Well, what a 7 months it has been! We’re certainly feeling very lucky to be living in New Zealand, but the less said about the poor souls in Jersey the better at the moment. (You could’ve been like Guernsey, juuuuuust sayin’!)

It’s certainly not been the best preparation to get back to the Tour. Life has been busy, and worry with family members with COVID has made for quite a few sleepless nights but hey, we’re here, I should be packing right now and instead I’m writing this. My mother would say that some things never change!

We’ve done a couple of training rides, some more successful than others. One particular 160km jaunt involved a planned stop to get some fresh water at around 90km, it was so windy and miserable, we cycled straight past the water stop and had to get most of the way around before stopping at a toilet and using water there (purified, of course) to drink!

Another ride took us over the hill where we saw a rescue helicopter rescuing a child who had got into difficulty swimming (there were gusts of over 100km, why the child was in the water is another point, they clearly never had a water safety lesson from their Papa down Greve de Lecq as a child!) the child was fine, but certainly added more drama to the ride

We had a lovely 6 year anniversary trip up to Rotorua, of course that couldn’t go without a hiccup and out van broke down in the arse end of nowhere at 10.30 at night

The AA then massively messed up and sent the pick up truck to Hamilton, when we were south of Taupo….. after breaking down at 10:30, we were eventually picked up at 4am. We were both really happy about that*…………..

*sarcasm. Lots of sarcasm.

Eventually we sorted a hire car which meant we head off to Roto for a couple of days riding which was epic! Aside from nobody had confirmed with the weather gods who decided rain was the dish of the day.

Of course, we had to have our annual picture at ‘the chairs’

Eventually we made it home and were left without a vehicle for 2 weeks, that made for some pretty good KMs on the bike to help with general base fitness. This was great, but someone forgot to tell Wellington it’s spring almost summer and it can stop raining now!

We made it out for one final blast, this was supposed to be the final ride to bed everything in. After stopping off at the shop to get some supplies for lunch we head out along the coast.

The wind was blowing and the sea was rough. It was just nice to be out and enjoying the fresh air. That was until we got to the hill… neither of us could be bothered to climb the hill so sat down for a picnic to give us the energy to get up and go!

Except it didn’t give us motivation, it made us feel more lazy so we turned back and stopped off at a cafe on the way home for chips and hot chocolates!! So much for that 150km ride, I think we did just under 60! Hah!

Then, the most comedic thing happened whilst I was checking the mail box. My glasses were blown off my face, straight off. I thought I saw where they went, into the bush in front of me. Can I find them, not a chance!!!

A lady I work with suggested going out at night with a torch as the torchlight may reflect off the lenses, so off I pop at 11pm in my pyjamas with a head torch to look for them. Still nothing, but now my neighbours think I’m officially mad!

Now, I think I’ve done enough procrastinating and should get on with packing and get to work (sorry Catherine, I may be late…..) we’re on the boat this avo to continue our epic adventure, so keep in touch and follow our epic adventures once more.

You can follow our tracker here; https://touraotearoa2020.maprogress.com/?bib=SaS

If you go to the ‘where are we’ page on this site you’ll see details of how the tracker works

The adventure continues…