Queenstown gears up for biking season
Queenstown in New Zealand’s South Island will launch a new network of bike trails in October.
The 110km Queenstown Trail is being hailed as one of the country’s flagship trails and is one of 18 projects earmarked as a ‘New Zealand Great Ride’.
The trail will connect the Wakatipu Basin, Gibbston ‘valley of vines’, Arrowtown, Lake Hayes, Frankton and Queenstown Bay.
The Southern Hemisphere’s only gondola-accessed downhill mountain biking officially kicks off this weekend (Saturday 29 September) when Skyline recommences its gondola service to the Queenstown Bike Park.
The park features more than 30km of purpose-built tracks catering for all levels of riders from families to pro riders.
The lift, which allows bikes to be hooked onto the gondola and carried up to the park, last year transported more than 10,000 riders.
Biking season gears up with the multi-lap relay mountain bike event ‘8 hours@Jacks’ on December 8, followed by the Motatapu 47km High Country Mountain Bike Ride on March 9.
The Queenstown Bike Festival is back for its third year at Easter (March 22-April 1).
Destination Queenstown CEO Graham Budd said, "Local operators have recognised the need to be cycle-friendly and have developed a range of services to make it as easy as possible for visitors.
"There’s now a bike assembly area at Queenstown Airport and a range of bike tours, products, packages and rental gear."
The newly released Lonely Planet New Zealand Travel Guide has singled out mountain biking in Queenstown as one of its top 12 new favourite New Zealand recommendations, mentioning that "since the opening of the Queenstown Bike Park, the region is now firmly established as an international focus for the sport".
Ian Jarrett
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