Cycling on the Summit Road Hi, I'm Jeff Northcott. I live in Christchurch with my wife Nina and 2 children. We have lived in Christchurch since 1993. I was born and raised in the Waitomo district in the North Island.

Watching the weather is one of my hobbies. I had a rain gauge at my parents home when I was about 11 and used to log the daily rainfall on a yearly chart.

I also had a small thermometer outside to measure the temperature but I had not screened it very well so readings were way off.

My weather station project also involves computers, another interest of mine. I still do some electronic construction mostly for the weather station and home automation.


I work for Tait Electronics as a technical support engineer.

I cycle to work most days. My commute is 10.5km each way and usually takes 25 minutes. Christchurch is a flat city but head winds can be daunting some days. Tail winds on the other hand are great and can whisk me along at more than 40km/h at times

On the days that it's very wet or blowing a gale, I take the car or bus.

I have enjoyed cycle touring but and have done any cycle tours for over 15 years.

I have done tours

* on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand
* a 3 month cycle tour of England, Scotland and Wales
* a 2 week tour of the Irish Republic
* a 5 month tour of part of Western Europe.

The tour of the West Coast the South Island was done on a 10 speed, it was hard work at times without lower gears. I purchased a Dawes Super Galaxy when I toured in the UK in 1987. I crashed this bike in May 2009 and now have a Giant hybrid as my only bike to commute and cycle in the hills which suits it very well.

My main cycling activity these days are day rides. There is quite a wide range of rides in and around Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.