Hi All,

As I may have told some of you whilst we were in France from September 8th I will be cycling from Invercargill to Auckland along with 7 other riders from Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown in order to raise funds for the Fresh Future Appeal "Helping Give Sick Kids a Fresh Future". The ride is a total of 1839km and the group will be stopping at Woolworths, Foodtown, Countdown and SuperValue stores along the way. This is a great cause and I would like to enlist your support.

I have set up a web page where you can sponsor me at http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/JohnHolmes/

Please help me and support this excellent cause.
Thanks,

John

First priority upon arriving in Invercargill was catching up with our bikes that had been shipped to Countdown Invercargill through the Progressive trucking network. Everything was in tact and after a some minor assembly work we were good to go. Next stop was our motel for a quick bite to eat and then an early night given that we had to be at the Velodrome by 7:30am the next morning.


Day 1 – Monday 8 Sep 2008 – Invercargill to Gore – 35yrs + 1 day


I am soft, having lived in Sydney for the last five years and then 3 weeks in the French summer last month were not a good way to acclimatise for Southland. In fact, when we left the motel this morning I was wearing pretty much all the cycling gear I had with me. First stop was the Velodrome for a warm up?!?! After riding around for a bit and getting a few photos by the local press we were off. To add to the cold we got some rain, thankfully it was an easy day up to Gore. We rolled gently to Gore and got a good welcome at Woolworths Gore. The interesting piece of insight for the day was that apparently Peter Smith from Progressive is going to take us out for dinner to thank us for our efforts, someone tell Roger I promise to behave myself . Sorry, I have to go chop up some veges,I am on cooking duty tonight. Gore to Dunedin tomorrow will be twice today's distance with some hills, it could be a tuff day.


Day 2 – Tuesday 9 Sep 2008 – Gore to Dunedin – 35yrs + 2 days


The one thing that you need to know about riding in the rain is that it is impossible to keep dry. It doesn't matter what you wear, after riding in the rain for 6 hours you are soaking wet and when the high for the day was 8°c you are cold as well. Did I mention the headwind as well? It was a tough 160km today, fortunately I had a really good day. Most of the other guys had a tough spot with cramp and hypothermia but somehow I cruised through, I am sure my bad day will come...


We had a great welcome at Moyels Supervalue though and they helped us with raising a $3000 donation for Fresh Futures.


Thanks heaps to all the people that have sponsored me, on days like today I am really earning your donation.


Tomorrow should be more rain, hills and wind on our way to Ashburton. Some more donations would certainly make it easier...


http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/johnholmes


Day 3 – Wednesday 10 Sep 2008 – Dunedin to Oamaru– 35yrs + 3 days


For all the South Islanders who think I am moaning whinging Jaffa who can't handle a bit of rain, today the weather came good. It was a well deserved awesome day to be out riding a bike. We started off at Countdown Central in Dunedin and after a bit of a grovel climbing the hills out of Dunedin we got back on the Highway to Omaru. It was sunny, the scenery was beautiful and we even had a tailwind at times. A nice day to be out riding.


Day 4 – Thursday 11 Sep 2008 – Oamaru to Ashburton – 35yrs + 4 days


A nice day of 164km of flat rolling. The weather was reasonable and I was having the sort of good day that you hope for on the bike. There are a few tired legs amongst us, day 2 really was quite tough. Tomorrow should be another good day 84 flat and easy kilometers to christchurch we we have a few fund raising activities to participate in.

14 Sept - Sun / Cheviot - Kaikoura / 75km / Start: 9am - 12pm


15 Sept - Mon / Kaikoura - Blenheim / 129km / Start: 8am - SuperValue Redwood 12:30pm - Countdown Blenhiem 1:30pm


16 Sept - Tues / Blenheim - Nelson / 116km / Start: 8am - Woolworths Nelson 1pm.


17 Sept - Wed / Drive Nelson to Blenhiem rd to Havelock. / ride 24km 7am - drive to start - SuperValue Picton 8:30am .


Catch Ferry to Wellington


18 Sept - Thurs / Wellington Hospital to Porirua / 31km / Wellington Hospital 9am - Woolworths Johnsonville 11am - Woolworths Tawa 12pm


19 Sept - Fri / Porirua to Palmerston North / 130km / Start: 8am - Woolworths Waikanae 9:30am - Woolworths Palmerston North 2pm.


20 Sept - Sat / Palmerston North to Waipukurau / 111km / Start: 8am - Woolworths Waipukurau 12:30pm.


21 Sept - Sun / Waipukurau to Napier / 74km / Start: 9am - Woolworths Napier 12pm .


22 Sept - Mon / Napier to Taupo / 144km / Start: 8am - SuperValue Taupo 4pm.


23 Sept - Tues / Taupo - Cambridge / 133km / Start: Woolworths Taupo 8am - Woolworths Putaruru 12pm - Countdown Tokoroa 11am 4pm


24 Sept - Wed / Cambridge - Hamilton - Pukekohe / 114km / Start: Countdown Cambridge 8am - Countdown Hamilton 10:30am - FT Pukekohe 3pm .


25 Sept –Thurs / Pukekohe – Support Office - Middlemore Hospital / 48km / Start: 8am - SuperValue Hall Ave 10am - Middlemore Hospital 12pm

Hi All,

Only a few more days riding left! I am looking forward to getting home.

Day 11 – Thursday 18 Sep 2008 – Wellington to Porirua –


A gentle PR day stopping quite a few stores around Wellington. Only 40km and my back was feeling much better.


Day 12 – Friday 19 Sep 2008 – Porirua to Palmerston North –


For the first time in the entire trip we had a tailwind! We were all very happy and covered the 130km in 3 ½ hours, the tailwind really made our day. In the afternoon I had organise a tour of the Ernest Adams plant for the progressive guys which went down a treat. In Particular the box of goodies we walked away with. Thanks to Dallas at EA for looking after us. We are all burning a few calories on the bike so the slices and cakes will soon disappear. Later in the evening we were joined by some "Hot Cycle" friends from Auckland who are riding with us for the weekend to Napier.


Day 13 – Saturday 20 Sep 2008 – Palmerston North to Waipukurau –


The larger bunch including the "Hot Cycles" guys really helped the bunch move along. What could have been a tough rolling 110km was a nice cruise. The strained muscle in back is felling about 80% which is a dig improvement.


Day 14 – Sunday 21 Sep 2008 – Waipukurau to Napier –


What a fun day! What was meant to be a gentle roll turned into a great deal of fun when the Hawkes Bay Ramblers cycling club came out to meet us and ride into town. We had a bunch of about 50 it was cool. I guess I should have been taking it easy before Napier – Taupo tomorrow but I could resist taking a few 40kph+ turns at the front. After all we couldn't let the locals do all the work at the front for us, could we :-)


Day 15 – Monday 22 Sep 2008 – Napier to Taupo –


This is a day that a lot of the guys have been quite nervous about, we climb 2500m into total during our 150km ride. It turns out that my silly turns at the front the day before didn't hurt me too much because I have taken our unofficial yellow jersey back. Actually I was an embarrassing number of minutes ahead of the Progs guys on a few of the hills. I must slow down and not humiliate the customer. Tomorrow should be a fun day, we are in the Waikato where I grew up so I am quite looking forward to riding a few roads that I haven't ridden f or years.