88 years old and cycling 100km — every week
E-bike enthusiast has just completed the Otago Rail Trail, plans Aussie ride
Te Awamutu’s Colin Williamson turns 89 in a month and is living proof of the adage: You never forget how to ride a bike. What is a bit unusual is how far he rides his bike. Plus, if you think the surname and bike riding sound familiar, that is because earlier this year I wrote about my neighbour John Williamson, who undertook a solo bike tour of New Zealand, riding from Cape Rēinga to Bluff. John and Colin hadn’t met, but after the story ran they did — discovered they were related. Now Colin’s daughter, Jane Bailey, is also hooked and last week she came home from Brisbane to see her parents, Colin and Melva, and to take “Pop” for a three-day tour of the Otago Rail Trail, covering 163km. Everyone they met was surprised Williamson was riding, albeit on his e-bike. Williamson is a man who has to have something to do. The couple farmed at Maihihi until 1979 then owned an orchard in Kerikeri, a coffee business and lounge in Cambridge, had a bed and breakfast in New Plymouth and when they retired they bought a campervan and toured Australia for two years. Melva says it was great — no housework. Now settled in Te Awamutu, Colin loves to look after his vegetable garden and to exercise. About nine years ago he had openheart valve replacement surgery. “My doctor told me to get the exercise up and keep the weight down, so I started walking,” Colin says. “But four years ago a friend introduced me to the e-bike.
“I remember it was a Thursday, because by Friday, thanks to my wife, I owned one.” Since then Williamson has covered about 200,000km around Te Awamutu and sometimes a little further afield. He has the electric assist set so that he gets a good amount of exercise pedalling but without stressing himself too much. He also likes to cycle alone. “I am happy with my own company and I think it is safer.” Every day, unless the weather is atrocious, he heads to the end of his road and decides left or right. He’ll ride as far as Cambridge or Pirongia and likes to cover about 100km a week. Williamson keeps both hands on the handlebars and chooses roads with the least traffic — safety first. But he adds that drivers around Te Awamutu are very courteous and give him plenty of room. He says cycling is more enjoyable than walking simply because he can go further and see more of the countryside.