They say age is just a number, and that’s certainly the case for Queenstown’s Katrina Gardiner, who is 77 next month, and Arrowtown’s Pamela Rogers, who is 71.
The friends recently mountain biked, self-supported, almost the entire 1500km Sounds to Sounds bikepacking route from the Marlborough Sounds to Milford Sound.
They only pulled pin at Te Anau due to poor weather on the last stretch, which they will undertake in November.
A great-grandmother and grandmother, respectively, Pamela and Katrina ride with the Queenstown Pedallers, whom the late Peter Atkinson formed in 2002.
Pamela’s been with them 20-plus years, and Katrina about 10 years.
Katrina: "[Atkinson] was amazing, and he would teach us so many biking skills".
"You get into a group like that and you hear the stuff they’re doing and you think, ‘oh, that sounds amazing’."
So inspired, the pair rode the length of the North Island from Cape Reinga to Wellington early last year.
"We just wanted some adventure, didn’t we?" Pamela says.
They were supported by Katrina’s husband, Murray Gardiner, carrying their gear and organising accommodation.
"That was sort of the training run, really," Katrina says.
For Sounds to Sounds they carried tents and cooking gear themselves.
In the lead-up they pedalled 30km to 40km a week — "we called it conditioning".
Armed with Kennett Brothers’ official guide, they took off from Queen Charlotte Sound on March 18.
The first week was hard yakka, Pamela admits, "and once we got past that it just kind of fell into place".
Katrina: "You roll out of bed, put your gear on and you get on to your bike.
"I felt as if I was in my wee cockpit — I had my gears here, my brakes there, and I would just pedal.
"And you look at the scenery and see all sorts of things you don’t see when you’re driving."
Three nights they pitched a tent, two nights they stayed at Department of Conservation huts and otherwise they used motels and campgrounds.
They had 26 days in the saddle and three rest days including a massage and hot pools dip in Hanmer.
"She looked after me and I looked after her, and we had our routine and stuck with it.
"I couldn’t have found a better person to go away with."
Pamela adds Katrina’s weather knowledge, from her sailing experience, was invaluable.
Their hardest stretch was a four-hour climb up Duffers Saddle between Bannockburn and the Nevis.
They finished at Te Anau as snow was forecast for the Eglinton campground, where they planned staying, and the Homer Tunnel.
Katrina: "When you’ve been around outside sports or anything like that that depends on the weather — because we’ve done a lot of sailing and I’ve got sons who do mountaineering and stuff — as soon as the weather says, ‘no, you can’t’, you don’t.
"It was disappointing but it was a no-brainer."
The pair hope they’ll inspire others but don’t feel what they did was anything special despite their ages.
"You look at people like Jef Desbecker and Robina Bodle, nobody ever considers they can’t do something if you’re standing," Katrina says.
"Popular media would have you believe once you get to a certain age you can’t do anything — now, that’s bollocks."
The women say their families have also been very supportive.
Katrina, who still goes ski touring, says her grandkids think nothing of saying, "Nan, do you want to come and do [Coronet mountainbike trail] Hot Rod?"
"It’s like, ‘yep, I’ll come and do Hot Rod with you’."
When you suggest e-bikes would be easier, Pamela snaps: "Wash your mouth, mate!"
Katrina adds: "One day I possibly will need one if I want to, but on this particular ride there are a number of people who have tried to do it with e-bikes and they’ve drowned them when they have to go through a ford.
"And pushing them uphill, they’re heavy things."
Pamela says they’re both from strong stock — she’s from Southland and Katrina’s from South Canterbury.
Katrina says "I look back at some of my ancestors and my grandmother, living in Waimate, would think nothing of, when she had five children, getting in a horse and cart to go to Christchurch because they didn’t have the money to go on the train".
"That’s what they did — you look back on that sort of tenacity."
Pamela’s and Katrina’s tenacity will surely be saluted by generations of their families to come, too.
