Taking a scenic cycling break are (left) Professor Richard Blaikie and fellow Dunedin Phantom social cycler Chris Latta.
Cycling the length of New Zealand will be a memorial for a friend, a rescue helicopter fund-raiser, and a 10-year anniversary for Dunedin’s Phantom social cyclers – and Professor Richard Blaikie will be there.
The trip will be bittersweet because it is in memory of fellow Phantom Mike Doig who fatally broke his neck after sliding on loose gravel during a ride between Wellington and Palmerston North last year, “in a one in a million-type accident”, Professor Blaikie says.
Professor Richard Blaikie
His friend did the original Phantom’s cycling tour of Aotearoa 10 years ago and thought “we should do one more”.
While Professor Blaikie was not on that 2014 trip, he has carved some time out for this one.
“It will be an opportunity to reflect on the things Mike loved about being in the outdoors.”
The Phantoms usually power along the peninsula on a round trip from St Clair on Saturdays but have an annual trip which they pay for themselves which is sometimes a fund-raiser as well.
Our University’s student support fund – Pūtea Tautoko benefited from the 2020 ride from Dunedin to Nelson, so Professor Blaikie was shoulder-tapped to be fundraiser for this ride, for the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust.
How far and how long?
About a dozen cyclists aim to cover about 120 kilometres a day between 7am and 2pm, and will do about 2,700 kilometres in total – “it will be 21 days and 22 nights of pleasure and pain”, he says.
While a social slow-motion tourism trip, “some of us will try to be first into a coffee stop … or the first up the hill”.
Would Professor Blaikie be one of those?
“Who knows,” he says, with the trace of a smile.
The Phantoms will try to avoid busy roads as much as possible after setting out on 2 March from Cape Reinga to Bluff*, “some of the work each day will be picking out the route so we’re taking some side roads”.
Dunedin Phantom social cyclers at Bluff after biking the length of New Zealand a decade ago, including the late Mike Doig (extreme right).
Support
“This will be the biggest bike ride for me. For many of the others, it will be repeating the biggest ride,” Professor Blaikie says.
Fortunately, one cyclist is a physiotherapist, so advice and massages are available.
Knowing how much replacement gear to bring is tricky, on a previous tour Professor Blaikie had about four punctures on the first day.
A support van will be packed with bikes in Dunedin and sail on the ferry to the North Island before the cyclists take plane trips north. The van will follow the cyclists on their journey and can carry a couple of people and their bikes when needed.
Why the rescue helicopter?
Choosing the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust as a beneficiary of the ride seemed logical, Phantoms have used helicopter services over their 30 years together, after accidents and a stroke.
Any funds collected will make a big difference to the rescue helicopter and any contribution “will be greatly appreciate by our burning muscles”, says Professor Blaikie.
Find out more about the Phantom’s fund-raising efforts.
*The Phantoms will travel from Cape Reinga to Bluff via Hokianga, Auckland, Waikato, Raglan, Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti, Taupo, Napier, Wairarapa, the Remutaka Range, Wellington, Picton, Murchison, the West Coast, Lumsden, and Invercargill.