The fully supported ride
Twenty-one years ago, Auckland-based system design manager Robin Capper was sitting on his couch on a grim winter’s day, watching a travel show that featured Adventure South’s Milford Wilderness cycle tour.
“It looked like a stunning day and a great trip,” he says. “What made a real impression on me were shots of the descent from Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound. I love fast downhills, and this road looked like one of the best.”
He signed up straight away. “I didn’t do much research on other companies; I wanted to do that trip, that downhill on that perfect summer day.”
Capper says that although he rode a bike regularly for transport, he hadn’t tried cycle touring in years. He credits Adventure South with getting him off the couch. He did that downhill and has since been on 12 of their tours.
Fully supported tours include everything. “Being fully supported takes the hassle out of it,” he says. “It removes any concerns about accommodation and transport, about how far you can cycle in a day.
“It’s not cheap, but it’s good value. You get decent food and accommodation – a quality experience. I’m past crawling into a tent in the pouring rain after a day’s cycling.”
Supported tours can also include days spent away from the cycle trail, and Capper values these off-bike excursions. “Some of the most memorable moments aren’t actually on the bike; they are visiting places I wouldn’t have known about unless I’d done hours of research.”
Steve Inns from Natural High Cycle Tours says fully supported tours allow participants to get the most out of a region within a set timeframe.
“For example, Otago Central Rail Trail is a popular first trip, but it’s quite a diversion to get to, say, Naseby, a historic town where you can experience curling. With fully supported tours you get all the extra add-ons.”
Another benefit is the option to ride as much or as little as you like. You don’t have to be an avid cyclist, says Inns; you just need to be able to ride a bike. “If it gets too much, you can always jump in the van.”
Going with a guide also provides peace of mind: Natural High’s guides, for example, are qualified first aiders and can fix bikes if necessary. And they have local knowledge.
With Adventure South, Capper says, you get an itinerary – but it’s not locked in.
“The guides have the ability to rearrange things on the fly. On one West Coast trip, we ended up riding east of the Main Divide in sunshine with a tail wind, because our guide knew that over the hill there was a howling head wind and driving rain.”
As a solo traveller, Capper, now 60, finds the tours are a great way to meet like-minded people.
“It’s a way to make a world-wide friendship group.”
The self-guided ride
Every January, Jude Webber and a dozen family and friends get together to do a self-guided ride with Trail Journeys.
“We had gone to Queenstown to celebrate some of our fiftieth birthdays, and decided to book a day trip through Trail Journeys,” she says. “It had been years since some of us had ridden a bike. Well, we were hooked.”
The group went back to ride Otago Central Rail Trail in 2023 and have since done every ride in the region, including the Alps 2 Ocean and Lake Dunstan Trail.
Self-guided rides usually include accommodation, food and airport transfers. The logistics are taken care of, leaving participants to go at their own pace.
Webber says going self-guided gives their group flexibility. “Because we range in age from mid-50s to 70 and have different levels of fitness, we can start together then spread out and meet up at stops along the way. We love that we can do it in our own time.”
With a large group, having a tour company take care of logistics makes things easy. “Where possible, we like to stay in the big hotels so we can all be together. Trail Journeys instantly knew the places that could accommodate us.”
Trail Journeys general manager Simon Stevens says the company has been operating since Otago Central Rail Trail opened 22 years ago. “The advantage of working with us is we know what’s happening at a local level and can circumvent any changes. We have great connections and know other operators we can tap into.”
Self-guided tours often include optional extras, such as pre- and post-trip dinners and accommodation.
“We take care of everything,” says Stevens. “We collect clients from Queenstown or Dunedin, move their bags each day, give them all the kit they need. We spend a lot of time at the beginning briefing people to make sure they know how to use the equipment and how to get to places.”
E-bikes now make up to 80–90 per cent of their hires, he says.
Webber says her predominantly North Island-based group always hires bikes, as trying to bring their own would be a “logistical nightmare”.
As for optional extras, they do them all: “We’re there for a good time, and we have a great time. On the Alps 2 Ocean our oldest member turned 70 at Kurow, so we had a night at the pub to celebrate. Trail Journeys let them know, and someone came along with a cake. We had such fun.”
The self-sufficient ride
Murray and Pat Reedy are in their late seventies and have cycled every Great Ride in the South Island under their own steam. The West Coast-based couple are former operators of Silk Road Adventures NZ, which ran tours through Central Asia.
“Logistically, I think the principles are the same: how far do you want to go each day, what do you want to see, what is the route like?” says Murray.
The couple usually find a good base for a Great Ride, park their caravan and cycle from there, or catch a bus or shuttle.
“For Lake Dunstan Trail, we rode half the way from Bannockburn and back, then shifted the caravan to Clyde and rode the other half and back,” he says. They then took in parts of Otago Central Rail Trail from Clyde. “We try to maximise the operation from one base.” This approach gives them flexibility, independence and convenience.
“We’re most comfortable looking after our own arrangements,” says Murray.
Murray and Pat are also experienced long-distance walkers and recently finished the Portuguese Coastal Camino Way. That, and hiking trails in the UK, got Murray thinking about pedestrians using New Zealand’s cycle trails.
“Walking has to be the next opportunity that an entrepreneurial cycle tour operator will pick up on. Once Kawarau Gorge Trail is finished, for example, people will be able to walk from Queenstown to Dunedin. It’s obviously going to take longer, but it’s exactly the same logistics. You’ve got a van, you’re already picking people up and dropping them off, and you’re not reliant on accommodation being at the end of a stage.
“Our network of cycle trails would be perfect for those who don’t have the skills or ability to walk Te Araroa.”
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