tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205365152024-10-06T21:53:59.059-07:00Infrequent updates about our friends, family, travels, mountain biking, careers, current obsessions, pasttimes, food, fun, and general mayhemStephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-74875981101465459842010-11-07T20:28:00.000-08:002010-11-07T21:14:12.846-08:00

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Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-47576021816820775922010-11-07T19:36:00.000-08:002010-11-07T20:28:36.159-08:00

After viewing the SteamPunk exhibit and sculptures around Oamaru, we left for Wanaka in the early afternoon. We were ready for some personal time and a day "off", so we weren't terribly concerned about the details.So I guess it was a good day to get lost! Oh, we didn't get very lost, but we took our own unique path. The easy availability of free tourist maps in New Zealand is fantastic. Really.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-49677641514916228442010-11-06T13:16:00.001-07:002010-11-06T14:04:33.468-07:00

From Dunedin we drove north to Oamaru, headed for more penguin sightings and an overnight in a small coastal town.Our first stop was at Evansdale Cheese; a small artisan cheese-making company located in an old psychiatric hospital. A very friendly and energetic gentleman instantly started handing us samples of cheese, and kept handing them to us, only slowing to tell us to eat faster. He had

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-53088538950742549362010-11-04T01:44:00.000-07:002010-11-05T17:25:15.971-07:00

After a quick stop to drop off our bikes (Thanks Marcello and Cyclezone) we headed to Rotorua Airport. Getting through the airport was a breeze, especially since nobody checks ID’s and there was absolutely no security screening. The ride was a bit noisy since we were sitting right next to the propeller (yes I said propeller), but the service was excellent and the flight attendants were

Gregg Rousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625816451548848753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-41624517592577361582010-11-03T19:47:00.000-07:002010-11-04T01:42:12.280-07:00

A 1.5 hour drive south from Rotorua brought us to Taupo, another city built next to a giant lake. Fishing is very big here, the lakes are stocked with lots of trout. It's illegal to sell trout in NZ restaurants, but most will cook your fish for you. In Taupo we couch-surfed with a great guy; Terence is friendly, generous and has a very positive attitude. I am also impressed by his physical

Gregg Rousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625816451548848753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-32177575064428203612010-10-26T19:50:00.000-07:002010-10-26T20:25:52.592-07:00

What a sight! 950-ish (they didn't know for sure) single speed mountain bikes all slowly, slowly circling, waiting to be released. We had to keep moving in our paddock for two minutes before they would open the gate to let us out. And riding slow is not as easy as it sounds; there was much bumping and wobbling.Finally we're off. A quick loop around the field and we enter the Whakarera forest,

Gregg Rousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14625816451548848753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-24977149641035632092010-10-26T13:32:00.000-07:002010-10-26T13:53:30.339-07:00

Our experience with the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company (we did the Black Abyss trip!) was so amazing that I thought I’d post a couple more pictures and tell some more stories. As Gregg mentioned previously, there really are a lot of guides in this area. And we assume that they explore different caves. The network of caves in this area is vast! So we also assume that the caving experiences

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-29752254875872808722010-10-19T14:56:00.000-07:002010-10-20T03:42:16.336-07:00

** Written by Guest Blogger - my man Gregg! **For our second day in NZ we were off to Waitomo to see their world famous glow-worms. Even with turn-by-turn directions by Google we managed to get a bit off course. Luckily we had given ourselves plenty of extra time, and decided to stop in a small town for coffee. Stepping out of the car we were immediately greeted by the smell of roasting coffee.

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-65317694508477237972010-10-19T12:46:00.000-07:002010-10-19T13:46:02.558-07:00

Apologies first .... we've forgotten the USB cord for the camera. So pictures will follow, but possibly not until we get back!We arrived in Rotorua a few minutes early, at 8:30 am on Monday. If you're trying to figure out the time conversion, NZ is 20 hours ahead of the U.S. West Coast. Here's how I think about - in practical terms, that means that NZ is 4 hours earlier in the day, but a day

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-65393838947527100522010-02-17T11:21:00.000-08:002010-02-17T15:23:11.909-08:00

In years where we don't have big travel plans we get to do a lot of little things. Last year we took several long weekends of mountain biking. Even thought we didn't have a single long or tremendous vacation, we had a lot of really cool moments.I mentioned in the "Christmas Letter" that we're going to New Zealand this year. Yay!! But the trouble with the big travel year is that it eats up

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-8187825641474868972009-12-22T20:37:00.000-08:002009-12-23T16:53:34.392-08:00

Happy Holidays!We've done a very poor job of the holidays this year. We haven't sent a single card! Let alone any pictures, or news of what we've been up to this year.So instead, I thought I'd offer up our year in cliff-notes, and an e-card that I hope you'll enjoy. (Warning: the e-card is a video. I'm not sure how you'll fare with dial up speeds, but you've been forewarned.)This year's holiday

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-16162235894019885772008-10-06T17:52:00.000-07:002008-10-06T21:56:28.406-07:00

And not my last. It was even more fun racing than it’s been cheering for racers these last couple of seasons.I was a little nervous about my first ‘cross race. I made the butterflies smaller by keeping my expectations low; don’t come in DFL, and try not to break any bones. The miniaturized butterflies didn’t keep me up too late, and I managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep.Gregg’s race was a

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-81188566445696446422008-08-08T22:54:00.000-07:002008-08-11T08:53:11.585-07:00

As always, I'm a "little" tardy writing about my life. So, a little over a month ago, on July 3rd ...Gregg and I hopped in the car to drive up to Seattle. What on earth were we thinking, driving to Seattle on the 4th of July weekend! Traffic sucked! Bad, messy, horrible traffic. But Christy's birthday on the 5th was a persuasive reason to put up with it. And it was worth all of the traffic

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-21786276084296124572008-06-18T17:57:00.000-07:002008-06-18T18:02:06.742-07:00

The Oregon Velo guys got a few good pictures of Gregg racing the Test of Endurance last weekend, but I really like this one. What a cutie, huh?

