the long white ride

The Long White Ride story...........

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In early 2016, the current Length of NZ record holder, Colin Anderson, suggested to me the idea of attempting my own record challenge. The idea and dream sat with me for a while and I soon realised, that this was meant for me.

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Over the following 12 months, I carefully went about planning for my own record attempt. But, it needed a name. After some serious brainstorming one weekend training, I came up with the unique and special name

THE LONG WHITE RIDE.

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I assembled a core group of supporters who had helped me in some of previous ultra-cycling challenges. But this was my biggest event to date -in distance, duration, and complexity - so sound logistical preparation was vital if it was to be successful. The unknown element of Ultra-Cycling is what I find so fascinating. Also, attempting something for the first time, not only asks the question of what is going to happen, but also, is this even possible?

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In late 2016, in an effort to give the campaign more purpose, I connected with the Graham Dingle Foundation, and decided to raise awareness and $$ for its Kiwi Can program in local Marlborough schools. Having a young family myself, I immediately felt connected with such a valuable community cause. The connection with the foundation took me in to the community and my cycling challenge helped enforce some of Kiwi Can's values that it tries to teach our youth. Values like Self Belief, Resilience, Teamwork were important to my challenge and it became a great platform in which to leverage off in the schools.

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I met people through KiwiCan that inspired me and helped keep me motivated in times of uncertainty. None more so, than when only weeks before my planned ride, the south island was rocked by severe earthquakes, severely destroying our main transport links. I was determined to follow through with the challenge, and had to settle with an amended route, albeit longer and slower.

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20th Feb 2017, I finally set out from Cape Reinga, the spiritual entrance and northern most point of New Zealand. The rest is now history.

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There are many highlights to my successful ride and I am extremely grateful to my committed support crew. But The Long White Ride was about a whole lot more than a cycling record. It was a journey that taught me the importance of role models in society, that ordinary people can achieve extra-ordinary things, and by facing our fears we can grow stronger.

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Check out some of the footage here.

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Thanks to the connection with The Graham Dingle Foundation and the amazing sponsors and donations, we raised over $50,000 for the KiwiCan program in Marlborough.

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AND, I set a new record for the fastest time to cycle the length of New Zealand:

4 days, 9 hours, and 45 min.

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