Mike Avery’s terrific trike trip

By Melanie Moss | 20th May 2010

Mike Avery was thrilled to arrive home Thursday last week, greeted in his hometown of Hawera by his family and friends after pedalling from Bluff to Cape Reinga on his recumbent trike in 31 days.
“I missed my family and my own bed, its great to be home!” says Mike.
Mike took on this unique trip to raise money for the Big Brother Big Sister of NZ, a community-based mentoring programme for pre-teens.
Mike, who is the planning and regulatory manager at Stratford District Council said the trip was amazing - “way better than I expected.”
Mike spent half of his trip camping, 16 nights in a tent, not getting a great deal of sleep after spending most of his day pedalling though cities and towns and up and down hills.
“My 20 year-old tent has done its job, and is now ready to retire,” says Mike.
When not sleeping in his faithful tent Mike stayed with friends, family or people he met during his trip.
Mike says, “The people were extremely positive and always enthusiastic to talk, as well as taking pictures and videos of me along the way.”
Mike took no maps on his trip and figured if he got stuck he could just ask someone, luckily he didn’t get lost, and only had to back track about 100 metres after once missing a turning.
“I met some incredible people and the West Coast was wonderful, truly the heart of the country,” says Mike.
“The best travelling was around Milford, with the delightful scenery.

There were huge hills, it was hugely satisfying to reach the top of some of them.”
Mike had no trouble with his bike throughout the trip, having to stop only once to fix his seat and oil the chain.
Mike was also lucky on the traffic and weather side too, having had only one day of rain. “The weather was perfect and the traffic was great.”
Mike sustained no injures throughout his trip and was always raring to go.
“You just don’t get tired of cycling. With all the beautiful scenery and remarkable sounds of nature, tiredness and loneliness just don’t come into it,” says Mike,
who preferred to listen to the wind whistle through his hair and the birdsong rather than tunes on his ipod.
Mike having travelled about 3150 kilometres, has lost an estimated four kilograms but raised around $600 for the Big Brother Big Sister programme.
Mike rather modestly said it’s not much, but the trip also helped to give the programme publicity.
Mike reached downhill speeds up to 85 kmh (the trikes top speed) and got home with time to spare for his daughter’s 21st birthday on Sunday. He joked that her birthday was more tiring than the trip itself.
Mike says he would definitely do it again, but maybe somewhere out of New Zealand next time.
“The trip was undeniably worthwhile,” says Mike, glad to contribute his bit to the community.
The Big Brother Big Sister programme is all about getting involved in your community by helping out the pre-teens who just need a friend. All it takes is an hour or two a week so become a big brother or big sister today.