‘Nothing else like it in NZ’
Andy Chalmers’ nice one-day ride with a friend has turned into New Zealand’s first long distance gravel cycling race.
Chalmers, of Christchurch, said the January 2021 ride in the Waimate District was simply about wanting to ride a loop.
‘‘It was a really nice day, a great weekend, and we thought it would be a great one-day event.’’
Fast-forward 19 months and the 243km Edition Zero gravel race will roll out of Waimate’s historic outdoor velodrome at 6am tomorrow.
‘‘There is nothing else like it in New Zealand . . . it is something special.’’
Chalmers says there are two other shorter distance events – 80km and 137km – on the programme, but the main race is the first long distance gravel race event of its style in New Zealand, ‘‘the first of more than 200kms’’.
Chalmers said they put the course through a test ride in December 2021.
‘‘We rode it and finished it in nine hours at a relaxed pace and thought it would work.
‘‘The response has surprised me. To have 300 in year one is exciting.
‘‘I never thought it would catch this many people, with more than 50 preparing to fly in from Auckland,’’ Chalmers said.
Waimate doctor and cycling devotee, Steve Fish, admits he’s relatively new to gravel riding but is pumped for the event.
‘‘I think it is huge, more than 300 riders, it is pretty massive for Waimate,’’ Fish said. ‘‘I hope it is the start of many others (events).’’
The 53-year-old discovered gravel riding after completing the ‘‘one-day-head Tour De France’’ event in 2018.
‘‘I had basically ridden all the tar-sealed roads, and they all started to seem the same but many, many more roads are gravel, and it has been epic.
‘‘The scenery in the Waimate District is fantastic and great vistas you don’t see on the tar-sealed roads. It’s been an absolute eyeopener.’’