Of Biking Holidays

Driving between Christchurch and Queenstown (a 5 hour drive, no stops) we passed a lot of bikes. And by bikes, I don't mean the kind you wear leather to ride. I mean the kind you wear lycra to ride. And by a lot, I mean A LOT, most of then toting saddle-bags to carry their dinky little tents and change of lycra and so forth. Now, you've seen my photos. You may have noticed the mention of mountains once or twice. And before you get to the actual mountains, there are quite a few hills. Some of these are big hills. So, here's my question: ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE?!?!?!?

Anyway, I drove to town one day last week to do my grocery shopping. I discovered that, during my absence, our supermarket had shifted location. Wondered why I'd found a park right out front! Driving around to the new site, I noticed a lot of bikes (and yes, folks in lycra.) For a moment I wondered if they'd followed me home, but then I saw the tent city which covered two football fields and the support vans and the police escort and the signs that said Big Bike Ride. 1000 ordinary (and probably fit) folk pedaling their bikes for 9 days through country NSW (some hills, but not as big as New Zealand's), raising money for the Heart Foundation and having fun along the way. Now that's a biking holiday I might actually enjoy!

Here are some pic's of all the tents--I swear, I have never seen so many of the little domes and they were all in neat rows and it looked much cooler and cuter than the photos indicate.