Bike wise

The event was held on 17th September 2011 and was timed to coincide approximately with world car free day, and a day of action on climate change. Seven participants biked from their homes and converged in Christchurch’s central city for leg one, which was cycling
North, towing their kayaks on trolleys 10 km up Hills & Marshland Road to the Styx River. The ride went without problems, successfully negotiating earthquake damaged roads and busy roundabouts. Motorists were all very courteous to our unusual lineup of vehicles.

Leg two began which was the kayaking section. It was a very pleasant 6km paddle downstream to Brooklands. The third leg was jogging 6 km back along the road to collect our bikes and kayak trolleys at the farm. Everyone got there successfully and a couple of people managed to fill up an old bucket with discarded reflective road bumps and other rubbish found along the way.

The fourth leg was biking 6 km back to Brooklands to collect our kayaks. We made it back to central city around 1.30 for re‐fuelling, a well earned cuppa and muffin. We were travelling together at a leisurely pace and it all took just over five hours to complete the course, then many continued biking a little further back to their homes.

Kayak trolleys were mostly made by Steven Muir from cycletrailers.co.nz and utilised second hand wheels from old kid’s bikes. You can borrow these trailers for a free month trial if you live in Christchurch and want to give it a go.

Future events may be in the pipeline with varying degrees of difficulty, maybe even cycling over the Port Hills to Cass Bay, paddling to Quail Island, running around the Island, then returning home.