As there were seven stages and a criterium race on the 8th day, there were a lot of fantastic memories. Not possessing the cunning wit of Danny Boy or the deluded ramblings of le Bullet, I felt I wouldn’t do the memories justice by compiling a ride report.
However our magnificent driver/soigneur/mechanic Martin (Matt’s dad – one of the riders) got a lot of the footage on camera. I’ve included a link to some of our memories of the tour below.
The next edition is in 2015 due to the fact that this year was only its second year and funds are currently lacking to maintain a yearly race. I would love to see a few ER teams (of 4 to 5 riders) head across the ditch in 2015 and take on the kiwis at snatching away their own title. It’s an amateur race but one that is run at quite a quick pace (see some of my Strava rides). It takes in sometime breath-taking kiwi scenery (I’ll give it to them – they do have some incredible scenery… and a better rugby team for that matter) and two groups run simultaneously (one beginning at the northmost point of the north island and the other – which we did – beginning in the southern most point of the south island – meeting in Wellington for a criterium on the 8th day).
I haven’t really gone into the key facts of the tour in this email (distance, experiences outside of the stages each day, etc) so if you are interested/want to hear more please feel free to send me an email, call me or shoot me a text (0439418447).
It was hands down the greatest cycling experience of my life (and yes unfortunately it tops 2013 3Peaks due to the incredible amount of fun I had being involved in an 8-day stage race). I’m definitely returning in 2015 (as apart of the United States Poostal Service) and would love to enjoy the experience with as many ER’s as possible. I honestly believe.
I will mention one quick story if you are still with me this far through the email:
Before we got to New Zealand we were being hailed as a very strong team that will most likely challenge the GC standings. I’m not sure where they got this from as two of our riders had not ridden for more than 4 months and our “racebook page” on the Tour of NZ website stated that we were just “four big powercats trying to cause some trouble” and “we’ve got the skillz to pay the billz” (spelling included). Due to the fact that we thought we might get disqualified for having a team name – the United States Poostal Service – we initially raced under the alias – Australian Postal Service. So when we got to the tour it was hilarious that they had mistakenly assumed we were apart of the actual Australia Post and that we were chosen from 1000’s of employees to make up an incredible race team that would bring a somewhat Sky-esque dominance to the 7 stages and crit of the Tour of New Zealand. After two of our riders placed second last and last out of 120 in the peloton on the first stage, they had to reassess their understanding of us (Matt and I actually placed quite well over the race – Matt even nearly taking out a stage win but coming off the bike on the second last corner). After an interview with all of the Poostal boys at the end of stage wrap up at the local pub, the peloton finally understood that we were actually just a rag-tag bunch of misfits looking to have an awesome time while taking the proverbial out of Lance.
Anyway apologies for the essay but I hope I’ve at least caused one or two sparks to ignite that will result in an ER force crossing the ditch in 2015 to take the overall win in the 2015 Tour of New Zealand.
Simba