Meet Team Hikurangi

Meet the Team

We asked all of our teammates to answer the 5 penetrating questions below, click on their names to find out a bit more about what makes our intrepid riders tick!

1. Job (and/or organisation you’re riding on behalf of if applicable):
2. Riding a bike since
3. Favourite quote/saying
4. Favourite ice cream flavour
5. Favourite thing about riding OR favourite riding moment
6. Why are you participating in the Tour of NZ?
7. How do you think we could improve cycling and transport in NZ OR what is your vision for cycling and transport in NZ

Ashlee Gross

Brian Nelson

1. Business Manager, Fairground Foundation (out of Ecostore)
2. High school
3. Lifelong guidance from my Father: “Don’t let your alligator mouth overload your parakeet arse.”
4. Vanilla - I’m a simple man.
5. Moments: I’m a wannabe photographer, so being out in the middle of nowhere and seeing the perfect shot to take… a shot that I would never have seen were I not on my bicycle out in the middle of nowhere.
6. There’s so much more of NZ that I’d like to ride, but taking my life into someone else’s hands is not my idea of a good time.  If I can help in some small way to bring more awareness to cycling and raise money to help Hikurangi’s  cycling initiatives while getting to see some beautiful parts of NZ, I’m in!
7. Make it less dangerous for me to see it all by bike.  I’d love to eventually be able to ride the length of both islands without the constant worry of safety on my mind.

Patrick Morgan

1. Project manager at Cycling Advocates’ Network, CAN
2. age 7, when I wore a rut in my granny’s lawn by circling her house 50 times
3. hokey pokey
4. Feeling the wind in my hair
5. To have fun, make connections and raise money for awesome cycling projects
6. Our vision: An affordable, balanced, and sustainable transport system that meets the needs of all New Zealanders.

Hamish Howard

1. IT Manager, riding to help Rod.
2. 
1978, not continuously
3. 
Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’. ” - Yoda (‘The Empire Strikes Back’)
4. 
French Vanilla Chocolate dipped!
5. 
Fresh air, head space and collective suffering.
6. 
It’s good to have a goal
7. 
Cyclists and drivers need better manners on the road

Sophie Jerram

1. Curator and artist, communications specialist for Hikurangi.
2. I crashed my first purple two wheeler in 1975 in Wanaka
3. “What is worth doing and what is worth having? It is worth doing nothing and having a rest”. ~ Michael Leunig
4. Pistachio gelato
5. The wind in my hair and the sun on my back.
6. 
I love the idea of getting around the South Island on a bike. It’s dramatic country and whizzing by in a car is far too ordinary to feel its grandeur. I’m hugely passionate about Hikurangi’s vision too.
7. I would like to have a no-car zone in the centres of all our major cities. Bikes are the totally best option - they breed gratitude for weather, good manners and fitness.

Rod Oram

1. Journalist and a trustee of The Hikurangi Foundation.
2. About 2 years old I discovered riding a tricycle was far more fun than walking. Nothing’s changed in the 60 years since…except my bikes cost more even though they have 33% fewer wheels. When I get really old, I’m looking forward to getting back to trikes…but clever electric ones!
3. “The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart” ~ Iris Murdoch (…I’m sure she meant women, too.)
4. Cookies and Cream…essential recovery food after every stage of the Tour of NZ.
5. I have so many favourite riding moments…so that’s the best thing about cycling: ever more amazing moments.
6. The people, the riding, the scenery…and putting the money we raise to good use in cycling projects around the country
7. HG Wells said it best: “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race”

Freda Wells

1. Programme Manager at Hikurangi
2. Age 4 or 5.  I couldn’t wait to try my big brothers cool new red two-wheeler. Dad held the back and ran along providing necessary jet propulsion and stability, as I pedalled. I glanced back quickly to share a squeal of joy and was horrified to see he was standing about 30 metres behind me grinning proudly! I promptly crashed to the ground but the seeds of thrill-seeking had been planted…
3. I’m an obsessive quote collector so it’s hard to pick one…:
   “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive” ~ Albert Einstein
   “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” ~ Albert again
   “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light” ~ Plato
   “The part can never be well unless the whole is well” ~ Plato
4. Mint choc chip at the moment
5. I think Rod summed it up perfectly.  You can get pretty zen on a bike ride (unless you’re tackling the CBD). Recently I cycled up over a rise past Seatoun to a clifftop, to see an arctic tern divebomb gracefully (if that’s possible) from great height into the ocean, and the fresh sea air topped off the moment. Cycling in the perfect speed to enjoy the scenery. It’s also really social, you can chat with other cyclists, or stop and talk to a friend unlike in a car which requires finding a park, paying for a park…
6. For the most part people use what is available to them. So if more roads are built, more cars will fill them. If more cycleways are built, we’ll gradually see more cyclists, so I’d like to see more cycleways, and more pedestrian-only areas.
7. To justify more mint choc chip icecream. And also… if as a result of our chats about smarter transport issues with people along the way, a few people rethink taking the car, empathise more when they next get held up driving behind a cyclist on a narrow road, rehash our chat over the watercooler at work the next day, or buy a bike, it will have been worth it.