READY TO GO: CBEC general manager Terry Jones and Mayor John Carter ready to mount up, with Carol Berghan and Suzie Clark from Kaitaia's Mainstreet Lodge.
READY TO GO: CBEC general manager Terry Jones and Mayor John Carter ready to mount up, with Carol Berghan and Suzie Clark from Kaitaia's Mainstreet Lodge.
If Community Business and Environment Centre (CBEC) GM Terry Jones has his way, Northland will one day be known as the cycling capital of New Zealand.
He says the region has the climate and the geography to make the most of growing national and international passion for pedalling. Bicycles werealready earning more for Rotorua than the city's famed geothermal pools - and the dream has begun taking shape, he said.
CBEC was already supporting a move to bikes for hire in Whangarei, where riders would be able to enjoy the Hatea loop, but that was just the start. The vision was to establish a "spiderweb" throughout Northland that would enable hirers to pick up a bike at one point, enjoy the experience it offered (by riding to Cape Reinga, perhaps), then drop it off somewhere else.
Mr Jones was at Kaitaia's Mainstreet Lodge on Tuesday with Mayor John Carter, who didn't actually leap into the saddle. He had enough trouble balancing his helmet. They launched the Kaitaia connection, and said it was planned to establish depots in Kawakawa, Opononi, Mangonui and perhaps Dargaville.
Customers would be able to hire helmets, and even hi-vis vests if they felt the need for one.
Cliff Colquhoun (CBEC) regarded that as a very realistic goal.
"For a start we've got the climate," he said.
"Unlike in Rotorua people can ride bikes here all year round. And it needn't be expensive to kick off. People can already ride from Kaitaia to Lake Ngatu and 90 Mile Beach, stopping in Awanui for one of the best pies in New Zealand, without setting a wheel on the open road.
"All it would need is a few signs to give people a great little ride."
