Busy Busy Busy is the theme of the month and it just flew by it did.
We were on the road for every weekend of the month and looking back now it’s nice to have a couple of weekends scheduled at home to recharge and cuddle on the couch.
The Flahute was pretty busy with 3 rides this month and all were great fun, it was super to finally get some proper West Coast winter weather for 50 Shades of Brevet and bask in the sunny conditions. Sounds Fishy was awesome as always with a magnificent first day followed by a reasonably wet second day. Lakeside View had a great turnout with a healthy mixture of newbies and veterans coming out of winter hibernation, it was also a nice day but the strengthening NorWester made it quite interesting at times.
Having such a huge month and with a number more coming on had me thinking that I can’t be in too many places as once and so I put the call out for some Flahute Cardboard Cutouts around the country to help with the burgeoning roster and my incipient planning of world domination. Thankfully the call is being answered and we should be able to support more and more smaller towns and villages with a horde or hungry and tired bike-packers.
The Pocket Rocket is working hard on her new training plan, thanks to her awesome coach! (hur hur) and the first milestone in her long preparation for the London Marathon in April 2019 was the Dunedin Half, it was a bit of a rushed trip but the AirBnb we stayed at was fantastic and just a stone’s throw from some awesome restaurants. The Half was on the Sunday so on Saturday I went out for a nice long bike ride with some bikepacker brethren and, whilst I had a super day the legs did not play ball and I suffered admirably. Candy went shopping and got me lots of goodies from the Tart Tin at the Otago Farmers Market – Nom Nom Nom! Sunday dawned and Candy had a good run, although she always beats herself up, then it was back to the house a quick shower and off we go for home! Phew. The next milestone is the Pegasus Half in December, so at least that’s not a five hour drive.
My own training is going really well (what an awesome coach, nudge nudge, wink, wink) and I am no longer holding back to protect my feet, it feels good to let go again but I am paying for it a wee bit, but ah well. This was to test the cortisone injections that I had, but alas they really didn’t make any significant impact, so I have made a big boy call and will get the surgery which should sort it out permanently. Fingers crossed! What I hadn’t counted on was the three month recovery period, I hadn’t quite twigged it was more than a bit of a procedure, with an overnight stay required, not allowed to drive and I will have crutches too – ha ha I can’t wait to be an awful patient! With such a layover, I am trying to time it in my quiet season so that I can meet the summer tour obligations and be nice and fit for the Belgian tour – whoop whoop! If all goes well I will get the other foot done in late 2019.
And having paid for most of the Belgium/London trip now, it’s starting to feel real! Yay – excitement and trepidation in equal parts. I’m really pleased with the look and feel of the tour and it will serve as an excellent template for the future tours as well. It feels like it’s being forever since I was back in my spiritual homeland, although it’s only been 3 years. We are also having an extended stay in London having being tied into staying at a hotel with the NZ ballot package and then almost a week post Marathon with Candy’s sister and family. I have quite a bit of culture, food, booze and biking planned already!
Of course we are still managing a bit of date night fun and frivolity with friends and my beloved – life is beautiful.
And now all of the above and other irrelevancies in non-moving pictures > https://photos.app.goo.gl/ey4bfKVg6CC13MV7A
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)
As we dip in the melodic sea
Rhythm keeps flowin’, an’ Drip’s the M.C.
Sweet sugar pop sugar pop rocks
Pop you don’t stop til the sweet beat drops
I show an’ prove as I stick an’ move
Every poem’s recited on top of the groove
Smooth, my, floatin’ like a butterfly
Notes that I float sung like a lullaby
Brace yourself as the beat hits ya
Dip trip flip fantasia
Drippin’ in your dome makes you zone and bop
Funk and fusion a fly illusion
Keeps ya coastin’ on the rhythm ya cruisin’
Up down round and round, rhymes profound
But nevertheless you’ve got to get down
Fantasy freak through the beat so unique
You move your feet and sweat from the beat
Back to the fact I’m the mack and I know that
The way I kick the rhyme some will call me a poet
Poem steady flowin’, growin’ showin’ sights and sounds
Caught in the groove in the tale I found
Many tripped the tour upon the rhymes they saw
To an infinite height to the realm of the hardcore
Here we go off I take ya
Dip trip flip fantasia
Bust the dialect I’m the man in command
Come flow with the sound of th mighty mic master
Rhymin’ on the mic I’ll bring the suckers to disaster
Bookout ducks but I still rock Nike
With the razzle dazzle, a star I might be
Scribble drabble scrabble on the microphone I babble
As I fix the funky words into a puzzle
Yes yes yes on and on I flex
Get with the flow verbs manifest
Feel the vibe from here to Asia
Dip trip flip fantasia