The NZ MTB Rally 2025 – Heli | Boat | 4×4

Registration for NZ’s multi-day Enduro including Helicopters, Boat-Shuttles, and 4×4 Uplifts, is live this weekend.  In case anyone has ~2000 GBP burning a hole in their pocket and 30+ hours free to hop on a flight to NZ next March,  you might want to pitch in for the registration ballot (closing in under 24 hours, as I type).

https://nzmtbrally.com/

You might not even have heard of The NZ MTB Rally, partly because we made the conscious choice (as organisers) to target our marketing towards N America & Australasia: Our wider goal is to drive awareness of, and ultimately more MTB tourism towards the Nelson Region of NZ.  So we figured drawing in new riders from Europe/The UK, being so far away and so expensive to travel, would be too-hard a harder barrier to overcome.  But a handful of UK-EU participants last year already proved us wrong on that one.

For the first 10 years of my professional career I worked at a desk job in London and spent a whole heap of my time reading about amazing MTB-related adventures and events all over the world, dreaming about one day doing them myself, but quickly realising that I didn’t have the money/time-off work/girlfriend/family-credits to ever travel further than France.  I’d guess many on this forum can relate to that predicament!

Thesedays I bounce between Europe and NZ every 6 months and in some ways, my world has got a little smaller.  (It’s not the rockstar life you might assume by the way, and I still haven’t travelled to a fraction of those ride spots I used to dream about from my office desk).

One thing I have realised though, is that in The UK/Europe, we are spoiled rotten in terms of choice on our doorstep.  There are a thousand awesome spots to travel to within a day’s drive or short budget-flight journey (and you can almost always fly direct, to wherever you want to go).    But I’ve barely stepped foot in the UK for the past 10 years at least and I’m probably out of touch with 9-to-5 reality thesedays.

So, I thought I would ask:  for those of you based UK/Europe, how much $ is too much, and how far is too far to travel – given the real-world constraints of every day life?

And even if there’s only a cat-in-hell’s chance of you ever travelling to NZ to ride, does that mean you aren’t interested in hearing about it?   Or is it interesting and inspiring to see media about bucket-list, far-off adventures, regardless if you can ever seriously plan to do it yourself?

It looks great but the enviromental impact makes my teeth itch. I really admired the lad that did it last year under his own power as that would tick lots of boxes for me. Sadly I am realistically to old and couldnt afford it.

Looks fun though!

How far is too far (and how much transport logistics is too much) in terms of CO2 impact, is what I’d be thinking.

This would be 6-10t of CO2 for an economy return flight, plus things like an hour in a helicopter at a third to half a tonne pp. Vs the target for a reasonable ‘lifestyle footprint’ average per person per year at 1.5 to 2.5 depending on where you get the info from. I’ll get a load of whataboutery for this and there’s always elements of hypocrisy in pointing this out but for me it’d just not be justifiable these days. I think marketing to relatively local areas as you have done isn’t a bad thing, or even limiting entry to those areas which I’d see as a positive step tbh.

Thanks for the comments.

The negative environmental impact of a long-haul international flight can’t be denied, and is indeed, a significant number – one that is always on our minds, too.  It definitely plays a part in why we are not actively targeting Europe.    We take significant steps (and spend a sizeable chunk of money) via the event to offset our entire carbon footprint, but still, we are very aware carbon-offsetting is no substitute, to simply not generating the emissions in the first place.

I don’t think we would ever go so far as to block people based on their intended travel distance.   I’d not be comfortable to play judge and jury over what others should and should not be doing based on an undefined environmental moral code.  What is more relevant is an individual’s annual / lifetime carbon footprint, than any single action. One person might take one long haul flight per year but bike to work every day, eat vegan and have no children, another might commute an hour or more each way by car all year, have 5 kids, live on MacDonalds and shop exclusively on AliBaba….but never fly anywhere.

Which is “better”?  The answer to that is way above my pay grade!

To address the other point, we thoroughly investigated our helicopter’s impact before deciding to include it in the event.  It is nowhere near what you might assume / expect and based on the detailed and informed calculations we did alongside carbon experts – the way in which we use the helicopters at NZ MTB Rally accounts for little more C02 than using a vehicle shuttle to drive the same route (if a suitable shuttle-road even existed).

We covered this in more detail in an interview with STW a while back:

https://singletrackworld.com/2023/07/nz-mtb-rally-a-proper-kiwi-backcountry-enduro-adventure/

The enviomental impact is really down to the individual and I would not want to tell people how to live. We are Vegan, use a car as little as we can, cycle most places and we have always cycle commuted, we have no children.

Thats the way we have chosen to live but it’s not for everybody.

I’m with the other posters. It’s not the cost of stuff like this that puts me off, but the knowledge that it’s not really the done thing WRT the rest of the world.

Don’t get me wrong, I know I am already evil, but I try to limit it a bit.

Can’t recall who it was on a recent thread, about skiing IIRC, and someone replied with a list of about 16 destinations they were going to that year.  Much as I loathe the expression, ” tone deaf” summed that up.

A bit like the various Alpine Guides in BMC Summit magazine running articles like ” best continental destination that still has ice in June” or ” best time of year to get ice on the diamond couloir despite global warming”

Anyway, MTB doesn’t rely on frozen water, so none of this really applies to you, but still slightly relevant in my mind.

PS. Love the irony of this :

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Does look like a great event though.

