have better trails and has offered to learn me a little in the next couple weeks. Sweet As Bro ;)

Wellington MTB cherry broken!

My first mountain bike ride in Wellington, NZ. It started out really nice this morning and then a storm came through again... fortunately it's coming down now and not when I was out this afternoon.

I rode from my flat in Newtown to point of interest numero one, the wind turbine. This is a long grind uphill, some on the road and some on trail; mental note good str training route. It's a service road so nothing to speak to other than the three steep sections, wind, Wind o and some more WIND. After the turbine and some great views of the Wellington harbor, city and coast it was down some rollers and a couple steep sections w/ hikers to a place called Watch hill. POI #2 was to make it to the Makara MTB park to test my mad skillz. Here it turns into single track through heavy veg, fast and tight turns and of course some mud after, um, 13 days of rain! ;) I wrecked once on this section getting some fresh mud on the new jersey.
The route dropped me out to a road where it was time for some urban assault, the path was marked, "Bike park this way" it just so happed to be 4 sets of concrete stair to chatter down; had my damn shock locked out cuz I thought I was gonna be on the road for a bit. With a 50% chance of choosing the right way at a T in the road I was wrong and asked a nice post man "Which direction to the MTB park?" I rolled up on a little parking lot w/ bathrooms and drinking water, mmmm yummy.
Grabbed a cheap and free map then took off up the Koru trail on a route that was gonna be 1-2 hours on the Average skill level. The trail up was nice and out of the wind, thank god because I was starting to get tired. I came out at an entrance to a terrain/jump subpark so I thought cool theres a way to get in over this log w/ some dirt up to the top. Full speed ahead into the dirt went my head and left shoulder. The log was wet and I came at it on a slight angle and was about 3 feet in the air as I felt my body turn sideways because of course my feet were still clipped into my clipless pedals while the bike sored sideways. To top it off a couple of kids were kick'n it watching the entire thing. They asked if i was ok and then laughed when I said "Well that sucked." So at this point I think Rob is tired enough to call it a day. So I head down a trail called live wires; the name is because the path goes over some power wire at some point. Anyway the little post next to the trail name stated "Average," ummm I don't think so! Much like what happened to me and BW in Rotorua this steep ass, stepped board bridge, came out of nowhere and I had no place to even get a look at the damn thing so there I went leaning back for dear life hoping that I have some room to maneuver at the bottom. Not so much luck, with a sharp 85deg right turn I was catching my breath as I fought through three more rock step areas to finally pull up and check my shorts. Thank god it was only mud... Anyway the rest was steep, fast and curvy but challenging because I was either scared shitless or seriuosly tired. I then took the road home for another 30 minutes or so.

As I'm looking at the map of the Makara park, livewires is a difficult... lot of good that does on the map and not on the damn trail marker...

The goal for tomorrow, Sunday, is to take on part of the Mt. Victoria area closer to home base.

New Beginnings

Well I'm sitting @ LAX waiting for a flight to my new home.

It really is just hitting me that I am actually leaving well, I'm already gone so it's probably good that I'm now figuring it out. I would like to send out a big thanks to all my friends that cam to say goodbye at one of my 5 or more farewell gatherings; I feel in awe that so many people actually like me and would take time out of their schedule for me. Thank you all SO VERY MUCH!

So when I arrive in NZ my buddy BW is supposed to help me kill 8 hours in Auckland while I wait for my flight to Wellington. I've reserved a private room at the worldwide backpacker for a week whilst I start work and search for a more permanent place to lay my head.

My new company, Data Torque, is conveniently located around the corner from the hostel so getting there on Monday shouldn't be too much effort.
I brought one of my bikes w/ me on the plane but kinda wish I had included it in the shipment w/ the rest of my gear. I had to pay $397 to fly my bike w/ me and they almost charged me $547... (extra bag, oversized, and overweight) What a bunch of shit!

Well gonna try to figure out this scype thing on my PSP, cheers!

Day one & two

Fresh off the plane at 5am. Bryon takes me on a car tour of Auckland before the city wakes up.

Amy's birthday is tomorrow so we pack up the family and head for bev.. Goat Island. Well next thing you know ole Rob has had a few drinks at a winery and makes for much better company.

Were were going to snorkel at the Goat but a storm rolled in and made the water rough so we jumped in the car and went to let the girls go horseback riding. Then rolled back to Auckland.

Check out the pics