Bicycles have brought me the great fortune of meeting some truly inspiring characters over the years, and led my front wheel down, up and around some remarkable garden paths. This little trip came about through hearing from an English friend sending out an open invite to meet at Rotorua, and subsequently finding just the right moment to get there.

Lewis and I met through riding Bmx bikes whilst he was in town a few years ago, and it was a great pleasure to catch up with him again, trying to keep up with him at the trails. He’d already been in town for a week or so, and had the trails, smoothie spots and local brewery sussed, and was well and truly in leisure mode – a splendid way to be.

As great as the local trails are (very great indeed, and very popular too), I couldn’t not go for a bike camping adventure out to the pristine volcanic lakes and dreamlike walking-come-riding trails surrounding them. Excitement was had sharing one night with a family of scallywag wild pigs allowing merely blinks of sleep. Being open to “the flow” found me a boat ride back to my hidden gear after a delightfully long walk beside Lake Tarawera.

Moments of awe and blissful joy at nature’s cosmos were all the more appreciated after working the lungs and legs on empty trails whilst piloting the almost perfect (itching for a Rohloff) bike for the job. And a description in the book I carried along seemed perfectly fitting to my experience – describing the yogis of old seeking external space in the Himalaya to mirror the journey for space within, for such can be bicycle riding to those who wish it.