Monday, March 24, 2014

Day 27: Palmerston North to Alfredton

March 24th 2014
Distance cycled: 67 km
Total distance to date: 1520 km

It took me forever this morning to leave Palmy. I quite like it. It's a pleasant place. But also I'm just slow to get going in the morning. 


There was also lots of free wifi to be had in town and I got sucked in for a little bit looking at my Tumblr and FB feeds. Then I got hungry so I had a meal at Burger King, which I regretted later as I climbed up the big hills out of town. But you can get a full meal deal there for 5 bucks! I have to stop doing that though. It's not proper nutrition and my body doesn't really run well on it. Definitely the wrong fuel for a cycle tour. That hill out of town was killer and enough to convince me that BK cheeseburgers are not gonna cut it. 

Outside the BK was this little pup. 


It made me think of my friend Michael's blog project, A Lone Woof. I stopped to pet it. A lady came out to check on the dog and told me she was just the foster mom, that the dog was up for adoption. OMG! I wanted this little guy so badly. Maybe I could get a basket, mount it to the bike, take the dog with me on the road... Poor thing would probably hate that!

I had my first really scary moment today where I thought I was going to get hurt. My chain slipped off the chainring when downshifting and suddenly I was spinning my pedals without moving forward on a hill. Of course my feet were still clipped in. I nearly fell over but managed to unclip one foot before I tipped. Man, that was close! And of course a pickup truck was coming up the road so I could have gotten hit or run over. Won't let that happen again! 

I cycled from about 1pm to shortly before 7pm. I was still 47km from my goal since it took me all morning to leave Palmy. But doing 110km in one day would have been a stretch anyway. So instead, I bunked down in Alfredton for the night. 

The campsite here is the old town domain. There is an old run-down kitchen and tennis court, but the place appears to have been overtaken by sheep. And a wild peacock came along to say hi, too. 


The only other campers are a retired couple from the South Island, Ray and Rona. They are in their motorhome and I am in my "wee tent", as Ray calls it. 

Tomorrow I'll do the 47km to Masterton, then decide if I want to stop there for the night or continue on to Martinborough. Both places have WS hosts that said they would host me. I am edging towards blasting on through so I can set myself a new daily record (97km) and participate in choir practice with the hosts in Martinborough. They are retired symphony professionals!

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