NZ Tour -- In Memory of Mike

We made it!

Wow. Three weeks ago we set off as a group with a mission to honour a mate by repeating the ride that meant so much to him — with a special side trip to Herbertville to respect another of his wishes. We also set up a fundraising mission to extend the impact of our efforts more widely than our group.

We’ve achieved all of our goals, with the fundraiser reaching its $27k target ($10 per km of our tour) last evening, and the group riding into Stirling Point together at 1.15pm this afternoon.

We had supporters to greet us when we got there, with hugs and cheers and pats on the back all around.

It was a very special surprise to see Claire, Mike’s widow, at the finish and very emotional for us all. Very special too that she had brought a bottle of the amber nectar, of Mike’s favourite distillery (Glenfiddich), with a dram for each of us—a sweeter sip has not passed out lips in quite some time.

Riding today was a breeze, quite literally. With 2,600km in our legs and a fresh northerly chasing us downhill on the Southland Plains, we averaged more than 30km/h, our fastest day.

Two coffee stops and two flat tyres had us in Bluff by around noon, but the tradition of the 2014 Tour required us to climb Bluff Hill before found to Stirling Point.

This was a mean climb: 250m elevation over 2.5km, with the steepest gradient of more than 25%. It was *hard* (really **hard**)!!

Then to the finish, the whisky and the photos. And oysters & chips as the rain set in.