After pedalling the Bike On New Zealand Charitable Trust since 2010, Havelock North man Paul McArdle has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Driven by the desire to see more children cycling, Mr McArdle said it was a real honour to join the other New Zealanders on the 2018 New Years Honours list.
"To be clear it's not just the work I've done, it's a whole lot of other people who have supported this over the years. It's recognition for them also and different groups who have supported bikes in schools in particular."
The cycling advocate had been the driving force behind a range of programmes that worked to encourage people to cycle and had so far helped more than 25,000 school children in 90 schools get access to a bike on a regular basis through Bikes in Schools.
While the number of supporters of Bikes in Schools were too many to name, he said what was most special about the charitable trust was that it had grown to a national level since starting up in Hawke's Bay.