Galen,
the photos were taken in North Canterbury, north of Christchurch, the South Island's biggest city.
The Spectacular LOTR scenery is always waiting to leap out from behind a pine tree, but for the sake of the films a lot of it was helped just a little by CGI. After returning from 7 years abroad I'm amazed by how much I'm drawn to the simple, not so spectacular roads on which I cut my cycling teeth.
Heavy 700x32 (Michilen World Tours or Conti TTs) or bigger are ideal on our shingle (gravel) roads. On Suturday I was running the beautiful 700x30 IRC Tandems, which are light and rugged. Unfortunately one road had been freshly graded, producing the worst conditions for cycling: thick, even shingle. Coming down a steep, thickly shingled hill with a Nor'Wester (our Foehn wind, like North America's Chinook) behind me was an excercise in nerve and balance. And guys used to race on woods over these roads! I'm starting to get very interested in Jan Heine's research on 650b and Constructeur handling since my typical rides involve a mix of seal and shingle.
Michael toohey Rangiora, New Zealand
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