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Why do gravity MTB pros flock to this New Zealand mountain town in the off-season? Let me count the reasons.

Why do gravity MTB pros flock to this New Zealand mountain town in the off-season? Let me count the reasons.

Coronet Peak. Photo: Greg Heil The UCI Mountain Bike World Series race season will run from April 3rd to October 12th in 2025 across all…

Tuesday, Jan 21

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Coronet Peak. Photo: Greg Heil The UCI Mountain Bike World Series race season will run from April 3rd to October 12th in 2025 across all disciplines. During this six-and-a-half-month season, professional mountain bikers are consumed by the challenges of traveling, racing, and recovering.

The off-season is a welcome reprieve from the chaos and nomadic lifestyle that grips these athletes during the height of competition. When the off-season arrives, most pros take a few weeks to unwind and get off the bike completely, but then it’s back to the training grind to prepare for next season. For the bulk of pros who live in the Northern Hemisphere, that means their training for the upcoming season will take place during the cold, dark depths of winter.

Naturally, many will look for a way to get out on dry trails to make their training a bit easier. While that might mean traveling as far south in their home country as possible, we often see professional athletes ranging from cross country and endurance disciplines to enduro and downhill travel to the Southern Hemisphere to ride and train on the other side of the planet during the warm summer months.

For gravity-oriented athletes, one mecca sounds a siren call that’s impossible to ignore: Queenstown, New Zealand . Ben Lomond trails. Photo: Destination Queenstown The annual influx of gravity pros into Queenstown

During the summer season in Queenstown, the number of Red Bull helmets in town ticks sharply upward, according to Natalie Sharples, Marketing for Queenstown Mountain Bike […]

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