Bob comes out of hibernation

For those of you who have not come across Bob, he is our cheeky third passenger, an Angel Bear. Bob, which is an acronym for Bear on Bike, volunteered to participate in our ride representing his wider whanau. Since 2016, these little angel-branded bears have been packed and supplied to First Response Units: St John’s, Fire Service, Police, etc., to support kids in trauma. You can sponsor one of Bob’s siblings for $10 through the Angel Store.

Anyway, back to Bob. After our February test run around Tai Tokerau, Bob arrived home pretty tuckered out. In fact, on the last day he started whining about wanting to go back to being a plain old Angel Bear, as he felt that some young child would treat him far better than we were. Well, Bob was told that if he wanted to be part of our bigger expedition in October, he would need to sort out his attitude. We were all operating outside of our comfort zone, and there were going to be some days where we all might feel like packing it in. But if the team had that attitude, we probably would not even get to the end of Kerikeri Road. He didn’t take the lecture too well and said that he was going to hibernate early, so he has been lying comatose on a shelf in our spare room since the end of February.

We had pretty much forgotten about Bob since he packed his sad and hid (he couldn’t find a cave), but when tidying up a shelf we suddenly spotted him under a pile of biking paraphernalia. Big mistake! He is bursting with energy and started ordering us around, telling us that we need to ‘up our game’ with promoting the Bald Angels in the lead up to, and during, our ride. The bike needed servicing by a professional and we looked a bit out of shape. Bob’s little rant has made us aware that there is plenty to do in the rapidly dwindling weeks before pedal off.

Feeling a little chastened by Bob’s renewed vigour, I was racing over to town, on foot, to complete one of the many chores that are now on my todo list, when I was run over by an old lady (she was older than me) on a mobility scooter. Now this came completely out of left field. I am very vigilant while on the bike, looking for; logging trucks, semis, tractors, and vicious dogs, but when walking on the footpath, I tend to let my guard down a little. I was not wearing a hi-vis vest, no flashing lights, no rear vision mirror and no helmet. My bad. She had snuck up behind me and instead of applying the brakes, applied the accelerator. As Tina form Turners would frame it, ‘BAM Cliff on the deck’. Well, the outcome resulted in the GOTF hobbling off to the bench, but only for a week, much to the disappointment of some other team members who I suspect were secretly hoping that the injury might be a show stopper.

In choosing to ride in support of a charity we have added another dimension to our planning. On other rides you just plan the route, sort out your gear, do the physical prep and then hop on the bike and ride off. I guess we could still do that but I suspect that our fundraising results would be a bit bleak. We recently met with Bald Angels and now have a plan for endeavouring to raise the profile of the ride, both prior to departure and during the ride. You can also help by getting friends and family to subscribe to this blog. The wider the net is cast….

The RA has been busy with her Red Cross projects. This winter has seen an increase in the already high demand for warm bedding and clothing which many volunteer groups such as The Bald Angels and Red Cross are struggling to keep up with. Our lounge has resembled a clothing factory as the RA has been putting her sewing skills to good use. There has been material and patterns flying all over the place and the house has reverberated to the sounds of scissors, sewing machines and the clack of knitting needles. The GOTF sneaked an order for a frame bag for the bike onto her todo list and we now have a custom build bag that accommodates all of our bike tools and spares. Strike while the iron is hot!