Cycling the island for the heck of it

Vic Baughen and Colin Edwards must be mad. Everybody says so.
Why else would two Whangarei Heads retirees, aged 65 and 66, fly to Wellington, hop on a couple of push bikes and cycle all the way to Cape Reinga?
For such an epic journey, lesser men would enlist a support crew, or perhaps put in some serious training beforehand, or plan a special high energy diet to sustain them on the way.
But not these two.
They did it with a only a change of clothes and a couple of bottles of water in their panniers, a month's training, and a loose itinerary that saw them show up unannounced at backpacker hostels each night.
And all through their two-week journey, said Mr Edwards, the most common comment was "you're mad".
His reasons for doing it were simple: The exercise, the challenge, and the scenery.
Mr Baughen's were even simpler: "Just for the heck of it."
They left Wellington on November 8 and arrived at the cape on November 21.
Both say their secret to making it so far was not pushing themselves too hard.
The first day was one of the hardest. Crossing Wellington's Rimutakas - a range that trucks and small cars sometimes struggle to climb - they rode about two thirds of the way up and walked the rest.
In fact, hills were "refreshing", said Mr Baughen.
"You get on your bike and keep turning the pedals round, that's how you cover the ground. Colin and I were never ever going to try and ride up all the steep hills. We'd just hop off and walk it, which helps get the circulation back in the derriere and gives you a different set of muscles to use. We'd say `oh good, there's a hill coming, we'll be able to walk'."
Mr Edwards has done several long rides before, including Wellington to Whangarei, Bluff to Picton by three different routes, and Bluff to Whangarei. Mr Baughen has done a few longish trips around Northland.
"I don't bike at all during the year. I got the bike out a month before the latest trip. It had been in the shed since the last one," Mr Edwards said.
To reduce weight he cut his toothbrush in half, carried only a tiny cake of "motel" soap and only one change of lightweight clothes.
"We were not nice to be near."
They say their 130km-a-day average isn't particularly fast and allowed for magic moments such as cycling through Waipoua Forest at 10km/h with "all the trees and birds, no motor, no windows, in absolute silence".
Other moments were less peaceful, such as when, after days of smooth riding on the road, they rode into a Kumeu service station to check their tyres.
"As we drew in there I got my wheel stuck on the kerb and went flat down on the concrete and Vic got his foot stuck in the pedal and went flat down too. People on the forecourt couldn't believe it. They probably thought we had just come from the pub around the corner," Mr Edwards said.
Each day they rose at 5.30am, ate breakfast and set off at about 6am, stopping for food every two or three hours, and water at every chance - most days they drank eight litres.
The took turns leading and setting the pace, and could easily have kept going at the end of each 10-hour day. They stayed at backpackers hostels where few of the guests were even half their age.
One hostel owner took one look at them and said "you've come by bike, you deserve a beer" and invited them to dinner.
Around Hawke's Bay the temperature reached 30deg.
Mr Baughen said the long, straight Hauraki Plains were his least favourite road, but crossing Auckland took a nightmarish six hours. They entered the sprawl in Howick, and left on the road to Helensville.
The most hazardous part was the unsealed 20km to Cape Reinga where their wives met up with them in a camper van.
"People in their 60s should realise `Hey, I can do these things'," says Mr Edwards.
Mr Baughen adds: "If I was going to drop dead I would rather do it doing something like this than in my armchair."