Rotorua cyclist Sam Shaw sets new fastest known time for Auckland to Wellington bike ride

Sam Shaw, 33, cycled 638km and set the fastest known time for a bike ride from Auckland to Wellington. Photo / Jay French

A Rotorua cyclist has set the fastest known time for a bike ride from Auckland to Wellington.

Sam Shaw, 33, cycled 638km on Monday and completed the trip in 17h 21m 34s with an average speed of 36.8km/h.

A time of 23 hours was set by Masterton’s Brian Lambert in 1982. This was beaten the following year by Brian Fleck (Te Awamutu), who clocked 19h 59m 55s, before Lambert returned in 1984 to reclaim the record by 30 seconds.

Australian endurance rider Lachlan Morton set a new fastest known time of 18h 28m in February before Shaw lowered that mark by over an hour.

“I’m just stoked,” Shaw told the Rotorua Daily Post.

Morton’s attempt at the record, which was completed last year, was the inspiration for Shaw’s ride.

“He [Morton] released a really inspiring video, I watched it, and while it was playing, I was like, wow, I’m going to do that,” Shaw said.

Born and bred in Rotorua, Shaw said he had been riding since he was 13, when his parents tried getting him into the sport.

“Growing up, we’d go on mountain bike holidays and go biking in cool places.”

He has since competed in the Youth Olympics for cross-country, the Enduro World Series and cross-country World Cups.

Shaw started his 638km ride at 4am from downtown Auckland, travelled through the Waikato, around the western side of Mt Ruapehu via Wanganui and joined State Highway 1 again at Bulls.

He said he planned the trip around the weather, doing it on a day that gave him the “best opportunity” to beat the time.

Sam Shaw has been riding since he was 13, when his parents tried getting him into the sport. Photo / Jay French

“I figured this time of the year there’s good northerlies because wind’s a big factor in a distance like this.”

Shaw rode with an average speed of 36.8km/h but said he hit 38km/h during the first four hours.

“It was kind of gauging that first effort to make sure I could actually keep that power output for so long without blowing up.”

After 12 hours of riding, he said the toughest section was a hill before Whanganui, which was about 4km long.

“It just kept going and I was sweating a lot at that point. I think we reached peak heat, which was like 30C.”

With 200km left in the ride, Shaw started cramping.

“At that point, cramp can be pretty bad.

“I had some salt, then I had some [cans of] Coke, I had some [energy] gels, and none of that really worked.”

He said he needed a pie and his four crew members made sure one was delivered.

“They went and bought me this mince and cheese pie and that actually worked; I was just fine after it.”

Sam Shaw travelled from Auckland through the Waikato, around the western side of Mt Ruapehu via Wanganui and joined SH1 at Bulls. Photo / Jay French

Shaw was assisted by Brendan Clarke, Charlie Murray, Jay French and Tom Christie, who followed along in one van.

“You can’t just go do it by yourself. You have to have a team.”

Shaw said the standout moment was seeing the crowds of people cheering him on, which made him cry.

“There were so many people throughout the day and it was all these people from different parts of my life, too, so it was quite cool.”

Arriving in Wellington at 9.22pm, Shaw was welcomed by a crowd of more than 50 supporters and three bottles of champagne being sprayed on him.

“I was all out of tears at that point because they were all dried up and there was no salt left in me, but it really was amazing.”

His next goal is to ride the length of New Zealand.

“There was always another layer to this trip and it would be really cool to complete that.”

Kaitlyn Morrell is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region forseveralyears and studied journalism at Massey University.