I ran away from something, now I’m running towards something.
Stats:
18 days on the trail. 2 nights at farmstays, 2 nights in lodges, 2 nights in DOC huts. 12 nights tenting.
14 full cycling days. 2 cycle/hot pool days. 1 train/boat/cycle day. 1 full rest day.
87 pies would have been necessary for a fully pie-powered trip (with 5 days of 7+ pies consumed). I only ate 17. I had 6 days with no pie consumed. Two days with 3 pies consumed. Two days with 2 pies consumed. Seven days with 1 pies consumed.
936 miles. 103 miles on the longest day. 14.3 miles on the shortest day. 52 miles on the average day.
50k feet of climbing. 7,280 feet on the climbiest day. 735 feet on the least climby day. 2,777 feet on the average day.
Pie Reflections:
- Eat piping hot pies (a cold pie can still save you in a jam)
- Eat fresh baked pies (a premade pie can still get you out of a couple jams)
- Texture is very important – you want a filling with meaty chunks, and consistency across the pie (too much texture variety, I find, confuses the pie eating experience)
- When looking for the perfect pie, a flakey pastry crust is critical (everyone loves their local bakery, but if the pastry isn’t getting stuck in my beard, it’s not flakey enough)
- Pie eating experience rankings:
- Most memorable: Eating my first pie, a bacon and egg that Chris bought me while taking the train to Picton
- Most critical for success: eating the two cold bacon and egg pies that I bought 100 miles ago to fuel me through the final climb into Milford Sounds
- Best: Eating hot steak/cheese and pork belly/apple pies the morning after cycling the Molesworth
- Worst: The “whole kiwi breakfast” and smashburger pies from a CALTEX gas station (Singa Pies, the bakers are actually really good, but these flavors did not hit and the pies were not hot off the presses)
- Flavor rankings (these are honestly pretty of basic, I kind of wish the takes were a little more controversial):
- In first place, can’t beat the work horse: steak and cheese
- In second place, gets you the chunkiest filling: pork belly (of all varieties)
- In third place, the most survivable when thrown in a frame bag: bacon and egg
- Not yet ranked: butter chicken, mince, a hot chicken/cranberry and many many others
These rankings may need a deeper dive, I will look into this.
Bike Reflections:
- Ride with good tubes
- Ride with wheels and tires that fit each other
- Spend more time getting familiar with butt cushion technology
- If you want to keep your gear, strap it down tight
- If you hear weird sounds, stop and check them out
- Think about going tubeless
Me Reflections:
Sometimes part of me writes checks that the other parts of me have to cash. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes it’s bad.
Sometimes part of me worries about what the right thing to do is. There is no right thing, just showing up and trying is usually more fun than worrying anyway.
It was really nice being alone and then being with people again.
The demons are always gonna catch me, but there’s no harm in making the chase a little interesting 🙂
New Year’s Resolutions:
- Be kinder to myself
- Trust others more
- Turn towards
- Give the Doer the wheel more, give the Thinker more breaks
I think if I end 2026 in the EST time zone, my year will have been 18 hours longer than someone who started the year in EST. Thats a full day of waking hours – life hack.
What’s next:
- Making my way north by bus and plane (stopped in Queenstown for New Year’s Eve)
- Doing some riding with Chris in the Christchurch area
- Doing some hanging and working with friends Lydia and Savannah in Wackworth (North Island)