Alastair Borwick's Fundraising Page

At Bluff, we made it

Down a long winding road

day after day …

… after day

Message of Thanks

Its been over a month now since we finished our End to End ride at Bluff. A huge “Thank you!” to everyone who made donation to this charity bike ride, it was a greatly successful fund-raiser, and if I havent thanked you yet, that’s why this report. I didn’t have a computer with me and couldn’t add updates during the ride. (Rod Oram’s blog is well worth reading through).

We sat at Cape Reinga in bright heat and light the Sunday evening January 31, before local iwi who recited karakia and gave us their blessing, mingled with speech and song. A humbling send-off, before we rolled up to that sign-post by the lighthouse, above the meeting of the Tasman and the Pacific – if you havent seen it, you should. Two weeks later we were standing at the other sign-post just round the corner from Bluff, sheltered from a mean sou’westerly gale with horizontal drizzle while again local iwi greeted us, spoke and sang, presenting the Heart Foundation with a massive paua shell. A shame it was over, we had a great night.

The first 2 days up north involved some stiff head winds. There was a summer storm in Auckland but it missed us up north. We felt tired after a couple of days of this and some riders were achy, doubting whether they’d make the whole trip. But after about days 5 and 6, our appetites really kicked in, we all realised we could keep going, and morale soared.

Breakfast and gear packed into bike-trailer by 7:15am, briefing from Norman Sharpe, cycling by 7:30am. Bum cream, sun screen, food in pockets, we had 750 Power Bars to eat. We wore red and white Heart Foundation jerseys and aimed to regroup before riding into towns, arriving en masse, in red.

Morning tea came after about 3 hours, daybags and everything laid out on tables by one of the camper vans: hand-sanitiser, drink, bars, home baking, sun screen, bum cream – in that order. Leave your bags for the support folk to deal with, back on the road for 3 hours. Generous lunches put on by local Heart Foundation, or Subway, lots of stretching, more sunscreen and bum cream and back on the road. 8 to 9 hour days, 7 to 8 hours riding. Our support crew worked hard, and reassured us that that was their contribution. They took photos, we had a film-maker along, and a media-person to chase local radio stations, press, and national television. So most towns seemed to know we were passing by on our hikoi.

Motorists were often really friendly. Levin to Porirua was the worst stretch, and leaving Christchurch south was no better; otherwise it was a blast. If anyones keen to hire a campervan and have a crack at it, let me know, I’d do it again like a shot. You end up riding easily on the front at 35kmh with a HR of 125, its great training.

We rode slowly at first, 20-25kmh in the stronger winds, or 30+ down them. There were 25 of us who set out for Bluff, and we had a few day riders sometimes. Usually we found it easier in 2 or even 3 smaller bunches so traffic could pass easily. We always had a 4WD with trailer for 25 bikes behind us, and there were 2 large Maui campervans somewhere ahead.

I’ve been asked what was the best bit. So.

The best dinners …
lamb tajine and a whole salmon in Rawene after the local Nga Puhi kapa haka group came to meet us;
spit-roast beef, potatoes, country chicken and salads in Murchison;
2 beef fillets, 2 salmon, 4 tubs of ice cream in a shed in Hanmer followed by beef sandwiches for lunch at Amberley the next day.
Our appetites started to kick in properly after about a week of this riding.

Nicest road …
From Kaitaia through the Herekino Gorge and Broadwood to the Rawene ferry at Kohokohu;
Omapere to Dargaville through the Waipoua kauri forest, naturally;
the Maruia valley over Shenandoah and Lewis Passes east of Westport;
along Lake Wakatipu and south through the hills to Lumsden entering Southland

Best descent …
winding down through the Waipoua kauri forest south of Hokianga;
racing some NZArmy dayriders down Ngaio Gorge into Wellington;
Lewis Pass; Lindis Pass – 45km to Tarras in an hour;
the Crown Range, naturally (being the biggest descent), shame about the head wind.

And riding from Invercargill out to Bluff into a 30knot southerly with horizontal drizzle, this just felt right, it’s the only way you should go to Bluff.

Alastair Borwick.
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In the first two weeks of February 2010 I'm joining a group of cardiologists and other health professionals on a bike ride from Cape Reinga to the Bluff.

The goal is to raise money for a Cardiovascular Research Fund to benefit all NZers, and I'm asking for your support towards my goal of fund-raising $10,000. I'm paying my own way on the Ride, so every cent raised goes to the Foundation, and its now 50% tax-deductable.

My motivation is the people I see daily in my work as a GP who get confused over mixed messages about what really matters for their health.
"Should I do a New Year Colon Detox like my friend? Or just stop smoking for good?" (one of these two things is really good for you)

Heart disease and stroke affects many more of us than prostate cancer and breast cancer put together. I want to see people make effective choices about healthy living. That's what my job is all about.

I'm going to do all the hard work by completing the ride. I've ridden much of the route before in bits, but am really looking forward to completing the whole ride in one go (with a few sleeps).

You might be able to sponsor me with a lump sum?
Or say $10 a day?
Or you might like to sponsor a leg, say Arrowtown to Bluff – 220km, or
Matakohe to Auckland - 150km?
Or maybe you can help arrange a corporate pledge of $1 per km for the whole trip!

1: Cape Reinga to Rawene 186 km
2: Rawene to Matakohe 152 km
3: Matakohe to Auckland 150 km
4: Auckland to Matamata 160 km
5: Matamata to Turangi 181 km
6: Turangi to Marton 164 km
7: Marton to Wellington 182 km
8: Wellington : Nelson to Murchison 150 km
9: to Nelson by air, no bike day
10: Murchison to Hanmer Springs 176 km
11: Hanmer Springs to Christchurch 137 km
12: Christchurch to Timaru (evening bus to Twizel) 166 km
13: Twizel to Arrowtown 200 km
14: Arrowtown to Bluff 220 km

2224km (give or take the odd extra km to get pizza)

Many thanks for your support, and stay well!

Alastair Borwick.