The Story of On Yer Bike Winery Tours

How it started (and why I kept it)

I moved to Hawke's Bay in November 2011 to help run Ash Ridge Winery's cellar door. My brother Chris started Ash Ridge Wines in 2005 and had been making wine since 2007. I would fill up the car boot and run around Auckland selling it. We realised we needed a cellar door of our own and built a place where people could come to us — and they did.

What I noticed almost immediately was the cyclists. People would pedal up, taste a few wines, load their bottles into their packs and ride off into the afternoon looking extremely pleased with themselves. There was something about it — the unhurried pace, the open air, the fact that nobody was herding them anywhere — that made it look like the best possible way to spend a day in the Bay.

Mike and Julie Russell, the founders of On Yer Bike Winery Tours who'd been running the bike hire business from their farm since the early 2000s, offered it to us in 2012 — it took about five minutes to say yes.

I'd spent years working in advertising, design and experiential marketing — the idea of putting an activity right next to a brand so people discover it by doing something they love. Bikes and wineries felt like the same idea on two wheels. I also knew how to fix a flat tyre, which turned out to be useful.

In 2021 we sold Ash Ridge. I kept the bikes.

More recently, as the wine tourism market has shifted, we've added other ideas to giving people a great day out on bikes — there's now a Treasure Hunt and a Murder Mystery ride for groups who want something with a bit more theatre. But the core idea hasn't changed.

That probably tells you everything you need to know. The winery was a business. On Yer Bike is something I genuinely believe in — a proper day out in one of New Zealand's best wine regions, with nothing to organise and nowhere to be except on the trail.

Phil Wilcock

Owner, On Yer Bike Winery Tours