James Hogan's Personal Blog
“So lets go check out this place”, I said to myself this morning after two strong coffees. It was this, or Plan B involving sparking up PlayStation and cracking open a beer. And at 10:30am on a Saturday, Plan B just seemed unseemly.Komoot (a cycling app I’ve got) suggested I…
Back on the 26 March, I wrote a gear-list for what I expected I’d need on the Sounds to Sounds ride. Also, I’ve reconciled the total cost of the event as a guide for future riders. CostIn total, for the 17 days on the road, I spent $5,702.18, or $4,442.35…
Day 17 – when I was doing my big push up into Milford Sounds – could have turned out extremely differently, and cost me my chance at glory because of a very very simple omission.But it ended up in MASSIVE GLORY, beersies, a steak dinner and me sleeping with three…
Wet wet wet: shitty 1980’s band and nasty way to start a 87km ride between Mossburn and Te Anau, but that’s bike packing for you.The day was tricky because I’m so close to finishing, it was difficult getting my head into the right place for this ride. That’s my reason…
The guide’s plan for today is easy: 60 km from Garston to Mossburn. I thought I’d kick it up a notch and go another 70km and see my mum.I had an interesting historical ride around this ends of Southland. I dropped south at Lumsden and stopped off in Dipton where…
An early start coming off a bad nights sleep after a nasty day in the sun.Sounds like a receipe for success? Absolutely, with help from my friends 🥰 The StatisticsA long day – over a 12 hour ride – in heat that started at 5 degrees this morning at 5:45am…
Today was nothing but hurt. I’ll blow some mobile bandwidth so you can see.I slept in my tent in Omakau and the temperature got close to zero. But then later in the day it cooked, as the temperature rocketed up to 31 degrees. The killer is the temperature: 9 degrees…
The Omarama Saddle gets bad press on the sounds to sounds Facebook page. It marks the break between the McKenzie and Central Otago, and comments are about the hard climb, the wet feet from the fords, and even two stories of guys having been helicoptered out.I found this day to…
The biggest issue of this day was the weather: how was it holding up for tomorrow when I have to cross the Omarama Saddle. Tomorrow was my biggest hill climb, and we weather would both make it stupidity difficult and increase my hyperthermia risk. The StatisticsI’ll put these in here…
After the ordeal of getting to the McKenzie Basin, today was a lovely day of toodling around in the rain. The StatisticsToday was a gentle 93 kms over 8 hours, pretty much just toodling along on a flat tarsealed surface. It doesn’t actually come any easier than this, with the…
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 StatisticsToday was a long hard winding road of temperature extremes, dust, and uphill corrugated roads.It…
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 sleeping…
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 FairiesSo there I was! Hurtling down the road between Hanmer Springs and Culverden. Juices flowing,…
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 StatisticsSo yeah, 130kms in 11 hours. Admittedly, I had a big pig out stop at the…
The Statistics Angels and SaintsAngels: Big E – Evan MacClureBig 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 then that I…
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 🙂 The…
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 the…
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 the…
Lunch at Ferneaux LodgeLunch 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 until I got…