Joining the 12th Annual Westpac Chopper Appeal Bike Ride 2023 but adding lots more road (and hills) for a great cause

Dear donors

The ride from Invercargill to Queenstown has now been rode. It was epic (and cold).

The ride started at 4.40am and ended at nightfall in Invercargill and was punctuated throughout with stops at schools and towns for Richie, Mils and Jimmy to get mobbed - there was such a signing frenzy in Gore that the kids were collecting autographs from everyone (I had to work out in a hurry what my "autograph" looked like).

The ride is celebrated down South with people sitting out on fenceposts and chairs to watch us pass, significant media coverage in the region and a police escort the entire way (and multiple police cars to block the traffic into Gore). Truly an honour to be part of it this year. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is considering a challenge for 2024.

The ride took place on the backend of a cold snap and I'm pretty happy (and relieved) to be able to feel my fingers and toes again.

There is a short video below that shows some of the sights - the drone footage over the snow and into the sunset at the end are pretty cool. The photo attached is of the All Blacks addressing Balfour School. Pretty special stuff.

Unfortunately my leg from Invercargill to Dunedin didn't quite go as planned... I woke up with an upset tummy and was in considerable discomfort for 55kms into the ride before a projectile vomit (that has been described as something out of the Exorcisist by my cycling companions) ended my ride. Not ideal. But still over 300kms - and the day before meant that it was all worth it all by itself. (I'm all good now - suspected cuprit is the cow excrement covering my drink bottles from the day before - which is a good learning for me!).

Anyway all's well that ends well and the real point of all this was to support the Chopper. And so a massive thanks again to all of you for your contributions. The total amount raised by the ride is now over $132,000 (biggest yet) and counting and your contributions all directly helped with this. Which is obviously a massive difference. Seeing what the Chopper means to all of the smaller towns and schools in Southland (like the rest of the country) really drives that home and means you should all feel pretty proud of yourselves for that too!

Thanks again,

JD