All you budding Freddies can get on your bikes and ride in Christchurch’s month-long cycling festival, back this October with more than 40 events.

Get active and join a community with group rides, workshops, social sessions and public talks. Now in its fourth year, this annual cycling extravaganza is for anyone who rides a bike or wants to give it a go. It’s your opportunity to step into the saddle, feel the joy of biking and explore Christchurch on two wheels. Gamify your exploration with the Biketober passport challenge, where you can win prizes by cycling to destinations around the city and checking in with your smartphone. Cityscape has picked out a few choice events, and you can see the full peloton of cycling experiences on the Biketober website.

Festival top picks

The Big Bike Film Night Get along to this cycling-centric movie night, packed with everything a good film fest needs: action, drama, humour and plenty of inspiration. This year’s two-show festival includes an audacious mountain climbing challenge, a tale of the tribulations of three Ironman Taupō first-timers, the beautiful story of a community built through bicycling, and more great shorts than a streetful of cyclists.

October 15, 5.20pm, Christchurch Art Gallery
October 16, 7.30pm, St Margaret’s College

Bikepacking ‘The synthesis of mountain biking and minimalist camping’. Budding mountain bike explorers can join this group ride along the Pegasus Bay coast to the Waikuku Beach campground, returning to Christchurch the following day. You’ll learn tips, work on your tent pitching skills, and come away loaded with summer adventure ideas.

October 17 – 18, 12pm, Action Bicycle Club

Velo à l’est – Te Ara Ōtākaro The Avon River Trail, or Te Ara Ōtākaro, is one of Christchurch’s sightseeing spectacles. If you haven’t taken the opportunity to ride it and explore what was once the red zone – cleared of buildings after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake – then this is your chance. Join a guided ride from the city centre to the eastern suburbs. The tour will touch on history, the earthquakes, the natural environment and the future vision for the area. Learn and hear from community members who have been helping develop the area.

October 24, 9.30am, 396 Oxford Terrace

biketoberchch.nz