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JEREMY AND ERIC RIDE 
TOUR AOTEAROA*

*on Raleigh 20s.
A Raleigh Rally, if you will.

because why wouldn't you? New Zealand is so little and Raleigh 20's are known for their all terrain capability, their craftsmanship and their copious amount of luggage carrying capacity ..

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ABOUT US

We’re two friends who have worked together and ridden mountain bikes together for a number of years.

Without any particular experience in endurance events or very much forethought, with a relaxed training regime and a lot of optimism, we’re riding the Tour Aotearoa on our Raleigh 20 bicycles.
But aren’t they kids bikes, you ask? Well, umm .. who knows, really. (We'll keep you posted ..!)

​Starting at Cape Reinga at 7am on 17 Feb, we aim to make our way 3000km all the way south to Bluff without breaking down emotionally, physically, or mechanically. (We're on the road now, you can track where we are here!)

We’re raising money for Christchurch City Mission, a charity that does incredible work for underprivileged people in Christchurch. If you’d like to support us and make our insanity worthwhile, please give generously to City Mission here.

Thanks to those who have helped make this possible- our families for tolerating our silliness, Bevan at Frontal Lobe for helping with set up, our employers for allowing us time off but who probably won’t miss us, and you, for reading this blog.

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A day of two halves

DAY 14

After our wonderful evening in Picton we rode along the Queen Charlotte scenic drive to Havelock, the highway to Pelorus Bridge, then over the Maungatapu Saddle to Nelson.


The ride through the sounds is spectacular. The bush, the beaches and the bays that the road winds in and around are constantly begging you just to stop and admire them. So we did. Many many times. And after we had gone all of 10 km from Picton, in Momorangi Bay it was time to stop for a coffee, an ice cream, and a rest. It was shaping up to be a tough day at this rate...


self care is crucial

A quick ride around a few more bays and we found Havelock (after a few more scenery breaks) where we had another stop for pies and chocolate milk.


We stopped again at Pelorus Bridge to get new batteries for our failing tracker, and well, more pies and coffee of course. We were about to leave when a stranger approached us and sat at our table. He had cake. Velvet cake. Stranger cake as he called it. And he wanted to share it, so we let him. Turns out he had seen us riding through the sounds while he was training on his bike and after a brief and honest conversation about important things like the use of chamois cream on our tender parts we hit the road again.


And it then it really did get tough.


Well not for a start. We turned off the highway onto a gravel road that wound along the river. It was still nice and scenic and we still took photos.

this is fine!
THIS IS NOT.

And then we climbed Maungatapu. Which was steep and gravelly. Not nice smooth gravel. Coarse, sharp and rocky gravel. And the track got steeper, and steeper, and rougher, and rockier, until it was unrideable. Even for a Raleigh 20. But it’s good because our bikes are so light and easy to push uphill ...


snack time! always a delight.

You’d think that getting to the top would be the end of it, so that would be a relief. We thought that too, so we stopped for a snack.


But we were wrong! The other side was even steeper. And when you don’t have brakes steep is not good. But it’s good because our bikes so light and easy to push down hill as well. All round, the saddle was a real hoot. We couldn’t ride up it and we couldn’t ride down it.


Still, once we got down it was a great ride out to Nelson on nice gravel, then on to Stoke on Nelson’s excellent cycle pathways. Once again, some excellent friends put us up for the night and cooked a delicious roast! Thank you - you have no idea what it means to us!





Key stats:

Total Elevation gain: 1620 m

Distance: 105 km

Time spent on bikes: 6 hours 58 minutes

Max speed: 49.3 kph

Calories burnt: 3724

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clare.piper
Mar 08, 2020

Hey team. Would love to catch up with you, but I'm in Chch. When will you be likely to a location nearby I could bring my Raleigh 20 along to say hi?

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