![]() Catching the Skyline Gondola up with other bikers, once they had unmasked, I found them to not be from NZ. The QBP is fast becoming a world-renowned destination for mountain bike fanatics, being New Zealand’s first Gondola assisted bike lift. ![]() This repetitiveness exponentially improves one’s ability quickly! Once I’d finished a lap I’d have an immense desire to do that same run again having scoped out the trail, next time I could go that little bit faster with a little bit more confidence without going crazy. And just like skiing, the easy Gondola access let me do lap after lap. Given my usual riding preference, I stuck to the ‘groomers’, the green and blue runs, avoiding the off piste routes and ‘cliff drops’ that I could come across on the double black trails. The runs identified on the trail map were all graded beginner, intermediate and expert (green, blue and black). So far the experience reminded me a lot of skiing. The wide open berms sent a massive grin to my undisguised face as I let gravity take hold and floated down - just what I like: fast and flowy downhill with a perfect gradient to build up a fun factor greater than 10 out of 10. Although I was yet to see a specimen of the same biking breed as me, I wasn’t going to let that stop my half day of fun riding the Gondola.Īfter a pleasant ride up looking over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu to The Remarkables, I was ready to roll! As advised, my first run was Hammy’s Track, a great warm-up regardless of ability. In contrast, there was me with my trail riding gear on: cleated shoes for my clippy pedals, short-sleeved tee-shirt, standard helmet (leaving my face completely recognisable to these Darth Vader chaps), holding my cross-country bike with 130mm travel in the front forks. Stepping up to the ticket booth at the base of the Skyline Gondola to purchase my half-day pass, I noticed that all the other riders around me looked like they’d done this before: fully clad in full face helmets, goggles, baggy pants and long sleeved tees, flat pedals and Five Ten shoes, some with body armour, elbow pads and shin pads, but all with bikes probably worth more than their cars. ![]() Not my usual thing but I thought I’d give it a go. Although there are a multitude of trail options for all types of riders in this District, my trail riding buddies had raved over the Gondola accessed Queenstown Bike Park (QBP), giving it a double thumbs up. Rolling into Queenstown, bike loaded on the back of the car, I was here for one reason and one reason only: the rad riding I’d heard so much about.
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