Recovery is not for the faint of heart!
It expands your passions to the bursting point.
But I recommend it.
If at all possible.
If not, I suggest embracing that within which needs no recovery.
Heck, I encourage that anyway.
Last year I did not know if I would ever ride my bike again.
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| Mt. Lassen ride: 104 miles, 10,000′ elevation gain |
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| Sundial Bridge Ride: 5 miles, flat |
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| Mary, Gayle, Michael |
This year I am back on my bike. Wowee!
Recovery is my desire to re-cover my life with the colorful tapestry worn off by cancer
and to celebrate the life force which never fades away.
Bicycling is one of my favorite colors.
Bicycling is one of my favorite colors.
I invite you to join me in an earlier celebration of living The Sweet Life; bicycling New Zealand’s gorgeous south island.
New Zealand…
Today is why God made bicycles! We are now heading south along the Eastern coast and rode for about 50 miles under clear, warm skies next to the South Pacific Ocean. The brightness of the sun made the water shimmer like the palest blue Easter egg at the beach blending into aquamarine further out and then into cobalt blue on the horizon.
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| Gayle approaching the ocean |
Sea lion colonies lined the shore for miles, with pups barking and
parents basking. When we stopped for lunch, Mike spotted dolphins jumping. As we watched, more and more appeared. He thought they were rounding up fish, swimming up through them to feed. I thought they were cavorting!
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| Sea Lion |
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| Lunch! |
And if the ocean views to the left (which is the side of the road we ride on here) weren’t enough, one had simply to look to the right where there was a snow-capped mountain range of 9,000’ high mountains. Pretty impressive considering we were at sea level.
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| Easter Egg blue ocean: Snow-capped mountains–Ahhhh! |
We’re in Kaikoura right now, and plan to spend tomorrow here and then take a train on Monday. The reason for the train is the weather is supposed to turn “dodgy” then and— Michael loves trains! I almost had tears at the thought of not being able to ride more days like this. I want to ride forever!
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| Kaikoura |
We haven’t covered as much territory as we thought we would have by now—due to my speed on the bike. I mentioned it once to Mike as we were sitting at Queen Charlotte’s Sound with my bare feet dangling in the water instead of on my bike. He assured me that he quite liked the dalliance. I agreed, it was a dilly of a dalliance, and we would have many more.
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| Michael delighting in Queen Charlotte’s Sound |
Well, it may have taken over 500 miles of pedaling, but I’m happy to report I have found my legs. Now if only I could lose these thighs!
Cheers,
Gayle