Designed to highlight the best of New Zealand’s Great Rides , cycling Tour Aotearoa is no small feat, especially on a cranky old bike at the grand age of 60, writes Mary Lambie It’s sobering, the deals which are struck over a bottle of wine. I found myself agreeing, a year ago, to ride the Tour of Aotearoa (TA) in March this year. My cloudy vision was of pedalling past bucolic pastures and crops, skirting around undulating hills and admiring distant maunga.
I didn’t think about rain and punctures, and the fact that I’d need to be scaling not skirting. Thankfully there was no camping involved, but it would be unassisted (no electric bikes), and the target was Cape Reinga to Bluff in 30 days - 3000km. We began as a hard core of four.
A couple from the UK (Fran and George), my old mate Aaron (Captain Fantastic) and me. On day one at the Cape, we met Paul from Oz who we decided was such a good bloke we made him our fifth member. All but one of us were 59, and about to turn the big 6 0.
That inner voice that tells all of us to “get on your bike” had been a loud one, and the proof was to be in the pedalling. Could I still do this? READ MORE: Cycling in Wairarapa: What to expect on a six-day cycling tour You can ride the TA any time and any way: north-south, south-north, you can drift off to the east coast too, even though the formal trail veers west down both motu. It incorporates our best cycle trail rides, heartland rides, and makes use of quiet country roads.
Some TA.
