New Zealand road bike team for Worlds

The 2012 mens road race World Championships will take place in Holland later this month and this evening I was looking at the line-up for the team to represent New Zealand .

I noted that, George Bennett, a reserve rider for the team is from Nelson and Jack Bauer, a rider in the actual team, is from just up the road in Takaka. This was of particular interest to me, not because I thought a special agent for the Counter Terrorist Unit was riding for New Zealand but because Nelson is where my mother lives these days. And so does my sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces. I love the place.

It is not the town we lived when I was growing up, it was years after I left home before they all made the move down to Nelson. So I cannot tell you what it is like to ride a road bike in that part of the world. Pity really, I imagine it must be fantastic. The roads are quiet, wide, good surfaces and a good variety of flats and climbs. Looking at the selections for the national road bike team it would appear to be a good place to learn the trade.

It is our aim to get back there within the next couple of years, to visit the family and friends and to explore that part of the country on the bike, possibly looking to organise a road bike holiday for our Cycle Hame clients in the future. How much fun would that be?