James Bush: Final day of FireFlies Antipodes

The FireFlies Antipodes charity ride from Christchurch to Queenstown has finished. The ride covered approximately 1,000km over six gruelling days. 12 riders from the marketing, creative and production industries have dedicated themselves to raising much-needed funds and awareness towards the Snowdome Foundation’s mission, ‘making hope real for Australians fighting blood cancers’. Here James Bush (pictured above), design lead at Fjord talks about the sixth and final day of the tour…

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.” ― Ernest Hemingway

As I sit here in my hotel room reflecting on the past six days with the Fireflies family and the completion of my second tour. Trying to think of something to write. Staring out across Lake Wakatipu. Sad that the tour is over and frustrated that I’m no longer lost in the moment of being on the road. I keep coming back to a question I’m often asked, “Why do you choose to ride such a long way on a bicycle with a bunch of strangers for charity?”

Well, by joining a Fireflies tour you become part of a family. A very close knit albeit dysfunctional family, one that chooses to share everything whilst out on the road, be it laughter, tears, jokes, stories, personal memories or reasons for riding. We share it all, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Whether you’re an experienced cyclist or a rookie, riding long distances, up big hills, for six days straight evokes something different in everyone, fear, anxiety, excitement. It is these feelings that can only be captured in the moment. They are hard to describe but your fellow riders understand just by the look on your face.

We are all riding for different reasons and I think that is what makes it so special. For me, experiencing someplace new by bike is only the beginning. It is the friendships you make and the memories you create. The fact bicycles are involved is just an added bonus.

Also, hearing “You spilt ketchup on my Nigel Cabourn’s” will never get old. But I guess you had to be there.

To pledge a Firefly please click here.

Riders:

Matt Oxley, Managing Director – TRACK

Simon Kane, Partner / Sound Designer – Song Zu

Bill Doig, Freelance Producer

Malachi Moxon – Northside Locals

Carmen Barry – Northside Locals

Sam Hall, Executive Producer – Blockhead

Graeme Pereira, Editor – ARC EDIT

Wilf Sweetland, Global CEO – Sweetshop

David Llewellyn,  Founder & Director – Bellweather Agency

Simon Bloomfield, Creative Director – Apparent

Leon Wilson Partner, / ECD – Robyn & Leon

James Bush, Creative Technology Lead – Fjord

This year’s ride is made possible by the generous financial sponsorship of Blockhead, Campaign Brief, Finch Company, Goodoil, Northside Locals, Panavision, Rumble, Skin Grows Back, Snowdome Foundation, SongZu, The Editors, TwentyOne Coffee and founding sponsors Sweetshop and RSA Films.