Taupo Mayor says community bike ride a 'real blast'
Thursday 28 February 2008, 1:43PM
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More than 255 people marked national BikeWise week in Taupo by joining Mayor Rick Cooper on a three kilometre cycle around the Taupo boat harbour on Wednesday (27 February).
Mayor Rick says he was thrilled with the numbers particularly given that Auckland City’s Mayoral challenge on the same morning (27 February) attracted around 400 cyclists.
As part of BikeWise week which kicked off on Monday (25 February) regions from around the country are competing to see who can get the most people participating in a three kilometre cycle ride led by their respective Mayor. The Taupo ride attracted 255 official registrations with up to 10 cyclists who didn’t register joining in the fun.
Mayor Rick says the ride was “a real blast”.
“It was great to see that the iconic Taupo District with a population of around 30,000 could manage to get 1% of its population turning out on a week day morning.”
The Mayor was joined for the early morning cycle around the Taupo boat harbour circuit twice, by bikers of all ages and stages along with Council’s Chief Executive Officer, a handful of Councillors and Council staff.
He says the outing was very enjoyable, despite admitting to being unable to hold off an early challenge to his lead, and ending the ride “feeling a little sore around the back of the legs!”
“I led them off but was probably less than 10 metres out from the start line when I was passed by around 30 kids!”
Mayor Rick says biking is already a big thing in Taupo and is encouraging people to continue getting out on bikes to take advantage of the good weather and the environment.