Top city for cycling?
On Friday I was minding my own business, counting down the minutes until the weekend (oh how long ago it seems) when I received quite a fright.
I overheard my colleagues discussing the fact that on some random website, Wellington had been named one of the best cities to cycle.
This was startling news. I could wax lyrical about Wellington for ages: there are so many things I love about this city - but cycling is not one of them. Most of this is to do with the road layout, the lack of sufficient cycling lanes and the drivers, but some of it is the weather.
Spending the entirety of spring and summer fighting the wind on the bike can get frustrating to the point of being tantrum-inducing. I will neither confirm nor deny but there may have been irrational tears and rage around the South Coast on more than one occasion, where the road starts to resemble a wind tunnel, albeit one with a lot of traffic.
Although the Wellington weather does mean that racing in other places gets easier. After Ironman 2005, everyone was bitching about the wind on the cycling leg while I sat there thinking "what headwind?"
I don’t know about where you live but in my opinion I’m not sure that anywhere in New Zealand could be named in the top cycling spots in the world for roadies. Our roads are not really set up for it and there's a lot of driver rage. Whether that is justified or not is irrelevant.
I have cycled around the Coromandel and Nelson regions, both of which were an improvement on Wellington.
The Nelson drivers were not averse to throwing things at cyclists – dodging glass bottles flung from a car is a good time, naturally – but there were a lot of easy-to-get-to quiet roads that went through spectacular scenery.
It was also a region full of people making the most of the stunning weather, which seemed to make the drivers more tolerant.
However, my Friday fright subsided when I realised that the random website was referring to mountain biking in Wellington. I know there are a lot of fantastic tracks around the region but I’m not really in any position to comment.
I’ve walked a lot of the tracks but I’ve only been "proper" mountain biking once in my life and that was in Nelson. At the end of the ride I looked like I’d attacked my legs with a cheese grater. I fell off the bike every which way – left, right, over the handlebars, off the back. You would have thought I’d never cycled before.
That experience didn’t put me off mountain biking – it has much to recommend it, mainly the absence of crazy drivers who want to kill me or at least throw things at me. And there are quite a few tracks that I suspect even my limited ability could cope with. It’s more to do with money or, to be precise, my lack of it, which prohibits buying a mountain bike.
What's your city/town/region like for cycling?
» Join Are We There Yet on Facebook.
Sponsored links
Newest First
Oldest First
Well I'm another Wellingtonian. I've done some mountain biking up at Makara peak (not nearly as much as I want to, courtesy of the manky "summer" we had). It is a huge amount of fun for a guy who hasn't been on a bike in 15 years. Great way to get some exercise, some fresh air, some scenery, and the occasional little lie down at the top of the hill (in gale force winds)
Money shouldn't be an issue, as my $150 Bauer (thanks Trademe) copes with what I throw at it there perfectly happily. The limiting factor is rider talent and bravery. You don't need a porn bike, especially not if you've been mountain biking once in your life.
Christchurch: either flat as a pancake (city/plains), or insanely large hills (Port Hills). I've never really cycled out of the city, some of those country roads are quite skinny & scary.
The grid network in the central city is OK for transit cycling - I used to use Kilmore St & Salisbury St every day to go to uni, and I'm quite happy now to bike into town along Tuam & Manchester. The main problem is the placement of manholes in the centre of bike lanes, and the way the bike lanes just disappear sometimes! Barrington St's great for that - one minute there's a lane, the next minute none, then whoops, it appears again at the intersection, but it's not there on the other side. Grr.
I live in North Shore Auckland. Cycling is ok here but I wouldn't recommend it.
Palmerston North is a good road cycling city. I went there for uni. Not much traffic, 10 mins either way to get on country roads. Flat's, hills, cycle lanes.
my partner loves mountain biking here in Wellington, but I preferred Rotorua - more easy tracks with small incline/declines for us newbies. Now i mainly road ride but was hit by a car yesterday. At least on the mountains cars can't get me. I love Wellington for road riding (other than that) because of the hills and the wind. I can kick a$$ anywhere if I can ride here :)
Being from Wellington, I have to agree that it's a great city for Mountain biking, what with Makara, Belmont regional park, Mt vic etc all so close. I've heard that Rotovegas is awesome, but can't really comment as I've never hit the tracks there. I now live in Melbourne, and have to drive for at least 40 minutes if I want to get to any proper bush for a bit of a blat. However once you're there its pretty damn good! My favourite would be the fantastically named Wombat State Forest!
as both a part time cyclist and a driver i think Cyclists have to decide if they are road users or not. Motorists get annoyed because they run red lights, don't stop at crossings, don't pay any road user charges or ACC levies and break other road rules, yet want to be treated not just like other road users but special.
Yes, i see a lot of good riders, they stay over to the left, and on our narrow country road ride in single file, but then you get the idiots that ride in the middle of a lane (slower than cars) and two or three abreast on narrow roads.
Cyclists already have a special cycle way from petone to wellington, why do they not use it, why do they continue to ride along the road? And if they continue to do this, why would motorists and tax payers consider giving more money etc to cycle lanes if they aren't going to use them either?
I think cyclist have to consider these points, and start to act in a positive way, not an agressive i demand space manner, then your arguments for more lanes etc will have more credence
completely concur, Wellington rocks for MTB and blows for road riding. I've done a bit of off road and the options are almost endless and fantastic. I've done many, many long rides around Wellington and can't remember 1 ride when I haven't had some sort of road rage incident.
@ Wayne #7
I agree with a lot of what you say regarding cyclists needing to obey the road rules etc but I wonder if you've ever ridden the cycle lane from Petone to Ngauranga. I sometimes run it but never ride it as it would be marginal on a mountain bike and is not suitable for road bikes. The surface is a bit rough but the main problem is the rubbish that ends up down there - I've run around smashed up wooden furniture and pallets, bottles, hubcaps etc. Also if you are heading out to Petone you are left at the end having to ride against the motorway traffic for some distance as the lane ends well before Petone.
I do however use the cycle lane from Ngauranga to Wellington and while it can be a bit scary with cars turning accross it etc I prefer it to the road.
Hi wayne, you might like to read this: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/are-we-there-yet/3900954/Cyclists-and-red-lights#comments
Or perhaps this one: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/are-we-there-yet/3800596/Should-cyclists-pay-to-use-the-roads#comments
And there's this: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/are-we-there-yet/3868721/Cyclists-are-here-to-stay#comments
And I'm sure you could find more if you track back through the history...
Dotcom accused van der Kolk 'flabbergasted'
One dead after SH1 crash near Wellington
Adele's the big winner at Grammys
Body found in Sydney tree identified
Police find woman's body in Manawatu
Woman crushed, friend watched 'helplessly'
Houston died in bathtub - coroner
Tainui leader ousted from board
Second Megaupload co-accused bailed
Top 10 anti-Valentine's Day flicks
Google algorithm measures funny
Making your education investment pay
I'm not a cyclist myself, but Palmerston North seems to be built for cycling. It's almost completely flat, has wide roads, and has dedicated cycle lanes on most major roads.