Getting Into Bike Shape

No, I don't want to be the shape of a bike, rather I want to be in biking shape so I can sit on a bike seat pedalling for five to seven hours without getting a blister on my ass, because I know how that feels and I don't like it. So getting into shape for the road means that I get to play on my bike (ahem, Brian's sweet bike) as much as possible for the next few weeks until Brian and I start bike-touring in San Francisco. I've been riding the 30 km into town and back when I go to work, and then on my days off I try to get out on the trails to beef up my mountain biking skills (this won't necessarily help with the Blister Prevention Program, but it is more fun than simply riding into town). This morning, Nashi and Jane and I rode up Kaka Road (yes, pronounced kah-kah), and when I say "up" I mean we rode up a very steep gravel road for an hour... and then along the trail following the ridge line towards Nelson.

Once we got through the gorse (gorse: pricky-thorny bush that grows infectiously on most mountains and makes the mountain bikers crazy with flat tires and intense scratch marks on bare legs and arms), we popped out onto the ridge line, and the views made up for the gorse issues.

The ride was certainly a great way to spend my morning - thanks Nashi for inviting me!

Now that I'm back home, I'm going through all of our things trying to make piles of stuff to sell on TradeMe (a New Zealand version of eBay). We're getting rid of loads of stuff like bike locks,

... and books,

... and anything else that won't fit in our packs or won't make the 20-kg weight restriction on the airplane. I'm going to be relentless in my sorting strategy. Relentless! I hope to bring back to Canada less than what I originally left with. That may indeed prove to be difficult when I want to bring back our coffee percolator....