James Hogan's Personal Blog
This day started badly, turned worse ended painfully and was a trial by ordeal. But, today, dammit I want my scalps!! (All the photo checkpoints are my “scalps” – a la Brad Pitt from Fury) The Statistics Today was a long hard winding road of temperature extremes, dust, and uphill…
This day started off with hope and promise, but turned into a nightmare at the end as I experienced something I’ve never seen before – rural New Zealand fully booked out. The end of the day left me scrabbling around for a place to stay, including entertaining the option of…
Now I didn’t mention it yesterday, but I found a Fairy Circle. And today, the fairies gave me gale force tailwinds, and graced me with luxury (yet affordable) accommodation when I needed it. There are Fairies So there I was! Hurtling down the road between Hanmer Springs and Culverden. Juices…
Wow! What a day, I blew out 130kms and walked off my bike feeling I could blow another 130km. I’m sitting in the Amberly Hotel still buzzing from the endorphines from today’s ride. The Statistics So yeah, 130kms in 11 hours. Admittedly, I had a big pig out stop at…
The Statistics Angels and Saints Angels: Big E – Evan MacClure Big E (Evan) drove past me as I was leaving Isolated Flats. Evan had just finished the 8 March wave and was just driving past. Big E gave me an apple and an Easter Bun – it was only…
I’m thinking about a rest day, and consulting the weather. It looks like Monday is going to be a shocker. It’s Saturday today, and that will get me to Amberly. By end of Sunday I’ll be in Christchurch, which sounds like a place to stay over the Monday.
Today, I earned every kilometer I travelled – it was one hell of a push of a day. Breakfast was a bit light, and I paid for it all day. But, I’m now in the high country and tonight I’ll be sleeping under the stars. This is what I wanted…
Now I’m getting the handle of this new cycle computer, here’s the most interesting set of statistics for the day: the co-plot of elevation and temperature. Note the hottest part of the day was as I was climbing Taylor’s Pass, where the temp kicked in a sizzling 31 degrees. Over…
Some of you have noticed yesterday’s blog was slight of hand. I didn’t actually go that far…. in fact, according to the official record, I only did 28 kms before the flat tire struck. So today was about delivering to the hype. As my mother used to say, “Piss on…
Lunch at Ferneaux Lodge Lunch at Ferneaux Lodge made everything better. I got in there about 1:00pm and enjoyed their drink and food. and then… Disaster! Well.. it wasn’t that bad 🙂 Not like screwing up the distinction between a left and right peddle. I was trucking along quite nicely…
So one of my trip goals for this ride is to meet people, and talk to strangers. I’ve given myself the goal of chatting with three people each day, finding about what’s the haps in their world and what’s their background. Janet and Susanne Janet and Susanne are a couple…
What a morning! So my sailing at 2:00 am got cancelled and Rebecca and I rushed down to the terminal to rebook. The lovely Maddie rebooked me. And I turned up again at the terminal at 7:00 for a 7:15 check in. The terminal was madness! Lots of angry people….
I got this at 9:30 pm on Saturday. I’m so angry with bluebridge! Next steps: reschedule So I immediately got on the phone only to learn that “I had called them outside office hours”, meaning the only way I could reschedule was to actually pony-up at their terminal. So, at…
Looks like I’m going to get a wet arse in the morning at Ship’s Cove on Sunday, but sunny days with tail winds all the way to Christchurch!
Of course… I’ve been able to rebook on the next available sailing which is Sunday 2 April leaving at 2 am So I leave Wellington at 2 am, get into Picton at 5:45 (ish), and catch the ferry at 7:00 am and do the Queen Charlotte track. Vic suggested I…
Both John and Victoria have completed their Sounds to Sounds ride – John in 11 days, and Vic in 16. Both of them said was hard. Real hard. Harder than the Tour of Aotearoa.Much anticipation 😊 Here’s a bit of lowdown on what I’m taking and planning while I’m in…
Yes fellow bike-packers, its CYCLE TIME!!!This time, its the fabulous Sounds to Sounds cycle ride: https://sounds2sounds2023.maprogress.com/Please follow both Victoria Sefton, John Keene and myselfVic started today (3 March), John starts on the 8 March, and I will start on the 2 April.Vic has her own blog: https://vicseftons2s.wordpress.com/ which is awesomeAnd…
There’s a difference between analysis and telling a rollicking good yarn designed to move people.Good analysis draws from the scientific methodology of making falsifiable statements about the world, and testing whether they’re wrong. For example, economics sets up a logical mathematical model as a simplification of the world, and draws…
Addendum – 23 February 2023: Nobody say “super-normal profits”: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/484767/how-air-new-zealand-went-from-crash-landing-to-stratospheric And still nothing was said about monopoly pricing by the mainstream media. Let’s assume nothing in this world comes for free.If you want something – food / shelter / your hip fixed / your water drinkable – these things are…
More on my current fade of reading signs. Recently, I was working on my boat over at Evan’s Bay yacht club, and I came across this sign: In the early days of flight, landed airports were the exception instead of the rule when it came to flying. More often, planes…