new zealand …uphill

Route Fri 15 May – National Park to Turangi

A downhill ride in the rain, with hopefully the wind at my back. Brrrr. It is very cloudy today so I don’t hold much hope of seeing the mountain. Ah well, seen plenty of postcards with it on, so I know what it should look like

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Walk, run, cycle with me across the Auckland Harbour Bridge

Who wants to join me and those involved with TASC cross the Harbour Bridge by wheel or foot?

Transit has reneged on it’s promise to open the Harbour Bridge to pedestrians for one day on it’s 50 year anniversary. I had planned to cycle across as part of my NZ long cycle, and I am going to anyway. As part of www.getacross.org.nz we will be crossing the bridge and showing our support for a permanent pedestrian crossing over the Harbour Bridge.

It’s an organised crossing, and it is safe. The police will be there keeping an eye looking out for us and the left northbound lane will be closed off for the crossing.

If you want to join us for a walk, cycle, roller skate or whatever then meet us:

9am Sunday 24th May

For full details read this

See you there in Lycra!

Route Thu 14 May – Ohakune to National Park

A very short day today. Only 35km but uphill Was trying to find the mountain around these parts but as yet no sign.

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TASC profile – Rodney Bell

Rodney Bell

I was born and grew up in Te Kuiti. 19 years ago at the age of 19 I obtained my disability as result of a motorbike accident and am now paralysed below the chest and use a wheelchair for mobility.

I have set my life around dance. Dance has been my passion for 14 years and with that experience I have earned the opportunity of employment based in San Francisco, California, USA, dancing for AXIS, one of the world’s leading Mixed Ability Dance Groups, redefining Dance. I moved to the USA in 4th July 2007. The contract is for 2 years but will be reviewed annually and once completed I will return eager for opportunities to share my growth and development with other dancers with or without disabilities working within New Zealand. The Company tours both within the USA and internationally.

As I also teach dance in New Zealand to schools both with and without disabilities and I will be teaching also in the USA. It is my hope that the disabled peoples of the future can see that my passion and drive is reachable, and that as young disabled artists they will grow and develop and they will be the future of not only dance but also disability representation for all social, recreational and sports expression within Aotearoa.

Arohanui
Rodney Bell

Ngati Maniapoto
Foot note – Rodney will be featured on TV1s Attitude program on Sunday May 17th at 10am.

Route Wed 13 May- Taihape to Ohakune

Heading into the mountains! Hopefully the snow keeps away for a bit longer while I climb up and cycle around Mt Ruapehu. Brrrrrr.

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Route Tue 12 May – Bulls to Taihape

Todays route was a little challenging. Up hill effectively all the way with some doozies. Will have to go out to throw a gumboot in Taihape.

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Route Mon 11 May – Otaki to Bulls

Today the ride was fairly sedate rolling through farm land and not too many hills. I arrived at Bulls to find almost the whole of town booked out. Popular!

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A very special TASC profile – Pam Fergusson

Pam Fergusson is vice-president of TASC. She brings with her over 25 years of experience working with the buddy system, as well as many community groups. Injured as a young lady Pam learned that she had to adjust quickly in order to get the things that she wanted in life. She is one of those rare people that looks for the positive in a situation and moves on from there. Pam became a T7/8 Paraplegic in 1965. She was later to marry and has raised three very successful boys.

I find the buddying of newly injured spinal patients very worthwhile and I find it inspiring to see how people come to terms with their level of disability during their stay here at the unit.

That is her TASC profile she gave me to put online in our series of profiles of people within TASC and those they help.

Okay, here is my version.

Pam Fergusson is my mum. She brings with he over 40 years experience at being a mum raising three boys, all of those years in wheel chair, and the vast majority of them as a solo parent. We have never known our mum any other way, our mum came with wheels when the other kids at school had mums that walked. That was cool by us and we never thought anything of it. In fact we often brought friends home to play and they would ask “Did you know your mums in a wheelchair”. No we never really noticed.

Mum has always given all of her time helping out others, whether they are other in chairs through her work at TASC and before that visiting the spinal unit regularly to talk and help patients who were struggling to come to terms with their new lives in wheel chairs. But also helping friends, family and a multitude of other people who she didn’t know but she knew needed a hand. That’s what my mum does. She helps others who need a hand, always, always seeing the positive side of life and inspiring those she helps to do the same.

My ride up New Zealand is in part a tribute to my mum. I will ride a couple of thousand kilometres on wheels which is nothing, absolutely nothing compared with how far she has wheeled in 45 years. I wanted to do something to celebrate her 45 years in a chair, and do what she does, inspire others to get out there and do things they thought were impossible for them to do. When I get to a hill and I feel like I just can’t do it, or I get tired 30kms before my destination, or its raining or cold, I think about all the things in life that were too hard for mum to do, but she went and did them anyway. With always the warmest smile you have ever seen, my mum has inspired so many people to face the impossible and just do it anyway. That makes it really easy to keep my pedals turning.

Happy Mothers Day mum. I love you and the impossible things you do.

Route Sun 10 May – Wellington to Otaki

Today I rode out of Wellington with @rowansimpson and @lancewiggs in rain and hail (which we dodged in a bush shelter), and a little bit of sun towards the end. We decided to pick one of the meanest hills out of Wellington through the Akatarawa Valley climbing 450 meters. The view from the top was fantastic!

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Thanks to Rowan and his all his bike technology we also tracked our elevation and speed.

Video Log – Christchurch to Wellington

This week I ride from Christchurch to Wellington going via Waipara, Cheviot, Kaikoura, Ward, Picton then Wellington. It was a beautiful ride up the coast.