For a person who doesn't really do any sport, I have spent a lot of time on a bike lately.
This last weekend saw me up in the Wairarapa for a girlfriend's 50th.
Apart from drinking and eating and doing karaoke and the other general nonsense that happens when 13 gabby matrons get together, we went biking round the vineyards at Martinborough.
The Wakatipu connections are so strong and widespread, it is hard to go anywhere without feeling their pull. As I wobbled down the main drag of Martinborough, I heard my name being yelled.
Steph Short, a born and bred Queenstowner was as surprised to see me there as I was to see her.
And while I spoke to her, Rod Inglis, one of the lycra likely lads who has been cycling with a big bunch of other Queenstown holiday home owners, turned up. So did his wife Julie. Whatever happened to that feeling of being an anonymous traveller?
This biking thing is getting bigger and bigger. In case you didn't realise, the Queenstown Bike Festival starts today.
There's a biking event for everyone - from kids' bike races through to the Dirtmasters and beyond. Look at the Queenstown Bike Festival website and see what I mean.
It started with just the Tour de Wakatipu a few years ago, and now Pascalle and Geoff Hunt have all sorts of festivities tagging along.
The League of Gentlemen sounds intriguing!If you haven't already entered the Tour de Wakatipu, you are missing a great day. It starts at Millbrook on April 7 and finishes at Chard Farm, but you are barely on the main roads. It's on public cycleways then on private land from Boyd Rd along the river to Chard Farm.
Much merriment and marvellous wine to finish the day.
And there is the Autumn Festival coming up.
My darling is a golfer and quite annoying to live with sometimes so I got sort of excited as I entered the Autumn "Break One" and "Fat Tyre" Alternative Triathlon.
The way I understood it was that you cycle along with your loaded gun and shoot at golfers.
Excellent sport, I thought, but it turns out you bike along unarmed, then do claybird shooting and golf.
Not really the same thing at all, but still jolly good fun. It is $20 to enter and the money goes towards a bike stand for Arrowtown.
Not only am I doing bike things, but I have even started reading them.
I hope I don't get hooked.
This week, thanks to Marnie Read, I read It's All About the Bike by Robert Penn.
It's not It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong! It's much better and covers the history of bicycles and the changes they made to society (startling and huge).
It even taught me that Leonardo da Vinci did NOT design a bike in 1493, or at any other time.
Robert Penn writes five chapters, each focusing on a specific part of the bike, as he sets about getting a bespoke bicycle built.
Somehow he weaves in stories about trips he has done and craftsman who hate the idea of built-in obsolescence. The speeds and distances and times that bikers a century ago were achieving are mind-boggling.
It is a quick and easy read, but fascinating even if you are not the least bit interested in cycling.
I am the least bit interested and loved it.
And I do love golfers (not so much the golf) so I'm looking forward to spotting the celebrity ones out at The Hills in this weekend's Pro-Am.
I hope to see you there!
