Bikepacking

Jane and Chris bikepack from their home in Queenstown up the West Coast to Nelson, taking in three iconic mountain bike trails - the Paparoa Track, Old Ghost Road and the Heaphy.

Ground Effect graphic designer and creative whizz Liam Crozier reflects and philosophises after a hard 'n' fast masochistic winter sortie into the Canterbury High Country on the Ashburton Lakes Brevet.

"Stay safe", everyone said. "Be careful". Their fear and concern were infectious, by the time we left for Colombia I had to keep myself away from the internet, stop searching for tales of mayhem and terror there. Four weeks later, this picture records the reality we encountered - welcoming, helpful with not a hint of danger.

Ground Effect customer Neil Ennis and his mates recently completed a 700km trip through the bush and beaches of South East Queensland. Neil only realised duing the second half of the trip that ALL of the team had chosen to wear Ground Effect tops. He sent us his journey in pictures, and the link to his trip blog.

If you like a challenge, mountain biking and big, big mountains, Nepal is the right place for you. We decided it was the right place for us, as we bikepacked a loop from Kathmandu, around the famed Annapurna Circuit trekking route, and back to Kathmandu via the Chitwan National Park jungle.

With a clearing southerly forecast on the West Coast, we knocked off work early at Ground Effect last Friday and hung up the “Gone Whitebaiting” sign on the front door. Our destination was Barn Bay - a remote fisherman’s cottage - 50km by gravel road, a river crossing and a half day’s ride south of Haast.

Cycle touring always seemed like an invitation to meander through the countryside on a bike loaded to the gills with stuff slung on racks over front and rear wheels, map in hand, punctuated with leisurely picnic and ice cream stops planned well in advance.

On a foggy winter day last year an email arrived from Simon Kennett suggesting a multiday mountain bike 'brevet' around the top half of the South Island - informal with self enforced rules, no entry fee, unsupported, and at first nervous glance a long hard race against yourself.

'The Only Risk is Wanting to Stay', promises Colombia's latest tourist advertising slogan, printed over glossy photos of idyllic Caribbean coastlines, perfectly preserved colonial towns, rolling, lush coffee plantations and a Latin couple dancing hot cumbia.