OnWORD: Learning to Ride a Long Way (Video) - BIKEPACKING.com
"OnWORD" is an inspiring documentary that follows a group of 10 young people on a momentous bikepacking journey across New Zealand... Issue 09 takes readers on trips through time—one to the early days of bicycles—and offers several reminders to be grateful for supportive friends and family, and strangers we meet along the way... ... From our sponsor; more content below... From our sponsor; more content below... From our sponsor; more content below... From our sponsor; more content below... From our sponsor; more content below... ... “OnWORD” is an inspiring documentary that follows a group of 10 young people on a momentous 987-kilometer bikepacking journey from Wellington to Wānaka, New Zealand. Read on to find the 20-minute video, a collection of 35mm film photos from the riders, and an introduction to WORD, the organization behind the journey, from founder Ashley Peters…I grabbed every opportunity to get better, went to all the mountain bike skills courses I could find, started a weekly riding group that evolved into the (still going!) women’s cycling club (yay, Revolve!), did a postgraduate in education to learn how schooling worked in New Zealand, started an MTB tourism company (RIP Bike Wellington, I was way ahead of my time), guided cycling tours in remote destinations (gosh, I still miss those donuts in Kyrgyzstan), ran an MTB skills course company with a bestie, and then the stars aligned to start WORD.Most of the time, the young crew was filled with “I can’t believe we’re actually getting to doing this!” moments. The late-night tent chats, the smell of dehydrated meals cooking, the excitement of the next cafe, the emergency toilet stops, the snack competitions. They all stuck together in a way that was completly unplanned yet entirely expected.All of this introduction sets the stage for OnWORD, a video following 10 young people on a bikepacking journey across New Zealand from Wellington to Wānaka. The riders all came from the original cohort and had been in the program for a decade when I sprung the idea on them via a group video call.