Lily and I cycled to Mission Bay - 2010-07-13

Lily is an amazing girl!

Lily at Mission Bay 2010-07-13

When she was about 8½, she wanted to go for a bikeride, "but further this time, beyond Kelly Tarlton's" (Underwater World)  - maybe to the next bay on the round-the-bays-route.
So on 13th July 2010, she and I set off and cycled to Mission Bay and back - 21K in all. Not bad for an 8½ year old.
We set off about 1520hrs and returned about 1810hrs.
Click here to see the route: Mission Bay bike route (21K) - Gmaps Pedometer

We stopped at Mission Bay for a rest and to take a couple of photos and a quick video.
On the way back, we had a refueling stopoff at Subway, where we shared a foot-long "melt" and a large lime shake from the next-door McDonalds.
Lily was pretty tired. I kept getting her to keep up her speed and stay in a high gear.
It was getting cold as the sun went down, and her hands got very cold. It had got dark by the time we got to Freemans Bay, and she was crying because her hands hurt. We stopped to warm them under my shirt (Argh! Cold little hands!) and then continued home.

A sad follow-on from this tale is that on Sunday 25th July 2010, I discovered that both our bikes

My second Trek SL1000bicycle!

I recently bought a second Trek SL1000 with a 58cm frame (see picture to right) - I bought it second-hand via TradeMe for NZ$650. This 2nd one has a blue/white finish, whereas my 1st one is black/white.

The reason for getting the secod one is that I can now have one bike in Wellington (where I am working at present) and one in Auckland (my home base).
So I can keep my fitness/fatness levels in relatively healthy shape, regardless of which city I happen to be in.

Auckland "Round the Bays" cycle trip

This is a picture of the Auckland "Round the Bays" trip at the MapMyRide site. This is one of my favourite bike-rides - 28K of scenic waterfront and beaches, cycling along (mostly) cycle paths, and mostly flat - apart from the start and finish. It takes me about 55 to 70 minutes on my Trek SL1000, depending on how hard I feel like working - concentrate and push it (like I should), or take a leisurely pace and gawk at the scenery.
Update, 2009/04/04: There's a new site that I've used to map the same ride, at Gmap-pedometer.

About bicycles and bike runs

This is a photo of my adoptive son Stu. Actually, he adopted me a few years ago, which was a signal honour as far as I am concerned.

His mother Fifi sent me this picture of him after he had finished a sponsored charity bicycle run - apparently he did 45 miles in 2.5 hours.
Stu travels a lot, working wherever he goes. He has a blog here, which he sometimes remembers to update.

At the end of October 2007 I bought myself a Trek SL1000 bicycle for my birthday. (You can read a review of this bike here). It is a beautiful bike to ride. The net cost was NZ$875 all up - of which my son Sean chipped in NZ$200 (seeing as it was my birthday).

[Updated: 2010/03/03]: I have mapped a couple of my bike routes into the Gmaps Pedometer site (I had previously used MapMyRide, but they have killed that site with advertising and over-commercialisation and so I do not use it any more). 
     * Check my favourite Round the Bays bikeroute (27K).
     * Check out the Okahu Bay bike route with Lily (17K) for my daughter (aged 8) and I.