5 expert tips for planning your cycling trip
Geoff Gabites, a young 64-year-old, discovered cycling in his 40s and quickly turned the sport into an occupation. Adventure South was established in 1992 and is now the leading cycle tour company in New Zealand.
In our local environment, cycling is easy: get bike, go to the start of the trail, and ride. The further from home, the more logistics are involved, however. Given that I am promoting trails throughout New Zealand, we may be able to help your decision making.
1.Ride at least one multi-day trail
A short local ride is a great way to get exercise, ride with friends to be social and keep your wheels turning. However, riding a multi-day trail creates a holiday opportunity, provides you with a journey, and better fitness (after riding day after day is great exercise). Having a holiday is something we should all encourage, so make the commitment, get some friends, select a trail, research how you want to ride the trail, and then go do it!
2. Make sure you have a good bike
Riding a bike that fits you, that changes gears smoothly when you want it to, that has a seat that will be comfortable for the trail of choice, is essential. If your own bike does these things already and you can transport it easily to the trail, then you are 75 per cent ready.
If it’s not, then you can rent a bike on the trail – there will be an outfitter advertising their options and they will take the time to fit you to the bike – and have a suitable saddle for you. Be aware though, choosing an ultra-wide dish-shaped super gel seat is unlikely to be the best option. Our posteriors aren’t shaped like that!
3. Decide what you want in your holiday
If doing all the research, identifying the trail issues and contacting all the accommodation locations is your thing, then the process can be rewarding. However if you are time poor or don’t know how difficult the distances to be cycled each day are and if you actually cycle the trail, then there are help options you can call on.
Full guided group – You turn up at the start, the bikes can be supplied, you have well trained and knowledgeable guides to answer your questions and arrange food and all the other logistics. You role is to then cycle and be ready to go when you are told.
Supported tour – Once you select your outfitter, they will outline the options they can offer to make your trip more enjoyable. Do you need a bike, and if so what size shape and seat configuration do you want? Would you like them to find and book the accommodation (often not easy at the height of the season). For a fee they can transfer the luggage on a daily basis and they can probably even arrange shuttles to and from the start and finish of the trail. If you plan to fly into Queenstown, having someone book the shuttle to Clyde saves you the hassle of searching into that detail.
“Do It Yourselves” – The closer to the trail you are, the easier this will be. The trailer will carry the bikes and hopefully they won’t get bumped around too much!
All these options have their rewards and their costs. Most important is for you to decide what options suits you the most and make sure any friends coming along have made the same decision as you.
4. Be prepared to spend some money to make your holiday productive
On a multi-day cycle ride, you can take panniers and carry your gear with you. This will make your bike heavy to cycle and a bit cumbersome, but it will certainly make you focus on whether you do need a second warm fleece top or not. Apart from the option of carrying your own gear in panniers, I have also seen riders who get to the end of the cycle stage and then cycle back to their vehicle and drive to the start of the second stage – all for the sake of not paying $15-$20/day to have someone else doing this for you. Sometimes we lose the perspective on what a holiday is all about for the sake of $45 - $100 to move our bags.
5. If you are travelling as a group – be organised!
Our average group booking can have an email history of 40 to 80 emails, because people are seldom organised. When you first promote the idea, everyone will be on board. Then gradually friends drop out – not able to make up their minds, and you depart with a core of 4 to 8. Until people have to put up money, everyone is 100 per cent keen.
If you work with an outfitter to sort out any of the many options you may want to consider, they will have a number of key questions to help you decide: How long have you got, what level of accommodation do you want, are there any non-riders, where and when do you want to start from and finish. Get yourself organised around this sort of information, get everyone considering coming with you to provide their information and decide if you are doing it yourself or if your time is actually more important than trying to work out where to stay in Otematata that has 3 doubles, 2 twin beds and a single? And where is Otematata anyway!
To find more information about cycling in New Zealand, visit Cycle Journeys site here.
Related links:
Why you need to visit the spectacular Otago Central Rail Trail
5 great cardio alternatives to running
5 easy ways to workout at home