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-69227570293673521572008-06-15T20:45:00.001-07:002008-06-17T20:12:28.331-07:00

********************************************************Warning for the boys ... there's a tiny bit of girl talk ahead.But if I can live it, I'm confident you'll live through reading it :)********************************************************I slept a little better than I had Friday night, but I still tossed and turned all night. Mostly nerves I'm sure, but I wasn't as rested as I was hoping to

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-40401457698400505112008-06-14T16:05:00.000-07:002008-06-16T16:26:50.726-07:00

... and I'm freaking out!My knee (the "good" one) has started bothering me recently. It started getting achey a couple of weeks, but it wasn't really bad. Before one of my training rides I was concerned about it, so I tried to tape it the way my PT had shown me. I'm pretty sure I made it worse. So I started icing, elevating, and taking Ibuprofen.And yet, despite all that TLC, it persists in being

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-538845835638644912008-06-14T15:58:00.000-07:002008-06-16T15:47:51.970-07:00

It must be old news by now that the Test of Endurance 50 was my only personal goal for this year. My one, giant, monumental achievement for 2008. So I've been doing a ton of training to get ready. And since this is also a local race I wanted to take advantage of having the home-court advantage. I'm a terribly slow climber, so I need to try to make up a little time on the descents. And since I'm

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-46534731943345675152008-05-18T22:39:00.000-07:002008-05-27T21:16:11.235-07:00

Well I'm still getting caught up on the blog ... so this too is over 2 weeks after the fact ... but here goes.Earlier this year I decided to make my gigantic, over the top goal to race the Test of Endurance. I think Gregg was high on my fumes when he replied that he wanted to challenge himself too, and he might try a Triathlon. I latched onto that instantly, and tried to be his cheerleader for

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-6082188491745186812008-05-18T22:37:00.000-07:002008-05-27T18:58:40.115-07:00

... and I am COMPLETELY freaked out about it. I spent a couple of weeks beating the bushes for advice about training. In my case, my legs were super strong, but my heart worked so inefficiently that I couldn't use them. And I'm training for a 9 hour mountain bike race? What was I thinking.So after getting a lot of advice to do V02 Max intervals, and conflicting advice from a couple of friends

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-54227862508096250652008-05-18T22:34:00.000-07:002008-05-22T16:02:21.876-07:00

That Mudslinger about did me in! Well, let's be honest. It probably wasn't really the race. I was probably already coming down with 'sick' during the race, which would explain both why I could barely haul my sorry butt to the Mudslinger finish line, and how I managed to be totally sick by the time I woke up the next morning."But surely", I thought, "I'll be in fine shape for the Spring Thaw, a

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-35589444090708253152008-04-21T11:29:00.000-07:002008-04-21T15:03:37.419-07:00

Not a great finish, but a finish, which is an improvement over my experience at Horning’s Hustle.Well it’s certainly springtime. And spring weather means … anything goes. Last Sunday the weather was fantastic, and the trails were dry. This morning we woke up to snow; snow on the ground, snow covering the car, and snow continuing to fall. I thought it was very pretty. And since I’d already packed

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-45796780901497353672008-04-08T19:40:00.000-07:002008-04-08T19:45:54.590-07:00

Sunday I took another step toward finishing the Test of Endurance. I’ve been riding as much as I can, and I’ve made pretty significant advances in my bike fitness. But I was still pretty freaked out about racing. I kind of feel like I don’t belong amongst racers, and I’m just getting in their way. It’s ridiculous. And to get over that silliness and get comfortable riding with a couple hundred

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-22381437056447962092008-04-08T10:23:00.000-07:002008-04-08T19:51:03.237-07:00

I’m not taking an exam this year! I know, that’s kind of old news. But let me expand on how I’m taking advantage of that recent change in my life.Since I’m not spending all my time working or studying for an exam, I have some time to spare. And I don’t want to waste a moment of it. Initially I wanted to do three things with that time: ride my bike, sing, and dance.First, I wanted to make myself a

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-39320651108269036302008-03-29T18:45:00.000-07:002008-03-29T18:59:41.105-07:00

I know that two weeks off the bike doesn't seem significant to most. But I'm really giving everything I can to reach my goal, and I just can't afford to be laid out by my back. So today was a pretty decent ride for me. Not great, and not as good as I've done previously, but pretty decent anyway. And more than that, it was a celebration of being back on my bike!Good company today. Beautiful snow (

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20536515.post-16975060407288356882008-03-25T14:34:00.000-07:002008-03-25T14:57:32.439-07:00

If you know me well, you know I’ve got chronic back issues. Actually, I’ve had issues since high school. And since it’s been causing me quite a lot of pain again this last week it’s been at the top of my mind again.A side note to any of you I’ve had direct contact with in the last week+ … sorry if I’ve been snippy. I try not to let it affect my behavior and attitude, and it’s not so painful that

Stephaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08674922611805939840noreply@blogger.com1