So I’m off to NZ for four weeks as the first part of a six month trip round asia and australasia. I’ve agreed with my GF that I’ll only ride one day.

So if you had one day where would you go? I’m looking for something fun but (within reason) unlikely to break me (for obvious reasons).

Cheers,

Jez

I really enjoyed queenstown as it has a ski lift type thing on which you can take a bike on. Plenty of places to hire yourself a bike too

Rotorua without question

Makara Peak in Wellington. Although both of the places above were great. I guess it partly depends on what type of riding do you normally do?

cheers guys: xc btw

If you’re only doing one day, and I guess will be needing to hire a bike, I would be inclined to use a guide to make sure you make the most of it. I went with a guy called Greg from fat tyre bikes In queenstown, I’ve seen a few recommendations for him on here. He will take you somewhere to suit your riding, a half decent giant fs is included in the cost, and he has a driver to take you and the bikes to the top of the trails to give you a gravity advantage!

queentstown! also, one bike ride in six months? ooof, she mean

http://www.queenstownbiketaxis.co.nz

rotorua. their trail network puts the whole of the uk to shame

rotorua, decent hire shop in town, although over 5 yrs since i went.

1 ride? 6 months? harsh.

1 ride? 6 months? harsh.

I’ve just seen my missus in a different light

Another vote for Greg at Fat Tyre Bikes in Queenstown. I did some heli-biking with him last year, great day out and cracking views!

ditch the bird, you know it makes sense

The trails in Whakarewarewa (Rotorua) and Makara Peak (Wellington) are both good options for XC singletrack. Both are easy to reach from town (rideable from the centre) and can be plenty of fun without needing a guide or getting more epic than expected. Both have trails from easy through technical to downhill, clearly marked and graded. Rotorua hosted the 2010 SSWC, but Wellington has better beer 🙂

Mud Cycles in Wellington is about 200m from the trailhead (they just moved to a new shop nearer the trails) and hires basic but usable hardtails.

http://www.makarapeak.org/
http://www.riderotorua.com/

There are loads of utterly stunning epic rides (the Heaphy track is now open part of the year) but one of the trail centres is a better idea if you don’t have a guide, lots of your own equipment etc.

Rotorua’s fantastic but if it had to be just one day then I’d pick Queenstown as you could pack a hell of a lot into one day if you really wanted to go for it…

– Heli-biking
– Gondala uplift from the town
– Skippers Canyon trip
– 7 mile bike park for trail centre type stuff

These lot will sort you out; http://www.vertigobikes.co.nz

(and have a word with your GF, I managed several days biking out of a month in NZ and it was my bloody honeymoon!)