Sue McBride is probably one of the fittest people in Wanganui, although she says fitness is a beneficial side effect rather than her motivation for walking and cycling.
"I just think we all should be driving less and walking and cycling more" she says.
A regular tramper and yoga practitioner, Mrs McBride can often be seen cycling with her little dog Pip in the basket on the back of her bike.
Sue Hope was born at Blenheim in 1940 and attended Riverlands School and later went to Marlborough College.
"Entertainment in Blenheim was very sparse. I went to Dunedin to train as a physio-therapist and then to Nelson where I worked at the pulmonary rehabilitation centre there," she said.
She moved to Masterton as a child welfare worker in 1967 and there she met Vince McBride, a young teacher from Murchison.
"We met in the pub in Masterton, struck up a friendship and we married in 1969."
The couple have four children, all now living in Wellington, and there are 12 grandchildren.
"We lived in a number of places while the children were growing up and we have had some interesting travels.
"We lived and worked in Malaya at the time of the French nuclear testing in the Pacific and were involved in protests there and we spent two years in Tonga where Vince was teaching and I worked as a librarian."
The couple have lived in Te Puke and Christchurch and moved to Wanganui in 2002.
"We liked the house prices here but I sometimes wonder if the high property rates don't cancel out the benefits."
When she moved here, Mrs McBride worked for Wanganui Smokefree for a time and says there were too many social constraints around getting people to quit smoking and she found the role quite frustrating.
More satisfying has been her role as an Iyengar yoga instructor and she taught classes at the marae at St Marys church and the Brick House in St Hill St until last year.
There have been many cycling adventures including around the East Cape and from Greymouth to Karamea as well as a number overseas.
"We cycled from Florence to Canterbury, England in 1998, from Frankfurt to Cologne in 2004 and we have travelled from Groningen in the Netherlands to Calais in northern France.
"We cycled from Lands End to John o'Groats in England [and Scotland] and in 2005, we cycled from Sydney to Brisbane."
In addition to cycling, tramping and yoga, Mrs McBride says she enjoys the art culture and the Film Society in Wanganui.
"I also really like the number of very nice people here who are committed to sustainability and living well, taking care of the environment, the land and the waterways.
"It is great being retired, you can socialise with who you want to, when you want to."
A recent purchase has been a pop-up caravan which Mrs McBride says she is looking forward to using during the summer.
"We had two really enjoyable nights at Turakina Beach and we are looking forward to taking it to other locations" she says.