The group decided to continue on with its event, and drivers rode into Wellington as planned.
"They wanted to do that, they were very clear about continuing on and continuing on with the support for us.''
This afternoon another motorcyclist was flown to hospital in a serious condition after he came off his bike while out riding with a friend.
The 62-year-old Motueka man was riding a bike behind his friend's on State Highway 6 near St Arnaud, about 90km southwest of Nelson today when he came off his bike.
The other rider noticed he was no longer behind him and turned back to find him.
"[He] turned around and went back up the road and saw him in a screaming heap on the side of the road up a bank, he doesn't really know the reason why he came off,'' Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter pilot Tim Douglas-Clifford said.
The injured man was not conscious enough to say what had happened.
The man was flown to Nelson Hospital in a serious condition with multiple injuries.