March 6, 2025
Rolleston to Christchurch
End of the Road
For my last days cycling I had a very civilised day passing through Christchurch’s satellite villages. From Rolleston to Lincoln and then Prebbleton. One road closure to go around
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But the sun was shining and there was no wind. The cold weather of the previous few days had deposited snow on the Southern Alps making clear that autumn had begun.
The links between these towns have dedicated cycling paths.
As I got closer to Christchurch more cyclists appeared, mostly retired people on e-bikes. They seemed very familiar with the route so I just followed them. Worked fine. Together with a compulsory stop at a cafe (which hardly seemed necessary given the relaxed route but I certainly enjoyed).
Gradually the Port Hills got nearer
And before very long I was rolling along the urban cycle paths in the southern suburbs.
From Christchurch I took the Coastal Pacific train to Picton and then the ferry back to Wellington (all in one day).
While I didn’t do as much as I set out to do I did have a good time riding around the top of the South Island, met good people and saw places I would likely never have seen otherwise.
Things that worked well included my Shimano SPD sandals (comfortable, cool on hot days, easy to walk in, dry quickly if wet and lightweight); the Topo50 app for offline maps which was more accurate than Google maps; and the bike, which never gave me any trouble (thanks to the Cycle Centre Upper Hutt for servicing the bike before the ride).
If I was doing something like this again I would arrange to not have to carry much at all on the bike (probably a support car) and or consider an e-bike. Several of the people I met had this aspect well sorted out. I am not in my 20s anymore.
Thank you to all those who read this blog, either a little or a lot. And the dog was a bit thinner when I got home.
I leave you with a couple of photos from the return trip.
Today's ride: 33 km (20 miles)
Total: 472 km (293 miles)
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Looking forward to your next effort!
1 week ago
Glad you have nicer weather for riding!
2 weeks ago