An unexpected speed bump came close to unseating EIT Diploma in Recreation and Sport graduate Jenny Ryan just a few years after launching her cycling tour company Tākaro Trails in Hawke’s Bay. 

“Former Prime Minister John Key’s 2009 announcement of funding for a national network of cycleways was a double-edged sword,” the Hawke’s Bay Tourism Industry supreme award winner explains.  “I’d got off to a good start and there was significant growth in the second year.  In the third year, I nearly went over.

“I was that close to walking away from the business,” she says, all but pinching her thumb and forefinger together.

The problem was that others saw an opportunity to establish their own cycling ventures and Aucklanders, in particular, were opting for bike trails closer to home.

Jenny now considers the National Cycleway programme “an amazing initiative”.

“It’s achieved everything it set out to achieve.  There are more trails and signage, but it did take longer to build momentum than anyone thought.  I had to grow a new market, and when demand did pick up I was perfectly positioned to catch that wave.”

Growing up in Rotorua, Jenny originally wanted a career as a physical education teacher.  She applied to study the relevant university programme but was turned down three times.  So she took a job with a local travel agency, a move she doesn’t regret.

“It’s worked out for me.  I had an amazing career in travel, learning on the job.”

On OE, she worked for Contiki in London for three years.  Her career in travel continued in Auckland, but eventually she felt ready for a change.

“I’d been working for 30 years at that point and decided to take a year off.  I’d travelled a lot, to some 70 countries, and I didn’t have a burning desire to do that.  So I decided to study for a sports diploma.”

Jenny couldn’t afford to study and live in Auckland but she was a regular visitor to Hawke’s Bay and she knew EIT research professor Bob Marshall, whose special area of interest is sport and recreation.

“He was a client of my travel agency, so I knew EIT’s Diploma in Recreation and Sport would be a good study programme.  I loved it,” she says.  “It was a small school with a real care culture and the experience recharged my battery.”

Although she’s never considered herself a cyclist, Jenny started thinking about setting up a trail bike company while at EIT.  

“The study was a lot about fitness and that gave me the confidence to help people with aspects such as bike skills, nutrition and the importance of hydration.  I also studied management courses and, never having had a formal tertiary education, I learnt good strategies from that.”

She was thinking strategically in 2011 when, under pressure with diminishing customer numbers, she relocated Tākaro Trails from Bay View to the tourist-friendly seaside suburb of Ahuriri. 

She also diversified into the Australian market, working at the top end with inbound tour operators, and developed packages tailored to the individual interests of visitors eager to explore the region’s attractions and network of scenic pathways by bike. 

A package, for example, might include degustation dinners, accommodation at luxury lodges and pick-up support.

Now largely out of the casual bike hire market, Jenny says Hawke’s Bay is ideally suited to overseas cyclists.

“It’s got a small population and has a high level of sophistication, with some of the best restaurants in New Zealand.  Touring shows like the ballet come here.  It’s on the map for those things.”

While she works hard, she says it doesn’t feel like it.

“Ten minutes after locking up for the day you can be back in your own backyard.  And it’s really easy to do business here as well, your word still counts for something.”

As her business continues to thrive Jenny doesn’t feel she misses out on anything living in Hawke’s Bay.  “I would never consider leaving,” she says.