NZ - Queenstown

Hi,

I've been a user of information on this site for quite a while, and never really had the opportunity to contribute until now.

I've just returned from a 10 day holiday to Queenstown NZ where I did a fair amount of riding. I went with the family (wife, 6yr old boy, 5yr old girl) all of whom are keen cyclists so we did a lot of riding and exploring.

I apologise for the length of this post... but hopefully there's something in here of value to you all. I've probably left some information out so if anyone has any questions let me know and I will try help. It's all still fresh in my memory at the moment but it may fade soon

I cannot recommend the region in summer more highly. The whole town turns into a mountain biking mecca. Predominantly focused on downhill, but there was plenty for those who prefer pedalling.

All bikes were hired, quality was variable, most bikes had been thrashed (reminded me of my experiences when I was considering buying a second hand wrx). Prices fluctuated quite significantly, maxing out at around $100 per day for a top of the range downhill bike. Hardtails (with entry level front suspension) were around $40 per day, kids bikes around $20.

Some of the rides I/we did:

Queenstown Bike Park: buy a half day gondola pass and take your bike to the top of the mountain. I was with my son (and am also not much of a downhill nut) so we stuck to the green runs. Favourite was Hammy's Track, about 6km of pure downhill. Track is perfectly maintained and is very fast. Gradient is fairly consistent with very few extreme corners or big drops. I noticed a couple of jumps but all were avoidable. Although my son did it and says that he enjoyed it, I am not convinced. By the third run he was pretty tired and came off a couple of times.
Rode Thunder Goat only once. Also a green run but slightly more advanced than Hammy's.

Queentown Trail: over 100km of connected, groomed trails running ride through queenstown and around the lake. Perfect for fitness, a couple of minor hills. A great 30km round trip is the ride from Queenstown east through Frankton and around the Queenstown golf course. Incredible views the entire ride.

Moke Lake loop: I managed to organise a day leave pass from the family so set off on a full day adventure. Heading west out of Queentown along the main road, you quickly hit the Sunshine Track. Apart from a killer hill at the start, the rest of the ride is perfect, 6-foot wide single track with very few obstacles of note. It ends fairly suddenly and you have a bit of road riding to contend with. about 10km out of queenstown you reach Moke Lake Rd which is a steep ascent, firstly on road, then unsealed up to Moke Lake. The initial sealed section is a rather unpleasant section. The secret (as I discovered when I got to the end of the sealed section and bumped into a local) is to use the adjacent Gold Diggers track. The local suggested I ride down the track and then kindly offered to give me a ride back up (his wife was waiting for him at the bottom) so I could continue my ride. I accepted. Gold Diggers is a beautiful 3km single track with some awesome bends and narrow sections. The track is two way so I thought I'd try the ride up. It's tough, but certainly manageable.
During the ride up, I had a change of plan and rather than continue on to Moke Lake, I'd head straight back down and continue to a section of tracks called Seven Mile (because it's 7 miles from Queenstown). The bottom of Gold Diggers is basically across the road from a parking lot near the start of Seven Mile. From the parking lot there's a neat single track called B.O.B (built on beer). A slightly undulating, two-way, single track that takes you to Seven Mile.
Seven Mile is a complex network of trails through a forest (pine?). I found it very difficult to follow any specific path mainly because there were simply so many. I ended up going in circles and getting a bit lost but the trails are all very flowy so I was moving all the time.
I spent a good few hours exploring the trails and then headed back home via the Sunshine Bay track. The ride back into town is far more enjoyable which was needed as I had spent close to 7 hrs in the saddle by this point.

Rabbit Ridge (http://www.rabbitridge.co.nz/): Jump in a bus from Queentown and a 45 minute drive to Gibbston Valley, a major wine region. Left the wife to do some tastings and then headed to the bike rental area where they take you and your bike up the top of Rabbit Ridge and wait for you at the bottom. There are a number of ways to get down, range from absolute begginer to extreme. Each shuttle ride back up costs $5 but you are also able to ride back up yourself. The ride from Rabbit Ridge back to the winery is done either on the road, or on a trail called Homeward. Homeward is a midrange track with some steep climbs and some nasty turns. My legs were aching from the Moke Lake adventure the previous day, so I've got to say I didn't enjoy it too much, even though a large portion of it was downhill.

Some links:
http://nzbybike.com.au has great info on all the abovementioned tracks
http://www.pogoqt.com/ has GoPros for hire for $45 per day

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