E-bikes make trail a breeze
At 30kmh, we zoomed past even the most hard-core cyclists on the trail, and we hadn’t even been training.
The wind whipped our faces, a welcome reprieve from the baking January sun. This was the Otago Rail Trail – on e-bikes.
Atop two Specialised Como e-bikes, we took off from Shebikeshebikes’ Omakau depot towards the Poolburn Gorge, a 26-kilometre section of the 150km trail.
Within metres, it was clear this was far removed from the effort of the morning cycle commute. Starting on one of three assistance levels, we quickly took off at pace.
‘‘We started e-bikes two seasons ago, when they got the tick from the Department of Conservation (DOC),’’ Steve Goodlass, from Shebikeshebikes, said.
Goodlass said most people still preferred traditional bicycles, but e-bikes opened the trail up to more people.
‘‘We get a lot of multigenerational families, so grandma and grandpa can get on e-bikes [and] they don’t become a burden on the group, because they are actually out the front.
‘‘Also for people short on time who just want to get across the trail, they can make some good distance quickly.’’
Past the restored Lauder Station, we clicked the assistance up to three and the bikes took off. An effortless 30kmh took us to a coffee and blueberry muffin at Station Side Cafe. Cycle touring this way really is an option for even the most fair-weather peddlers.
The route expanded after our stop. Flat farmland made way for rocky hills and streams. We were approaching the gorge.
Two tunnels once off limits to anything but trains punctuated the latter sections of the first half, before the trail ascended gradually to reveal the Poolburn Viaduct.
Built in 1901, the viaduct is 37 metres high. A bumpy 108m straight across sturdy wooden planks awaits cyclists at this end of the gorge trip.
We bolted back down the trail to Omakau. Had there been a record keeper, our names surely would have been etched into a wooden panel at the local pub. We were fast.
Goodlass said Shebikeshebikes started in 2009 with 15 bikes aimed at servicing the Poolburn Gorge section of the Otago Rail Trail, which opened in 2000.
It ‘‘rapidly became quite clear’’ the business was going to service the trail end to end, Goodlass said. They now had a fleet of 250 bikes, including 16 e-bikes.
‘‘We put in place transport requirements from Queenstown through to Clyde, bike hire if they need it, bag transport across the trail, accommodation and side trips alongside the trail,’’ he said.
The company is based in Omakau, but also has depots at each end of the trail, in Clyde and Middlemarch.
Goodlass said in the early days, customers were 80 per cent Kiwi, but it was closer to 50 per cent now with the majority of foreigners being Australian.
"For people short on time who just want to get across the trail, they can make some good distance quickly." Shebikeshebikes' Steve Goodlass