My one-third life crisis began October 1, 2025 and I plan to to my best to ride it out (pun intended). The pillars of my crisis are:
- What is most important to me?
- What am I doing with my life?
- Where in the world do I want to end up?
As a part of this crisis, I am taking a month in New Zealand to do some biking and soul searching. I hope to come back with some unforgettable experiences that will help lead me to some answers.
My rough itinerary is as follows:
- 12/10: fly out to NZ
- 12/12 – 12/19: drive and camp along the way from Auckland to Wellington with my friends Lydia and Savannah
- 12/20: take ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island)
- 12/21-1/6: Sounds to Sounds Bike Tour (https://www.kennett.co.nz/maps/sounds2sound/)
- 1/7-1/11: TBD
- 1/12: fly back to Ohio
I picked the Sounds to Sounds bike tour because it looks gorgeous and at 900 miles, it seems doable! I have been training here in Ohio successfully, but Ohio is very flat and New Zealand is not.
I will be starting the tour with easier days to get stronger and ending the tour on some of the harder days.
Each day will bring different challenges, some with massive mileage, massive elevation, tough terrain, or all three (I am most worried about day 12, the Omarama Saddle!).
I have built out my bike to be able to handle the varied terrain that I expect to see, but only time will tell how prepared I actually am.
As I complete each day, I will do my best to upload my route and a couple pictures to go along with it. I am planning on backcountry camping most days.
