First cycling memory
Digging and sculpting what seemed at the time like huge jumps to ride BMX in the woods in the school holidays. This led to MTB explorations on Dartmoor before I saw sense and traded it all in for a road bike.
Favourite bike
My trusty, steel Surly Pacer. Not as nimble as some of the carbon bikes I’ve ridden over the years, granted, but it’s served me well - first as a London commuter and now in soaking up the bumps of some of New Zealand’s rural back roads. It even goes well on gravel!
Top climb
Can I have two? It would have to be split between the perfect switchbacks that lead up to Lago di Cancano out of Bormio in the Italian Alps and the 21km/1450m of climb from the shore of Geirangerfjord all the way up to Dalsnibba in Møre og Romsdal, Norway, riding past a huge frozen lake on the way up!
One thing on your bucket list
To ride the Tour Aotearoa - 3000km of self-supported bike-packing from Cape Reinga to Bluff - the entire length of New Zealand.
A special skill you bring on tour
I think it’s always important to remind folks to look up from the computer screen and really take in the environment we’re lucky enough to be pedalling through. If I can find a really scenic picnic spot, then all the better.
Favourite Ride & Seek tour gastronomic experience
The food and hospitality of some of the hotels in Alto Adige, Dolomites. All that cheese and pasta is great, slow-burn, energy, not to mention the apfelstrudel.
Languages
Always trying to improve my French and Italian, even if it’s proving tricky to get much practice here in NZ. Te Reo Māori is the indigenous language spoken here, so that’s the current challenge - Kia ora koutou katoa!
Ride & Seek tours you lead REMOVE??
The Māori New Zealand Epic and Three Islands Epic
