Riding every road in nz

Riding every road in nz…

Hi everyone… For some time I have been looking at different ideas for after I finish the tour aotearoa route… And then covid-19 happen… And like many others any plans I had got put on hold…

About a week or so ago I was going though some photos and saw some photos of the map I had marked on all the different roads I have traveled on over the years on the road by bike…

A bit of a back round with my bike touring… I have been solo bike touring around nz for the last 20 years (with my first bike tour at 16 years old) and the last 12 years full time touring around nz by bike (with time off about 5 years ago to walk the North Island part of the te araoa trail) in that time I have done over 150,000 km by bike around nz…

It got me wondering just how many km of roads there is in nz… And a quick Google search latter.. There’s 94,000 km of roads in nz…

What got me thinking about possible adventures/challenges I could do with this info…

And came up with the some what “crazy /mad” idea of riding every road in nz.. Yep all 94,000 km of roads (besides the ones I’m not allowed to ride like motorways)…

Between all my bike touring and other cycling adventures (including my rides around lake Taupo) I do have a good idea of what is involved with doing some thing like riding every road in nz…

When I was growing up in Hamilton I would offen go exploring out on the bike on my own doing the “I wonder where this road goes” thing…

So in many ways I’m just continuing with what I did before.. Just on a much bigger scale : )

One of the things I have noticed is that most cycle touring riders tend to stick to riding the same routes… Though with more people doing bikepacking there’s more people going off the main touring routes to explore different places around nz…

Its kinda of funny how many people in nz will travel overseas and yet won’t explore the rest of nz… Though with the effects of covid-19 on overseas travel… perhaps there will be more kiwis exploring nz more?…..


Life in a wheelchair… I have been using a wheelchair to get around off the bike for a year.. because of my unknown medical condition I lost my ability to walk about a year ago… Yes it makes things more difficult /challenge but like my bike touring its possible… My Dr told me I need to ride my bike as much possible (though for some reason i don’t think they ment riding every road in nz : ) when they said that : ) since
Riding is about the only time I use my legs (since I can’t walk any more as such) and I need to keep my legs doing suff to avoid having exta heath issues….

Training?
What is this thing called training?
Because of the number of Km I ride in my travels around nz I don’t tend to train for my travels /adventures /challenges…
Because of how my unknown medical condition affects me inc a lack of power in my legs (climbing hills with a lack of power can make hills a challenge… Having very low gears helps.. And no I don’t have a ebike : )


I was going to wait until I could start bike touring again before starting… But after some thought I decided to start a few days ago with doing day rides until I can do bike touring around and ten it will be a mix of long distance touring and day rides… I have done 2 rides so far…. I have a day off the bike today as there’s thunderstorms in the weather forecast and I have a few other tasks to do today…

How am I planning/tracking my riding?

I’m using a mix of things like Strava and both online and paper maps..

How can people follow my adventures with this big challenge? I’m on stava and on social media (mosty on Instagram)

Instagram @gypsyonabike1

Strava damiana day

On Facebook I have a page called life on the road by bike and wheelchair … ( side note… please don’t send me a friend request to my personal Facebook page… Unless I know you /you send me a pm saying who you are I will most likely just delete the friend request… Because of issues around social media…

If anyone would like to help me in any way with this big challenge /adventure please let me know : )

Doing the inpossible is a fun challenge : )

See you on the road less travelled by bike : )