Mountain Bike Action

After leaving the west coast we headed in land to Queenstown via Frans Josef. Frans Josef was a small town with some tourist attractions built up around the Frans Josef Glacier just outside of town. I had hoped to get a peek at the glacier but due to a big hole that recently formed in the ice the only way up was with a guide and a helicopter. With funds getting low the $200 plus airfare just wasn’t in the cards.

Instead Mike and I decided to have a little man date and we went out for some delicious ribs followed by a dip in the local hot springs. It was a relaxing way to end our drive to Frans Josef, which was a mess of hairpin turns and one-way bridges – some of which were also shared with trains!

Queenstown is in many ways like Whistler. It’s a ski town with a village framed by mountains, fancy shops and hotels. With ski season just around the corner in this part of the world the shops were filled with colourful ski and snowboard gear. You could tell that in a couple of weeks the place would be buzzing with snow enthusiasts looking to cut their first tracks of the year or to extend their north of the equator season.  

While winter is the main attraction in Queenstown there are a host of other activities to do which range from sky diving and bungee jumping to water pursuits like river rafting and parasailing. I chose to spend my morning mountain biking and I rented a plush All Mountain bike from one of the shops and headed for a series of trails called 7 mile.

When I got to the trails some guys from Ireland were just about to head out and I asked if I could join them. They gladly let me join and we spent the next 3 hours flying through the woods.

The trails here were some of the best I’ve ever seen. They were made up of a series of moderate climbs followed by some really flowing downhill switchbacks with berms, whoops and small jumps. My full squish bike climbed like a billy goat and on the way down felt like a dirt bike as it ripped around the berms and soaked up the bumps. I left the woods a bit muddy and more stoked than I have felt in days. It was awesome!