Nice day for a bike ride

"Now listen, today you're riding with us and when you go down hills you brake," a mum tells her young son her rules for the Tour de Manawatu.

A mob of unicyclists perch on their one-wheel contraptions looking pretty relaxed about the journey ahead.

Palmerston North Boys' High School's Jamie Watts, 14, is quietly confident about completing the 20km race on one wheel.

"I can text while riding."

Betty Willey, 5, has ditched her training wheels to join her dad, Matthew, on a tandem bike.

"I'm hoping she'll learn to peddle somewhere along the course," Mr Willey says.

"We'll have stops and snacks to keep the morale up and bits of chocolate, maybe play some I spy."

Betty's eyes sparkle on hearing this.

The 45km and 116km riders have already left, and 248 cyclists in The Square nervously wait to start the 20km ride.

The clock tower chimes. It's 9.30am.

"Thirty seconds to go."

Lycra-clad cyclists roll up to the start line, but not all are serious.

There's a swarm of male wasps and a bunch of female superheroes or fairies (it's hard to tell) rearing to go.

And they're off.

A sea of highlighter yellow shimmers in the sun as the horde heads off down Main Street East.

In less than an hour some of the cyclists make it back to the Memorial Park finish line.

John Stuart, 70, and wife Margaret, 66, take a more leisurely approach on their matching bronze Raleigh bikes.

"There were one or two ups and downs," Mrs Stuart says with a great smile.

The couple is chuffed with their result and has plans to spend the rest of the day gardening.

Karen Shepherd pushes her friend, Diane Milne, to keep going. They get through the course in under an hour.

"She kept telling me to harden up. When I got to the top [of a hill] I was almost vomiting."

A trio of Havelock North men in their late 40s hoon over the line on their three-person tandem.

Malcolm Vernon and Paul Gurran have been teaching Chris Brownlie the ropes.

"We've just been breaking him in for the last couple of three rides," Mr Gurran says.

The only trouble to face the trio is a dislodged chain.

Finally, the first unicyclist peddles over the line and the rest follow.

Only one has fallen off his bike, grazing his knee and elbow.

There has only been one serious incident along the course, Fitzherbert Lions member and organiser Ross Linklater says.

A 55-year-old man on the 116km course suffered a stroke, he says.

"Apparently he was a pretty fit sort."

The man was taken to Palmerston North Hospital by St John first aid volunteers, who are dotted along the course.

This year's entries number 1013, with 140 of those signing up on the day.

A lot of people will have woken up, seen the great weather and decided to take part in the annual cycle challenge, Mr Linklater says.

"Last year was a terrible wet ride and that possibly put a few people off.

"Overall, we're reasonably happy."

 

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