At 18:18, 22 February 2021, Wellington based James Hogan completed the first day of the Tour Aotearoa. Starting at 08:00, James cycled 103.8 km over Ninety Mile beach, a terrain which he describes as like "fictional desert planet Tatooine", on a specialised Rockhopper bike, to finish at a camp ground in Ahipara where "some lovely people" made him a cup of tea. This was the first day.  

Tour Aotearoa is a bike packing trip that stretches 3,000 km from Cape Reinga to Bluff. It is open to anyone but requires participants to finish in 30 days. This means that James, along with hundreds of other cyclists, must cycle 100 kms a day for the next month in order to finish. The journey will be rewarding but testing. At multiple points throughout the ride, the question many cyclists will ask is "why am I doing this?"  

James's answer to the question "why am I doing this" is pure and simple. He is doing it because so many others cannot. He is doing it for his two brothers, his mum and dad who have passed and for his colleagues and friends, whose worn-down bodies can no longer take on such challenges. For this reason, James chose Camp Quality New Zealand, whose mission aligns with his, as his nominated charity.

You can support James on his journey and help him raise funds for Camp Quality by donating via his Givealittle page: https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/james-rides-the-tour-aotearoa-for-camp-quality-nz

You can track James's progress down the country at: https://touraotearoa2021.maprogress.com/  

And you can follow James' personal blog here to read updates on his journey.