Rotorua Bike Festival: Frocks on Bikes 'fabulous'

Melissa Rolfe (left) and Anne McKeown were among about 100 colourfully dressed women in frocks who hopped on their bicycles yesterday in the Rotorua Bike Festival Frocks on Bikes event. Photo/Ben Fraser

Riding a bike in a frock proved surprisingly easy and incident free for around 100 women who took part in the Rotorua Bike Festival Frocks on Bikes event.

There were plenty of truckies blasting their horns but no reports of laddered stockings or fabric becoming tangled in the chain gear.

Instead, the women - many decked out in colourful floral frocks and matching shoes - completed the ride from Long Mile Rd to the Lakefront yesterday in an exemplary lady-like manner.

Melissa Rolfe of Rotorua slipped on her floral frock and a pair of wedge-heeled shoes, and decked her pink Schwinn two-wheeler cruiser with a basket of hydrangeas to cycle the scenic route around the lake edge with friend Anne McKeown.

"It was a fabulous event and great fun. The hardest part was keeping the flowers in the basket," she said.

Frocks on Bikes co-ordinator Niki Carling said the event was a relaxed affair.

"We had lots of tooting from truck drivers along the way," she said.

"One woman remarked that riding a bike in a frock for the first time was a very liberating experience."

The event, in its second year, had been unable to gain any male entries, she said.

"We had some blokes in frocks last year but no one this year."

The women finished off the ride with morning tea onboard the Lakeland Queen.

The Rotorua Bike Festival continues throughout the week with a mix of competitive and fun events.

Today's schedule will feature a Bike Speedway event.

Women's events during the week include the Waipa Ladies' Group Ride and the Southstar Ladies' Shuttle Evening.