160km Ride for Parkinson’s NZ | This One’s for You, Dad ❤️

In 2023, my 80-year-old Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Until then, he biked every day. Even now, as this disease, along with dementia, slowly robs him of things he loved and makes the simplest of tasks hard, his memories of the places he travelled and the adventures he had still bring a smile and a twinkle in his eye.

Simon, my husband, and I have been quietly training over the last three months with a crazy idea in the back of our minds, to sign up for the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge in November. 160km. A ride full of undulations and hills.

A huge goal when we haven’t really been on our bikes for 15 years.

But every time we ride, I think of Dad. And on almost every hill, I find myself screaming out loud, “I can do hard things,” reminding myself why I want to do this, and that we are lucky enough to be able to do hard things.

But the reality is, we’ve only ridden about 60km so far, and that distance feels like the achievement.

So, do we really have enough in the tank to reach 160km?

Today, just before the early bird deadline, we officially signed up. For Dad. For the more than 12,000 people in New Zealand living with Parkinson’s.

I’ve created this Givealittle page in the hope that saying our “why” out loud gives us the motivation, accountability and support to keep us going on these cold winter mornings when a warm coffee and a book seem far more appealing than getting on a bike!

And if we cross that finish line last, we don’t care.

This one is for you, Thomas ❤️