After all the changes that 2021 brought, this year has very much been about settling into a new life in a very quiet part of the world. But constant that it is in life, there have plenty more changes – just not on the scale of diagnosis of chronic genetic conditions, quitting permanent full-time work, selling house and moving to the bottom of the country.

The start of the year saw me bouncing between spending time with and helping family in both Naseby and Waikouaiti as Adele and James awaited the arrival of their second and our parents prepared their house for sale and a move into Dunedin. There was a bit of biking, hiking and running involved too. Amongst that, weekly blood-lettings stretched out a little but I was pleased than my iron levels were down to normal levels by February (thirteen venesections) and my haemochromatosis was under control enough to lengthen the period between blood bank trips to three-months and allow my blood to be used as donor blood (silver lining).

Shortly before heading to the top of the South Island for the start of a ride, I decided I wanted to be in Naseby for the rest of the year to be closer to Adele, James and my niblings. That meant finding somewhere to live, fortunately I was able to find a suitable long-term rental (as in many holidays spots, most rentals here are short-term holiday ones). With a couple of days up my sleeve before the start of the Sounds2Sounds bikepacking event, I went exploring – and managed to fall down a bank, dislocating my shoulder again. On a remote track, I was very pleased my beacon worked and very relieved and fascinated with an impressive and fun (besides the dislocation agony) helicopter winch retrieval. That and a night in hospital changed the immediate future a fair bit, thankfully I was well looked after by members of the bikepacking community with accommodation and transport home.

With help, I still managed to move and settle into the far-too-cute-for-me cottage. Much smaller than my Napier house, it suits me well and has been useful in confirming that I could live in a lot less space. Stanley arrived a couple of weeks later, it’s been great to be so close to spend much time with Adele, James and their young sons – plenty of nephew amusing, and a few chores too. Through the year I have enjoyed some casual work in new-to-me industries – helping the usually-short staffed local pub when needed and helping a local cycle trail operator driving around beautiful Central Otago (don’t get tired of it) moving bikes, people, bags and vehicles.

After many months of planning and waiting, the build of my first new mountain bike in seven years came together. Autumn conditions were great on the local trails, and with them only being hundreds of metres from home I was out a lot enjoying the new bike and slowly understanding the maze of techy, hand-built trails – often with James’s help. Much fun and great to have them so close. With mountain-biking so close, there was little running this year as I’d far rather be on a bike!

A trip to the lower North Island with Mum and Dad for my uncle’s eightieth was much appreciated for being able to spend time with a lot of family and friends. Parents’ house sold, shortly after it was time for their move into the city – a big week of packing, moving and starting to unpack. They are now settling in well to a far more convenient location in a house they enjoy for its warmth, smaller section, garden and views. I visit sporadically as various things take me to the city; not two hours’ drive away, Mum and Dad also stay regularly at mine – a move to Naseby has certainly been a boon for spending time with family.

As for many places around NZ, winter was a lot wetter than normal this year – plans of exploring the Maniototo gravel roads on crisp, frosty mornings fell by the wayside. Much time snuggled by the fireplace with cups of tea reading instead. A week of Covid-lite (my first cold in three years was far worse a month beforehand, no long-term effects) isolation was surprisingly enjoyable. We had one really good snow fall which was thoroughly enjoyable; the temperatures dropped after the snow fell, turning it into a snow week. For the first time in a few winters, it was consistently cold enough to be able to skate on the pond up at Adele and James’s section – enjoyable relearning that skill.

Now having so much time for myself, I’m bemused that this year I’ve biked the least distance since 2014. But quality over quantity – bike-commuting (3000-5000 km/year that was only tolerable) was traded for far more time having a lot of fun mountain-biking. I also didn’t finish the only two bikepacking events I entered, so there was another couple of thousand kilometres gone. But the bikepacking trips I did take were some of the best I’ve ever been on – probably no coincidence that those were more off-road and mountain-bikey than the bikepacking I was used to in the North Island.

Honourable mentions go to Andy’s Southern Special (a week-long affair of which the highlights were Percy Saddle, taking it easy to and from Mavora Lakes, and the southern end of the Pisa Range; Andy’s video here); also Andy’s Four Peak and Orari Gorge weekend (the new trail bike proving capable on such a bikepacking trip – we didn’t have to carry much), Nina organising a return to Mt White Station (more trail bike fun – no overnight gear carried); low key riding with Eileen and Andy to the Big Finish Line Party in Naseby; and Pete’s stunningly well-timed trip (no real rain!) up the big three West Coast mountain-bike(able) trails over nine days – it was brilliant being able to spend multiple nights on the trails and not be in any rush, a fantastic way to mark my fortieth.

 

Easily the exceptional trip of the year, and one of the best I’ve ever done, was another of Andy’s – four days linking old farm tracks through conservation areas in the Lindis, Hawea, Dunstan and Oteake hills. I’ll just leave this video here – you may get an idea of the silly amount of fun I was having on a slightly unsuitable bike (arguable point, it was the bike I had). I had to replace the now-cracked rear rim after this, and soon replaced the rigid fork with a suspension one.

November driving around the North Island with both bikes in the car was far wetter than expected, somehow I managed to avoid getting very wet at all with still a decent amount of riding. The trip was mostly about taking the time to visit as many friends as I practically could and it was lovely to see so many familiar faces – it’s a long way to Naseby so it was good to make the effort. That trip ran straight into ten days of St John courses over the first three weekends of December (Adele convinced me the local ambulance needs more volunteers – jury is still out as to if I’ll enjoy it or be any good, it’s a steep and interesting learning curve but). I’m very pleased to be home for a while after six weeks away, our Pheasant Christmas is in Naseby with parents and Mum’s siblings from Sydney (first time seeing them in some time).

There’s a few trips around the South Island planned for the rest of the summer and I was planning to go bikepacking abroad mid-2023 – but that’s out the window, as I’ll likely take the opportunity to have surgery on my shoulder again, hopefully that’ll fix it better. The downtime should be used to move my plan to build a small house on Adele & James’s land from concept to something much further on. So next year is already looking unusual – but hopefully good and worthwhile taking that time out. All the best for yours.