> Still...It almost seems possible...if only I had 13 weeks...
>
> Rivi"entirely insane"kah

No, you're not insane at all. I just came back from a six day bike trip. I would've biked back if I had more vacation, but I really felt a need to just relax and do other fun stuff too.

And I've been biking on the Coromandel peninsula outside Auckland for five days, which was utterly fascinating and wonderful. I'm going back to New Zealand some day, but this time for at least a month, and on my own bike, not a rented one.

Howard had a lot of good advice to offer, by the way. I was wondering -- you say you can't carry much on your bike. Is there any special reason for this? I think I carried something like a hundred pounds (or 40-50 kg) on my trip, and I had to pack normal clothes for the stay at where I was going. And although the bike was really heavy to *lift*, it wasn't that bad to bike with. On flat road, you don't notice much at all. Going downhill, you gain momentum, and uphill, you just gear down another gear or two until it's comfortable.

Personally, I found that five hours was a reasonable amount of time, so your estimate sounds reasonable too. You'll probably be able to go longer and/or faster as time goes by and you get in better shape. But I do have to stress the importance of stretching, and stretching often. At least that's my experience with my own body. If you don't stretch, you run the risk of getting cramps and inflammations.

I just did it. I got the idea a few months back, and thought: "That's doable, so I'm just going to do it." So I started training back then, which was good, or else I don't think I could've made it.

So, you should just do it too. But, to second Howard's advice: Start with shorter trips. You'll get in shape for the big one, and you'll get to see if you like it enough to endure three months of it.

For those of you interested, I've linked to the bike trip report in my journal below.