Fair reply from @freeride_addict though. They’re not unaware of all this and I agree it’s down to the individual to take responsibility. Some things put temptation in our way of course, the experience this offers looks incredible, but I’d be a hypocrite and making an unreasonable point to suggest that was a failing on their part.

**** off would I want to participate in that given the amount of crap that’s going to be pumped out….

We take significant steps (and spend a sizeable chunk of money) via the event to offset our entire carbon footprint, but still, we are very aware carbon-offsetting is no substitute, to simply not generating the emissions in the first place.

Then don’t hold the event. There’s no way, even with the best will in the world, that you’ll recover what you produce.

Thesedays I bounce between Europe and NZ every 6 months

My cousin has lived in Oz for nigh on ten years now. Her attitude to the environment is noticeable. Previously she was a bit of an eco warrior. Now she thinks nothing of flying between Oz and Europe twice a year, a two week diving holiday in the Galapagos or somewhere else exotic……

It definitely plays a part in why we are not actively targeting Europe

And you think that flying from the States is OK?

“the helicopters at NZ MTB Rally accounts for little more C02 than using a vehicle shuttle to drive the same route”

Really?

@pauly Surprisingly yes.

In a nutshell there are a few assumptions, such as a helicopter flies in a straight line from pick up to drop off whereas a shuttle vehicle driving up a 1000m vertical climb will drive typically up a shallow gradient zig-zagging up the hill and rarely in a straight line, so it ends up driving many times further and taking up to ten times longer, than a heli would fly.   It then needs to drive a convoluted route, empty, to wherever the next pickup point may be for the next shuttle which could be a long way away by road (but very short as the crow flies).

The inefficiency in a helicopter is if it is flying with only few passengers, or flying about empty (like a taxi) and especially between its airport home base and wherever it is actually being used for “useful” transport.

Our helicopters don’t do any of that. Because we are a big group of riders all moving in one go, this inefficiency is hugely reduced.

By the way, if you were commission a helicopter for a private shuttle for the day, that would be an entirely different matter and not only hideously expensive, but an environmental disaster.

@alpin I don’t think its ‘OK’.  I think as a whole, through our collective actions as a global population, we’re totally screwing the planet.

I think that the only way things will improve is through politics and government regulation or even inter-government collaboration (promoting renewable and green technologies).  I previously worked for 12 years at Ford as an engine & emissions specialist so I’ve seen this first hand.   Individual actions like those discussed here make pathetically little difference in the grand scheme of things, sadly.

My point is that is if you start to judge a single, individual action based on its C02 output and whether it is “morally justified”, you are heading down an extremely slippery slope.  I believe what is way more relevant is our annual or lifetime C02 output, and we rarely know that about ourselves, never mind anyone else.

Individual actions like those discussed here make pathetically little difference in the grand scheme of things, sadly.

This is true, commercial aviation creates about 2.5% of global CO2 output and 5% of global warming in total, apparently. But I can’t take that as an excuse from individuals who willingly create 10x or more footprint than is necessary or continue to create demand for cheap flights etc.

Like all these things it’s supply and demand. If we stop doing or buying an industry will have to change and business will always influence governments, so we have to try to influence the businesses. This is going way past what I think an event organiser needs to take on or is responsible for, but all in all I think we all need to play a part in this, not fob it off to governments alone – because they’ve done close to fk all of any use in the last 30 years and they’ll look at what we do now to measure what’s likely to keep them in power for one term, not what’s good for 25 years time. And on that I’ll back out because I feel I’m helping hijack a reasonable post about an event that doesn’t really deserve this level of pinball : )

I believe what is way more relevant is our annual or lifetime C02 output, and we rarely know that about ourselves, never mind anyone else.

2, maybe 2.5 tonnes per person per year in the western society lifestyle is the forecasted need for not burning up the planet.

Hey @freeride_addict – I’m going to ignore your questions, but say a huge thank you for taking on my Jack for the TransSavoie.

He LOVED working for you and with the rest of the gang, a real highlight of the last few years for him, and something which helped as a memory in tough times. He had nothing but good things to say about you and then event.

He’s got a job at Glenmore Lodge, but might be looking to work in NZ in the spring…I keep telling him to get in touch…

@jameso thanks for your reasoned approach – this is a highly emotive subject (as it should be) and its very easy to focus on one specific scenario or individual and unleash frustration.  And besides, I did ask, after all!

@matt_outandabout :-) thanks for saving this thread from being nothing but a virtual internet kicking! Great to hear Jack is doing well and if he does end up planning a trip to NZ (preferably by train via Asia, or by sail boat) please do ask him to get in touch, I’m sure we’d find something to keep him busy!

Indeed I will pass that on.

I’m sure he can pedal it. ?

TBH with all the suggestions above, I’m surprised no one is refusing eBikes and new tyres on environmental grounds…
None of us can claim to have no environmental impact, and I’ve never wanted to pick on other people’s decisions. Because next month I’m the one making a long journey, or firing up air con in a hotel, or forgetting my reusable cup etc.

You’d be nuts to go all that way just for the event. You’d want a month to make the most of it. That’s a big trip that needs £, planning and time off. Limited pool of people especially as there are a lot of great options within Europe. NZ is a fab destination and well worth a trip.

I would love to do it but don’t have the time or money. I have to say the environmental considerations wouldn’t even enter my head as they are zero on a global scale. The flight will go whether I am on it or not and there are far bigger considerations that a few holiday makers

@chrismac

Are you an Ostrich?

 The flight will go whether I am on it

Jesus wept.