The Angel Tandem Ride

The Campaign

The Ride

We were delighted to have the amazing Rear Admiral Ruth with her GOTF (Grunt on the Front) Cliff, riding Aotearoa’s only Angel Tandem on a 7,300 km circuit of Aotearoa. The ride was to raise awareness and donations for our vulnerable tamariki. In their 70s, Cliff and Ruth are incredible examples of what ageing with attitude can do, and busting their butts highlighting the plight of youth from the other end of the age spectrum is simply awesome.

Unfortunately, in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland), we have some of the highest rates of disconnection, illness, suicide and poverty in our country. When children are disconnected through diversity or inequities, learning and socialising become massive challenges. Add poverty, trauma and the environmental challenges of living in cars or in a cramped, damp shed without running water or electricity, and ‘normal’ looks very different.

At Bald Angels we believe ALL children deserve to thrive, and it needs to be a community effort to make that happen. Partnering with over 20 agencies at the coalface, including police, Plunket, iwi organisations, Women’s Refuge, and health and education providers, we are well placed to reach the most in-need and deserving whānau. We facilitate over 6000 positive connections to vulnerable children each year.

They had one other team member, Bob (Bear On Bike). Bob, an Angel Bear, was seconded by Angel Mama to be their chaperone on the ride. Angel Bears normally ride with first responders to be available to bring comfort to traumatised kids, but Bob was saddled with riding with a couple of pensioners who, on occasions and in his own words, “traumatised him”. He kept followers posted on the goings-on within Team Tandem on his blog.

We undertook this at age 72. A ride for charity that involved a circuit around Aotearoa / New Zealand on an e-tandem.

We had never ridden a tandem before. It was not all plain sailing, but in between the challenges we had a lot of fun and met many of our fellow Kiwis. In the process, we raised some funds and awareness for vulnerable children in the North.

With an average daily pedal of around 65km, we got back to our start point on 18 March 2025 having departed on 16 October 2024. (we did have a few weeks off over Christmas)

It was an ambitious journey, with the toughest leg being the ride south during which we were blown off the tandem and, over the last 10 days, suffered from what we thought was a cold but turned out to be Covid. The hilly and mountainous terrain of our route challenged us, as did the variable weather, particularly pre-Christmas. However, we rode through parts of NZ / Aotearoa that most people will never see and experience, met amazing people and, along the way, raised $10,433 for the Bald Angels that we had chosen to raise funds and awareness for. We also hope that our efforts may inspire others to break free from the typical feedback of “you’re too old for that”. Getting active when you are still able benefits us and the health system.

While our runway is rapidly disappearing, we hope that we’ve helped to make a difference to some of those just starting out in life!

The Ride Stats

$10,433 raised for Bald Angels
Total KM – 7,269
Metres climbed: 73,500
Hours of pedalling – 428
Average daily ride – 65 km
Longest ride: 103 km

Camping in the high country – none of the usual home comforts. We especially missed not having a shower after riding 81 very dusty kilometres!

Cliff, Ruth & Bob

The last few (100) km - plus ride channel

The Angel Tandem Ride – YouTube Channel

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