Mountain Biking New Zealand

[buster]

Hi All
I'm after a tip... or two... or three...about supported mountain biking tours in NZ.

Does anybody know of any tours where you can just turn up with your bike and ride for about 10 days - two weeks??

I'm talking All Mountain here, so 4" - 5" travel bike, with chairlift / helicopter assisted lifts, with additional climbing and undulating rides okay...oh, did I mention SINGLE TRACK.

I went to the French Alps in July this year for a couple of weeks where we spent 2 weeks riding around between 2550m - 800m and it was absolutely amazing. With the chairlift assisted climbing we could manage up to 80 relaxed kms per day. We did the Portes du Soleil route one day, out of France, into Switzerland and back again.

Is there anything like this in NZ which is a three hour flight, as opposed to 30 hours via London and Geneva?

Thanks in advance.

[toolonglegs]

There is a few operators around Queenstown...heli lift stuff etc...not cheap but then neither is flying to Europe.Certainly no big runs like that in the north island but still some amaxing XC riding to be had and a lot of marked trials.But not much will compare to the Alpes access / chair lifts etc...maybe Whistler / North America...but not till Spring next year now.
http://www.scene.co.nz/gondola-trips-fo ... 385a1.page

[trailgumby]

One word, only: Rotorua, aka Rotovegas.

Some of my mates did a tour there earlier this year and it was simply awesome.

Go to www.riderotorua.com There are links to tour operators on the site. Be warned - you will want to move there.

[toolonglegs]

I will be 45minutes from Rottenrua for the next two months...pity I can't ride!.The hire bikes aren't very good anyway...not compared to what you would of had in the Alpes...although it may have improved in the last 2 years.I like Rotorua...but the runs are short...your problem now buster is you have ridden in the Alpes which has such ridiculously good trails and access that apart from other very big ski field areas it is going to be very hard to top that!.

[Gabe]

What sucks is I used to live up north in NZ and been to rotorua a few times without knowing about the trails. Mind you, never had the money for a decent bike there.. and when I got my car and a girlfriend I lost interest in riding anyway. But it's good to know there are nice trails there because I will surely be heading to NZ when an opportunity comes up, and I never would have thought to check for trails. However it does stink awfully there... all the time. And I wouldn't recommend going in winter because it gets more than a bit chilly.
The south island is IMO by far the more scenic, and the towns are usually nicer. I'd imagine the queenstown trails would be pretty good too, since that area is big on outdoor activities, so if you want to tour around a bit and do more than just cycling that could be a better option.


Where exactly did you go for the tour of the alps? If I can get the time off and enough money together I will be heading to europe mid next year, and I'd be dead keen to do a bike tour there

[buster]

Thanks for chiming in.
I've asked a few guys in the club and I'm thinking that Queenstown is the go, but I haven't done the Google thing on that yet. Is the weather generally okay in NZ in March?
What I'm after is about 10 days of guided and fully catered All Mountain riding, with roughly about 6 hours riding every day.
The Alps tour was awesome, but the 60 hours of travel there and back (plus stop overs in London) did my head in (not to mention my bum). I didn't know that you need to apply chamois cream to sit in an economy seat for 21 hours. I'm definitely flying Premium Economy if I ever go back to Europe.

Gabe, the Alps trip I did was absolutely fantastic, and they're taking bookings for next years trip now on the following website.

http://escapegoat.com.au/european-alpine-epics/