Upon our arrival to New Zealand we drove to the Lake Tekapo area. Lake Tekapo was gorgeous. The campground had a really great view of the lake. Lake Tekapo was a really cool shade of turquoise with mountains for a back drop. Just down the street was this really cool stone church, The Church of the Good Shepherd. It looked like a postcard. We assembled our bikes and headed out for a ride ASAP. It was a bit overcast at first and rainy, but we didn't care. We were on vacation. The roads in New Zealand were windy and narrow. We took the roads less traveled by and traffic was scarce. A lot of roads on the South Island were tar-n-chip, teaching me a new appreciation for all parts carbon on my bike. It was fun exploring New Zealand via velo. I knew we were close to Mt. Cook. I asked Tim if we going to see Mt. Cook that day. I was puzzled, it seemed so close on the map yet it was no where in sight. Darn Kiwis, can't they make a map? I thought. Tim choked a laugh and replied "I don't know. Why don't you ask God? Huh?......"It's just to the left if the fog lifts"He replied. Wow the current scenery was great but seeing Mt.Cook would be even better like. About 15 minutes later the clouds cleared and the view of Mt. Cook was astonishing. Yippee..... this was going to be an even better ride. At mile 32, we took a little break to snap a few pictures of Mt. Cook and Lake Pukakai. We were starting to get hungry. Did we turn back now or ride 14 miles to the next town for some New Zealand grub. Intrigued by road signs for a town called Twizel we pedaled on. According to the "Lonely Planet" guide Twizel has quirky charm and tenacious residents. What could be better than having lunch in a place that's quirky and tenacious. We found a great picnic table in the town square to have lunch. I had a small sandwich while Tim feasted on a large meal of fish and chips. After all with so many lakes the fish had to be good. As my brother Tom would say he "stuffed his gullet" We enjoyed a cup of New Zealand's fine cappuccino and turned back toward camp. As we road on the wind picked up and we had a few hills to climb. I noticed Tim slowed a bit from his norm. We were at a conversation pace. Usually Tim uses the "chatter index" to set the pace. If I'm chattering a lot he know's he can go faster........or something like that. Aww, how sweet I think. He must be setting a slower pace so we can catch up. I started chattering thinking it was a great time to catch up. In retrospect, this probably wasn't the best time for chatter. Soon I noticed Tim was getting quiet and the pace was getting even slower. My legs felt remarkably fresh and my food had settled so I tucked in front of him to increase our average pace and give him a break. Tim said he had lost his fitness secondary to working 95 hours a week during his internship. He said he was hurting. Little did he know I set him up by encouraging him to eat the fish and chips. If I had eaten the fish and chips he would have had to tie a rope to my bike and pulled me home. I don't think drafting a girl on a pink bike was his idea of masculinity and remained inconsolable. At about mile 76 I noticed Tim wasn't on my back wheel any more. I had to stopped and let kindly waited for him. Hooray, just once I had dropped him. This is very significant as we have some inside jokes pertaining to this matter. If it wasn't for the fish and chips I might never have seen the day where I could crop Tim. I would have had to resort to jimmying his breaks or letting some air out of his tires. Believe it or not I actually didn't give Tim a hard time about getting dropped by a girl on a pink bike I simply threw on my running shoes and bricked a couple miles.
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