The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

New Zealand Canterbury & Otago Off Road 2024

February 16th to March 1st

Ride Coordinator: Grant McAlister
Report by: Miller Miller

Bicycling in New Zealand is, in a word, wonderful, gorgeous, and spectacular.  Wait, that’s three words!  I could fill a volume with superlatives about this tour.  Some time ago NZ decided to invest in bicycle tourism and we are today the beneficiaries of the planning for spectacular trails all around the South Island.  This truly is a “Best of” itinerary that includes several spectacular routes.

We started in Christchurch and rode the incredibly scenic Alps to Ocean trail from Tekapo all the way to the end in Oamaru, riding for several days along long lakes and rivers of turquoise-blue water.  A particularly memorable and fun section was along Lake Ohau, I can not find words to describe the joy of that single track nor the beauty of the lake.  This segment alone is worth the trip!

We enjoyed the local knowledge and fine planning provided by our outfitters, Brian and Carol, who run NZ Bicycle Tours.  Together they made sure that every detail was covered and our bikes were always in good order.  They carefully selected top notch accommodations for us and much more.  Thank you, Brian and Carol!

After the A2O, we transferred to the central part of the island to ride the Otago Central Rail Trail, a delightful route that includes a few bridges and tunnels.  I especially loved the visit to Hayes Engineering, a farmer-turned-inventor whose products are still in use today and demonstrate loads of Kiwi ingenuity. The route is mostly gravel and I’d estimate that 80% of it was very well packed, maybe 5% loose and 15% somewhere in between.  Some gravel experience is important, but this is not a technical (mountain-bike) ride. 

We continued on to bike the Clutha Gold Trail, beautiful for its grasslands and sheep farms and packed with history of the Gold Rush of 1860.  Signs along the rail trail describe fortunes made and lost, towns that popped up overnight and disappeared almost as quickly, and the incredible engineering and effort that went into building the railroad line. 

We then biked three more trails – Roxburgh Gorge, Lake Dunstan, and Queenstown trails – each of which brought great vistas of mountains, lakes, and farms.  At times we were quite remote, and other times we passed through fun little towns, giving a wonderful variety to this tour.  It was like a box of varied chocolates – so much variety and all so incredibly good.  I could not recommend this tour more.  I’ve been very fortunate to bike in many places around the world and this tour is my #1 for beauty, history, and fun riding – I give it the triple crown!