The Path less Pedaled

Anyone who has been following the site for the last few years knows that I’ve been bit with a serious fly-fishing bug. Ever since that fateful day when we were in Fort Worth, TX (of all places!) where I took a fly casting class and bought some gear, the rod has been a constant companion on [...]

After a lovely week puttering down the Otago Central Rail Trail (more complete write-up soon), we spent a few days in Cromwell to plot our last week in NZ. How has three months come to a close already?! After much deliberation, we decided to ignore all the well-meant pleas that we ‘have to’ go to Queenstown. [...]

We’re about 2/3rds of the way through the Otago Rail Trail taking our time and interviewing people along the way. We’ve heard a lot of hype about it and are now believers. It is amazing country and lovely riding. Aside from the scenery, the thing that touches us the most is watching people riding it. One [...]

Since we’ve been in New Zealand, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of honest chats with US ex-pats. It sounds bizarre that seeking out another outsider would help us understand where we are; but we’ve learned that sitting down with another American, who’s been in NZ for awhile, really helps us make sense of Kiwi [...]

After a restful day in Murchison (and much contemplation about tourism in NZ), we headed off down the road again. We had consulted with a number of bikey people on which route to take to Greymouth, and we opted to follow Hwy 65 out of Murchison, thus avoiding the worst of the Buller Gorge traffic and [...]

On the train from Greymouth to Christchurch. We’ve been in Christchurch for a week now waiting for a part to arrive to fix my Brompton. Just as we were leaving our hostel in Greymouth, the Brompton felt REALLY wobbly. I hopped off and noticed much to my horror that the rear hinge wasn’t looking so great and [...]

In this video we leave Wellington and finally make our way to the South Island. We explore the wonderful town of Nelson, NZ which is one of the most bike-friendly towns we’ve seen in NZ. It doesn’t hurt that it is also New Zealand’s beer capital. Check out more behind the scenes info about the video [...]

We are currently in Christchurch with some down time as we wait for some repair parts. It’s giving me time to work on some videos. I’m starting to edit the next Kiwi Chronicle episode and lamented all this great Frocks on Bikes footage that probably will be cut from it. So instead of just letting it [...]

I’ve done a re-edit of our last video that focuses specifically on the interviews with the NZ Cycle Trail Team. We hope to share it as a resource for other bike advocates trying to make an economic argument for cycling. Although we find it pretty amazing and daring for the New Zealand government to tackle a [...]

Just rolled into Greymouth today. It was a beautiful scenic ride that started out with grey and rain and ended with sun and wind. More on that later. For now, we’re taking advantage of some internet access and uploading a few silly Kiwi Shorts from the last few weeks. Rain Tips for Touring on Bromptons New [...]

Of all the towns we’ve visited in NZ so far, Nelson (and surrounding communities) definitely stood out for us. And not just because we finally got some real summer weather there. Nelson is smack in the middle of the path between the inter-island ferry and the West Coast of the South Island, so it sees a [...]

Check out some behind-the-scenes info on Bicycle Times ! (Keep our adventures going and the site growing! If you’ve enjoyed our stories, videos and photos over the years, consider buying our ebook Panniers and Peanut Butter , or our new 2012 calendar or some of the fun zombie apocalypse shirts we’re designing.) [...]

Our stay in Wellington was intended to be a low-key exploration of the capital city and a chance to talk with some of the folks behind the scenes of the NZ Cycle Trails program. While we did get to sit down with the Cycle Trails people, our stay turned out to be anything but low-key. Our [...]

It’s been three days since the incident and things are finally calming down. We’ve had a flurry of newspaper, TV and radio interviews. We’ve been inundated with emails and comments from apologetic Kiwis. We met the mayor of Wellington, Celia Wade-Brown, for afternoon tea. Walking down the street the other day, people stopped us to tell [...]

There are two words that I would use to describe the past two days… Surreal and Grateful. No doubt, most readers have heard about our recent road rage incident in Wellington, NZ, in which Russ was tackled to the ground by an angry driver and punched. It was shocking and bizarre and we are still trying to [...]

Kiwi Chronicles: Episode 3 – On the Road Again – PathLessPedaled.com from Russ Roca on Vimeo. Latest episode is out. Check out the behind the scenes info on the episode on Bicycle Times ! (Keep our adventures going and the site growing! If you’ve enjoyed our stories, videos and photos over the years, consider buying our ebook Panniers and Peanut Butter , or our [...]

We met Damian Day in Rotorua. He’s a blog reader who has been following our site for about a year. Through Facebook we were able to meet up in town. His story is inspiring and humbling. Despite having several nerve disorders in addition to being autistic, he rides his bicycle 8-10,000 kilometers a year. He has [...]

Over the past few weeks, one of the things we heard again and again was that we should make time to ride the Forgotten World Highway Cycle Route . Spanning 180km between Taumarunui and New Plymouth, this route cuts through some of the most remote parts of New Zealand and glimpses back into Kiwi life a century or [...]

Another short video sequence that will probably end up in episode 4. We were holed up in Turangi, the trout capital of New Zealand and it was raining for days. I came to the grips with the fact that if I was going to get a fish on I’d be doing it sopping wet. With some [...]

After being completely drenched by rain the day before, we were happy to wake up to dry conditions in Whitianga, even though it was still awfully grey. We spent some time exploring town before pushing off, including visiting the surprisingly great little bike shop that we were completely not expecting. From Whitianga (that ‘wh’ is pronounced [...]