Have bike will travel . . . and travel
Jackson Payne
Meet Alan Stevenson's mate Harry.
They've known each other 51 years and travelled 151,577 kilometres together.
In that time they have never had a fight and have been there for each other 100 percent.
That's because Harry is no ordinary friend. He is a bicycle.
"He's been an old friend for many years," said Mr Stevenson, who emigrated from England to Gisborne in 1975 with Harry in tow.
Before then, they went through some tough times together.
Like the time they travelled the Denbigh Moors in Northern Wales.
A thunderstorm broke out as he was going over the pass.
"I also went over the Isle of Arran (Scotland) with my mate and we foolishly, as it turned out, decided to go over the pass - it's about
3000 feet high.
"We left at 5pm but by about 9pm it was dark so we had to hunker down under some rocks.
"We woke up and still couldn't see a thing because of mist and fog."
Harry has been pretty good to Mr Stevenson
- he can't remember many accidents.
"My front wheel got stuck in some tram lines near Liverpool," he said.
"Here I got knocked off by a jogger who ran into me. It was pitch dark, he didn't see me and I didn't see him."
Mr Stevenson bought the bicycle in Liverpool from lightweight bicycle builder Harry Quinn.
They have been on many treks together
since.
He logs each journey, no matter how small, in a notebook.
Harry's speedometer reads 94,186 miles - 151,577 km.
"I try to ride every day if I can but I don't always manage it. If it's too windy or too wet, I won’t go.
"It's a bit of a problem with all these trucks and things that keep taking up more and more space, so it's not as pleasurable as it used to be."
He keeps Harry for "nostalgia", he says. But it seems it's more than that. He won't take Harry anywhere he has to lock him up, just in case he gets stolen.
"Though many people might not bother now because he's so old."
He hoped Harry would last many more years.
"He might outlast you if the right person gets it after me."