That Home Loan Hub

A 160km Charity Ride Around Lake Taupo

Zebunisso Alimova

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 5:32

Grief can hollow you out, then one clear goal brings you back to yourself. That’s what happens in our chat with James, who’s turning personal loss into a very public act of gratitude: raising money for Lake Taupo Hospice by riding the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, a 160km loop that demands real legs and real heart. 

James tells the story behind the mission. His mum became very sick last year and the hospice team supported her, and the whole family, with the kind of care you never forget. He speaks plainly about how hard that work is, what it meant to have hospice staff show up with compassion, and why donating didn’t feel like enough. So he set a fundraising target (starting at $10,000, with talk of pushing it higher) and decided to chase his best ever time around the lake while he’s at it. 

We also get into the practical side of charity cycling and endurance training, especially with long COVID in the picture. James shares the reset he’s making to give himself a shot: less caffeine, early nights, no alcohol, cutting back sugar, and rebuilding fitness week by week. Then comes the moment that gives you goosebumps: the ride falls on 28 November, the same date his mum passed away, turning the event into both a memorial and a fundraiser for hospice care in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

If you care about community support, palliative care, or simply doing something meaningful with your own hard stuff, you’ll want to hear this one. Subscribe so you don’t miss the fundraising link, share the episode with someone who’d back the cause, and leave us a review to help more people find it.

Send a text

Support the show

Buy your first home in NZ Weekly Webinars

You thought it's not possible or the dream is too far away? Come to my webinar and I will show you, you are much closer to your dream, than you think you are!

Join Here - https://bit.ly/4m9SL72

ig Heart Welcome And Guest

SPEAKER_00

If you've got a big heart, this is the episode for you. Listen up. I've got James in the house. Hello, James.

SPEAKER_01

Hello, huh?

hy Lake Taupo Hospice Matters

SPEAKER_00

So, what are we going to talk about?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I've undertaken this project in the last month or so to raise money for Lake Taupo Hospice.

SPEAKER_00

Wow, Lake Taupo Hospice. Give me the background story. Why?

hoosing A More Meaningful Goal

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so last year my mum got very sick and uh she was looked after amazingly by the lake hospice, Lake Taupo hospice people. They're just incredible. And they make such a diffic difficult situation so much easier. I don't know how they do their jobs because they're dealing with people in terminal illnesses, you know, that haven't got much time to live all the time. But they were just, you know, fantastic. I I don't know what how how they do it, but anyway, so my mum passed away on November 28th, and you know, I kind of lost my mojo a little bit for a little while after that, as you do. And and then I came to realise that I needed to do something a bit more you know, I'm doing lots of cool stuff, lots of cool stuff in my life at the moment, but I needed something that a a bit more mean a bit more meaningful.

SPEAKER_00

Impactful.

he 160km Ride And Fundraising Plan

ong COVID And Training Reset

SPEAKER_01

Mmm, that's right. So and I noticed dad had donated, I think it was a thousand dollars to Lake Telpo hospice after mum passed, and they some of them even turned up to mum's funeral. Wow. It was it was incredible. So what I thought I would do is I'm going to do the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, which is a 160k bike ride or bike race, depending on what you look at. And I am going to do and I'm gonna raise money in the process for doing it. So what I'm gonna try and do is do my best ever time around Lake Talpo, and and then I'm gonna go out to all those people amongst my mum and dad's friends or whoever I know and try and raise money for Lake Talpo hospice in in the process. So what what's what what that's doing is it's made me incredibly motivated. Like I've started cycling again for the last three or four weeks, it's got me out there talking to lots of people, especially the people at hospice, and they've been very supportive, obviously. So I'm gonna be setting up a fundraising page and stuff like that. And yeah, I'm just really excited about it. I mean, the challenge I have done it before, the Lake Talpo top uh chart the Lake Talpo Challenge, and I've done it quite a few times, but in about 2022, mid-2022 or end of 2022, I got long COVID. So that's what makes it the challenge.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So I know I can do it, but my goal is to make this money for Lake Taupo hospice, and I'm kind of trying to think of what it would be a good m amount of money. So I'm thinking something like$10,000. I think that would be achievable. And but so it's but it's also ticking off other boxes for me. So in terms of it's making me be really healthy, like I've cut out the espresso the strong espresso coffee, I'm going to bed at nine, I don't drink out, I'm not I'm I've cut out alcohol and all these sorts of things. So life is just sugar. I'm trying to cut out sugar.

SPEAKER_00

So the big lolly jar in office does not help at the moment.

SPEAKER_01

No, you've noticed I haven't had any of them. Okay. I will I will sometimes we'll take them for a bike ride if you get really tired. You pop a lolly.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

Date Coincidence And Going Public

SPEAKER_01

Pop a lolly. I mean, it's not like it's a drug, but so the interesting thing that made me jump onto this is that uh mum passed away on November 28th. And November 28th is the exact same day of the Lake Towpo cycle challenge.

SPEAKER_00

No way.

SPEAKER_01

It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So on the day that she passed away, the anniversary of her passing away this year is the day of the race challenge. Yep. Oh my god, James, I got goosebumps.

SPEAKER_01

I know, it's cool, it's really cool. So, and I'm just starting to get my social media going. As you guys know, I'm I'm a little bit older than everybody else.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm a bit the youngest.

onnections, Bigger Targets, Closing

SPEAKER_01

That's right, it's my hair. So I'm just starting to get that going. You know, I've put pictures, I've I've put a before picture of what I look like in my cycle gear on Facebook. It's not good, you know. Lyker is not good on anybody, but especially if your cycling gear is not quite big enough for you. Um so I can see a whole lot of people rushing to see that. Awkward silence. Um, so yeah, but yeah, this all just you know, it all just came together and it makes sense. And it turns out the person that I'm working with at Lake Talpo Hospice actually was worked at the event for 10 years.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

So I've got these amazing connections to to really do something cool. Okay. Um, so awesome.

SPEAKER_00

I'm excited to see where you get to.$10,000. That's an awesome challenge. Let's see if we can double that. Yeah. You know me, Zibunito never settles.

SPEAKER_01

I should have said$5,000.

SPEAKER_00

I think we I think we should be able to get you to a double or your mama.

SPEAKER_01

All right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That'd be cool.

SPEAKER_00

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01

That would be really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, James. For those that want to know more, please reach out. And once the page is up and running for fundraiser, we'll be sharing it left, right, and center.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for listening in. Bye. Bye.