7,500km around New Zealand on a Tandem
The objective is to complete an unsupported bicycle ride around New Zealand on a Tandem!. Our initial estimate of the distance is 7,500km with over 79,000m of hills. This roughly equates to 100km for every year that we have had the privilege to be alive. We will be travelling unsupported and with only the bare necessities but have made one concession to our age – the bike is an e-bike.
We have plenty of time to think about such a journey as the delivery of the bike is unlikely before the end of 2023, it may even be early 2024. Regular followers of our blog will be aware that this will not be our first multi-day bicycle journey but it is certainly our most ambitious. The bulk of the ride will take place over the summer of 2024/25 which means that we will be 72 by the time we finish. That makes our objective at least 7,200km of riding, about a round trip from the top of the country to the bottom and back. It could be ‘Tandemonium’.
Given that we will be septuagenarians, on a bright blue, laden, e-tandem, we are probably going to attract a few second glances and create a few talking points whenever we stop. This offers up a couple of interesting possibilities which we cover in more detail below.
The ride plan
While our proposed distance is modest when compared to the around-the-world adventurers, given our age, it is a suitable ‘mountain to climb’ to qualify as an ‘adventure’. When I completed the first cut of our possible route, the distance tallied up to a minimum of 7,199km involving 75,750 metres of climbing. Wow, that’s 1,000+m for every year and the equivalent of climbing Mt Everest nearly 9 times.
The route will be a work in progress for the next year given that, over this year many roads and trails have been subject to the whims of our increasingly volatile climate. 2023 has already left many routes and communities in tatters, especially along the eastern coast of Te Ika-a-Maui.
The first part of the plan is to get the bike. Assuming that it arrives some time during the coming summer of 2023/24, our first priority is to get comfortable riding it. It is a tandem and that requires different handling to what we are used to. We have to synchronise our efforts and that is going to require upping my communication skills. Then we need to test the capabilities of the bike. What sort of terrain can it handle? What sort of terrain are we comfortable riding it on? What range can we expect from the batteries on different terrain and in different temperatures and under load. The most important question is, how will Ruth handle it? She is afterall reluctantly coming out of retirement.
To nail these questions, we will complete the first 500(ish} km (blue line on map above) during early 2024 by cycling from Kerikeri up the east coast of the Far North to Cape Reinga and then back to Kerikeri via the Hokianga. When we have completed that, we can then start to finalise our route for the rest of the ride.
The provisional plan is to touch four significant beacons – Cape Reinga, Cape Egmont, Waipapa Point & East Cape. Each symbolically represent the four points of the compass. Daily distances and thus, how long the journey will take, will depend upon our findings during our coming summer test ride. Rough estimates suggest that we should be able to complete it over roughly three months at a reasonably leisurely pace.
Why?
I rode solo from Cape Reinga to the bottom of Te Waipounamu during 21/22 on a manual mountain bike and then returned to Te Waipounamu later in 2022 with a friend and rode down the eastern side of the main divide, again on my manual mountain bike. These were great rides but I don’t want to be doing any more without Ruth and she was adamant that she was not interested in riding her own bike, especially after our Rotorua to Wellington ride on folders in 2019. Sure she could come along in a ‘support vehicle’ but that is not really ideal. On the e-tandem we hope to meet a happy medium. Ruth can forget about having to manage a bike on her own and we don’t have to continually stop for one to catch up with the other. I still get to do the harder graft with the added bonus of sharing an adventure with her. We can also converse while riding, something I find challenging with my deafness.
We enjoy experiences rather than just seeing things and cycling is a great way to experience a country, especially our own. Riding a bike through the countryside is a pleasant experience, very different to driving at speed in an automobile. Where we can, we avoid busy highways which removes most traffic stress and leads you to places you probably wouldn’t otherwise visit. It is something most people, regardless of their circumstances, never experience. When we outline our next adventure to others the usual reaction is to suggest, sometimes not too politely, that we are missing ‘a few cards from the deck’. If we listened and simply gave up, too scared to face conditions that we don’t normally encounter, our life would be so much poorer. If we fail, so be it, at least we tried and won’t die wondering what if?
Finally, we just want to have some more fun while the body and mind allow it and in the process hopefully help those who are not so fortunate.
Helping others
We have had the privilege to have lived for 70+ years and are now able to enjoy our life free from the daily grind. If others find our little adventure inspiring we would challenge you to lend support to helping others who are not remotely as fortunate and in doing so. let’s help to make the World a better place. We have been particularly taken by the work of The Bald Angels here in Northland.
We are happy to share our adventures. This could range from offering the opportunity to ride as stoker in the “angel seat”. If someone would love to be part of our ride by being on the back of the tandem for a section of the ride or even around the block, we would love to have your participation. Once we get underway we will post our current position and our intended destinations and timing.
For those who prefer the comfort of your armchair, we will ‘reward you’ with a virtual ride on the ‘Angel seat’ via the blog and our social media posts which we will be regularly updating from the day the tandem arrives.
The journey so far
- Wellsford Woes
The team are reunited for the final push through Northland. But, the GOTF seems to have saved his ‘grey moments’ to the last. - Another Milestone: The Mainland ☑️
The bike creaked its way into Picton today to complete the circuit of Te Waipounamu / The South Island. I say creaked because things are not happy up front in the pedal department. Not the GOTF. After an estimated… Read more: Another Milestone: The Mainland ☑️ - Life on the tandem
The remaining member of the Angel Tandem team reflects on some of the challenges on the journey, particularly now his stoker has withdrawn. - Job Vacancy: Rear Admiral / Stoker
After an amazing 4,358km of riding the Rear Admiral (stoker) has decided to extend her period of leave in order to fully recover. As a result we have a vacancy on the bike. Ant takers? - Settling into the journey
We are 1500 kilometres into our bicycle ride around Aotearoa. Only 6,000 to go!
The Angel Tandem - Adventures on the wrong side of 60 