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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Cycling
Cycling.
Though the greater part of Otago is very hilly, cycling is a favourite sport with athletes, as it is throughout the colony. The Dunedin Cycling Club is a successful and enterprising body, which has done much to promote this form of athletics, A large number of riders are in the habit of touring the more picturesque districts; and these excursions have been extended to the West Coast Sounds and the Sutherland Falls. Rides through North Otago to Oamaru have often extended over the border, and many cyclists have covered the whole distance between Christchurch and Dunedin on their machines. During the cycle season (September to may) road races are a favourite competition, the contests being arranged along the roads to Waihola, Henley, and other outlying towns. Generally speaking, the character of Otago roads is much better than might be expected from the broken nature of the country; and this fact has naturally encouraged a good deal of riding in and about the country settlements. Not much of the city itself is particularly well adapted to this kind of locomotion; but a large number of riders, including ladies, are to be seen about the streets in fine weather. Though Otago cannot compare with Canterbury in the facilities it offers for cycling, yet the southern province has produced many famous cyclists who, more particularly in road riding, have held their own with the best of New Zealand's “heroes of the wheel.”