Life on the tandem

One of the challenges of embarking on a long bicycle journey has been the game of accommodation roulette. I thought booking well in advance would be wise, ensuring we had spots to recharge our batteries—and our weary selves—after each ride. Ideally, I would have preferred to embrace the free spirit of flexibility, but alas, trying to plan last-minute, particularly on the tourist trails, unless camping, is only going to end in tears! In the remote areas, the situation is worse; I witnessed a group of hopeful ‘walk-ins’ in Maruia the other night, getting the cold shoulder from my motel that only had three rooms anyway. The nearest accommodation? A tiring 60-70km away, and that’s if you’re lucky. The decision to forgo flexibility was probably the right one.

Making a lot of bookings simultaneously can be a little overwhelming, especially with that pesky email trail to wrestle with. In this scenario I turn to Booking.com and Airbnb because their apps handle the chaos for me—life’s too short for booking stress! But alas, not every place participates on those platforms, and sometimes it costs less to book directly. And let’s not forget those old-school joints where the phone call is still necessary. I keep my sanity intact with a trusty spreadsheet to capture the wild world of bookings, deposits, and whatnot. Sure, there have been a couple of rather pathetic hiccups along the way, but overall, things have still worked out. But a couple of aspects that I have been a bit casual about have caught me out, on several occasions.

I hadn’t paid enough attention to the check-in times which by default I assumed to be 2pm. The other detail that I have, fortunately, only let slip a few times, is the exact location of an establishment in a town or city. A 4pm check-in has been an annoying discovery. If I am unlucky and have trundled into town at 1pm on a hot day and check and find it is a 4pm checkin there can be a few expletives. In Hokitika I struck the quinella. It was a pub which did not open until 4pm and was also located 7km out of town. Fortunately it was a semi rest day with a short ride and was close to my next day’s route. No drama! I used these late check in times to get chores done, lubing chains, cleaning muck or dust off moving parts. It is too late to try and change to friendlier accommodation so I just have to suck it up.

With the non return of the RA, meals are a bit more challenging and non descriptive. Finding meals for one, in smaller towns, is a bit like finding sanity in the World today. Unless of course a can of spaghetti spins your wheels. That is one dilemma that I haven’t really cracked, let’s call it work in progress. Maybe the RA will help by rejoining the expedition again but I am not holding my breath on that. She seems very very happy at home. When people ask, as they are starting to, “what is your next big challenge”? I give them two answers. The first is to get back across Cook Strait and the second is to get the RA back onto the tandem. The bar is set very high for both of these. These are bigger than some of the mountains I have had to climb.

So how are other aspects of the journey going on my own? Well I miss the conversation coming from the back seat, even the whiny stuff like “I am over hills, wind, heat, cold, dust, gravel, porridge”.

I am missing the extra stability and weight that the RA adds, particularly over recent days where I have been on gravel roads less travelled. The rear tyre skids on the looser gravel making traction challenging. Even with lower tyre pressure. The back of the bike can wobble around a bit but I think that I have that under control. It is a bit harder pushing the bike along, especially on the flat where my cruising speed has dropped, noticeably.

When I stop to do something I have to fiddle around setting the bike up so that I can walk away from it. This might be to take a picture, add or shed a layer of clothing or answer the call of nature. Opening and shutting gates is particularly painful as you have to go through the same bike stabilising routine on both sides of the gate. Locking the bike for some quick shopping rather than one of us just minding it or dragging the rear of the bike to align it with a narrow opening. These are things that don’t pose too much of a problem on a manual half bike. But I cope, I try not to let these things niggle. The main upcoming challenge will be securing the bike on the Cook Strait ferry and waking up early to catch the ferry. Without my hearing aids in all night, I won’t hear an alarm. I relied on the RA as my ears. Again Bob is useless as he is a stuffed toy. Might just have to stay awake that night.

Another challenge sans RA is videography. The RA could ride hands free and was getting pretty proficient with her video skill and commentary. Bob is useless as he can’t hold a camera in his paws and even if he could he would simply be scanning the countryside looking for beehives. So, alas, the remaining videos that will be produced when I get home will be of far less quality. I try different things but I am not prepared to give hands free a go on the big bike.

I am having a day off today to get some much needed washing and bike maintenance done in between swatting off sandflies and bumble bees. Murchison is buzzing with both winged species, one sucks blood while the other annoys you by trying to get into you ear, pocket, armpit. Both operate together so your arms a flailing around like a young albatross trying to get airborne. Oh one other grumble, Murchison seems to be a stop off point for the gazillion of motorbikes that I have seen down south. They seem to have to travel in large groups and like idling their noisy bikes outside my room. Anyway, my little inconveniences are nothing compared to the challenges that vulnerable kids face. Don’t forget that we are trying to raise money and awareness to help The Bald Angels make a difference to the lives of some of these children. See the latest Angel story below. If you can, we would certainly appreciate anything that can be given via our give-a-little page. All funds donated go directly to to The Bald Angels but each donation does help to keep the tandem team motivated. I am afraid that our rate of donation has now dropped below $1 per kilometre and those pedals are seizing up.https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/the-angel-tandem-two-70and-year-olds-riding-7500km