NZ2050

Saturday, April 17 Tradition reigns on the last stage of the Tour de France into Paris each year. Fierce competitors have a very friendly, chatty bunch ride into Paris. Only when they hit the Champs Elysée for the eight laps around the Arc de Triomphe do they turn on...

Friday, April 16 Twenty-four seconds. After five days of racing, that was the sliver of time Las Banditas had over our racing team, Rod mentioned to Kieran, Corrie, Kaye and Geoff over breakfast this morning. Surely they could best their tormentors in today’s final...

Thursday, April 15 The road from the Waiau River to Kaikōura is perfect for cycling. The near 90km from Rotherham, our starting point this morning on the Amuri Plain in North Canterbury, runs between the Inland and Seaward Kaikōura mountain ranges down to the coastal...

Wednesday, April 14. After a day off our bikes yesterday, we were raring to go this morning despite the chilly 5c temperature and fresh snow on the mountains. Donna and Kaye were particularly pumped as we boarded our team bus at Franz Josef at 7am for the hour and a...

Tuesday, April 13 The thunderstorm during the night was one of the louder ones some of us have ever heard...and the rain kept pouring. So it was no surprise we learnt over breakfast the day's stage was cancelled. The weather was cold and wet, with worse forecast. A...

Monday, April 12 This part of the country lived up to its reputation today. Soon after we'd ridden over the Otago / Westland boundary at the top of the Haast Pass, the skies blackened and the rain poured, giving us a sodden second half of today's 80 km stage. Still...

Sunday, April 11 Well, we were a happy bunch of riders this morning as we set off for our ride from Arrowtown over the Crown Range to Wanaka. The route is one of the finest anywhere and the weather was warm and dry, despite the 60% chance of rain forecast. Here we are...

It was raining when we woke up this morning...and it only got heavier by the time we arrived in Glenorchy just after 9am for the start at 10am of our first stage on the Tour of NZ, a 37km Team Time Trial. Still, we and the 150 or so other Tour riders were excited...

Friday, April 9 We ten members of Team Ākina gathered late today in Arrowtown from Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Mackenzie Country. Tomorrow morning in Glenorchy, we start our eight-day, 530-km Tour of New Zealand cycling event, to raise funds for Bikes in Schools....

Next Saturday morning in Glenorchy, we nine riders in Team Ākina will line up for the start of the 2021 Tour of New Zealand cycle event. Over seven days with some 160 other Tour riders we will race 530km up the South Island to raise money for six selected...