A Bikepacking Evolution
When the bike-tour company shuttle driver arrives at our motel in Omarama, he is visibly distressed to find our gear piled on the driveway. His usual Alps to Ocean (A2O) clients have a wheeled suitcase and a daypack, ride rented e-bikes between lodges, and carry only the day’s provisions. We have two bikes, two child seats, a bike trailer, camping gear for four, three food bags, two daypacks, and two small children. He is sceptical of our plan and our ability to pull it off. When we disembark at the Tekapo B Power Station, our chosen starting point, we surprise him by assembling our bike trailer and packing it with all our gear in less than five minutes. He reckons maybe we’ll be OK, after all.
In fact, we surprise ourselves. My husband Hugh and I are mountaineers, hikers, climbers, paddlers, road cyclists and mountain bikers, but not cycle tourers, and certainly not bikepackers. Six weeks prior to today, before I could even walk properly following a hip reconstruction, Hugh asked me to ride the 300km A2O Trail with him. It was a ridiculous request, and I burst into tears of frustration and despair. Biking from Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak and the heart of the Southern Alps, all the way to the Pacific Ocean, felt impossible.
At my core, though, I am a person who aspires to say yes—to adventure, suffering, hope, all of it. So, after a few days, I tentatively said,
