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Peloton ki Aotearoa
When? TBD, but we are aiming for early 2026 in the Summer. One or two days biking, then three nights of festive fun!
Where? This is the first question we need help answering! See below.
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WHAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW:
🚲YOU: If you haven't already, sign up to get involved here. We aim to have our first meeting soon, keep an eye on your emails. As our comms get more frequent, you'll want to join the Signal group chat too! (Download the Signal app here)
🚲A SITE: The next priority is finding our site and our route. There are a lot of ingredients that go into this - please give this page a read and have a good think about any land/sites/lodges/venues/legends that you know of that could be suitable for us! This question will be our main focus of our first meeting, and that will continue until we can lock something in - because virtually everything else follows from knowing where we will be.
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WHAT IS PELOTON?
Peloton is a DIT (Do-it-Together) summer festival on two wheels created by friends for friends. Everyone journeys together, everyone eats together, everyone parties together! We gather in the city on bikes, and share a journey together by riding through the countryside to a beautiful site. A van or two will carry our heavier gear and all the stuff needed to create a magical weekend. By the time the bicycle convoy arrives, everyone has met one another and has earned a party! On site, there'll be live music, delicious shared kai, an open bar, open jam sessions, DJs, workshops, SPORTS, swimming and more! Due to the scalability of logistics and other considerations, Peloton will be limited to ~100 attendees. There will be a cost per attendee to help us cover expenses (food, van and site hire etc!). Those with accessibility requirements that prohibit them from cycling are super welcome and we can probably assist with transport!
Core to the kaupapa of Peloton is connection, relation and association. The goal is to cultivate a weekend of new and strengthening friendships, creative expression and experimentation, tender moments and outrageous fun.
The concept is tried and tested, with its roots in a sister festival run by our friends and family for five years in Geneva. This will however be the first time we test this formula in New Zealand - so we're gonna need quite a bit of help to boot up this prototype!
IS THIS A BUSH DOOF?
Emphasis is on shared journeys and new friendships, association (not disassociation), science (not woo), participation (not patronage). Aim is for vibes and music that bring people together. We're not really gonna blow the budget on a big crazy soundsystem either – something nice enough to enjoy but not something to liquify our attendees and the surrounding ecosystem. Music will not be 24/7. Day time vibes will be chill af, ambient, solo artists, jams, games, family friendly, workshops, archery, paddleboarding, maybe even surfing. Louder stuff from sunset to sunrise. Electro swing is strictly prohibited. Meals are shared – we bring all food onsite in the vans and cook massive DELICIOUS meals and everyone eats together. Everyone and anyone can bring fun things to share and create - games, workshops, art, bike-powered disco balls (PLEASE!).
HOW DO WE PAY FOR THIS?
We'll ask each attendee to pay a contribution cost that we will calculate further down the track (for reference, in the Switzerland edition this cost is 100-250 euros – 200-500NZD - depending on personal finances – note that Switzerland is a ridiculously expensive country, so NZ probably cheaper – we hope!). For the attendee, they shouldn't have to bust out their wallet at all during the festival (with the exception of koha for mana whenua if we arrange a pōwhiri). The contribution will ensure them attendance, accommodation, food and drinks for the duration of the festival. Taken together, this cost should cover our expenses for van hire, site fees, food, drinks, petrol and infrastructure purchases. We ideally want to shoot a little over into the green to cover unforseen expenses or to grow a sum in case we want to do it again!
WHAT IS NOT BUDGETED FOR?
To be transparent, this is a small non-commercial DIT festival for friends by friends. We want to bring people together with a good collective work ethic and elbow grease to share a journey, and work together to make magic and beautiful shared experiences. This works when everyone mucks in. No one is making any money and no one is a "customer". There are plenty of us happy to share music and art, food, logistics and dish duty for the love of it. If someone doesn't want to share their stuff without payment, they don't have to of course... But there won't be any cost waivers or set fees for DJs, bands, van drivers etc – it's all voluntary in the spirit of fun & making this crazy idea work (believe us it is worth it!) – we obviously won't be marketing the festival with any artists names – the "line up" will stay secret until everyone arrives on site – in fact we won't be marketing the festival at all - this is an entirely non-commercial endeavour, shared largely by word-of-mouth.
